Case Study
COO - Division of Global Financial Services Group, Australia
The Challenge
Following increased global responsibilities of the CEO, the decision was taken to appoint a chief operating officer to support him across all functions.
This person was to have a high level of responsibility and to deputise for the CEO during his extensive time travelling overseas. Credibility, authority and presence were critical, at the same time we were searching for someone who was not obviously aspiring to the CEO role.
The Approach
We were approached to conduct a local and a global search, emphasis was on identifying candidates who also had experience in other major centres. A specific challenge here was that many local people were well qualified for the position but they did not represent a good cultural fit. It was therefore an added challenge to conduct the search without causing offence.
The search was conducted from Australia, with participation from other offices in Asia and London. We identified two key candidates
- One in Australia with a related business in the group who wanted to be considered having regard to confidentiality and internal sensitivities. He went through an interview process with open discussion about the outcome, both if he was successful and, more importantly, if he was not, then how he could remain with the group
- An expatriate Australian recently moved from London to Asia and receptive to hearing of opportunities back in Australia. He also had some specific sensitivities within his own organisation and amongst key people in Australia
The position attracted great interest due to the nature of the role, market presence of the person to whom this person reported and the brand of the company.
The Result
From our local and global search we identified and met with 18 people with relevant experience. The two final shortlisted candidates were the ones mentioned above with specific and very varied processes to be followed. These were synchronised so that the interview and decision making process had previously agreed timetables and follow up for both successful and unsuccessful candidates.
They successfully appointed the person from overseas who now works closely with the other candidate.