Project Director Irina Vasilyeva: We at CONSORT Group are very pleased that in recent times there have been frequent requests for personnel from mining companies. Apparently, in those firms there is still a shortage of internal resources for finding new employees. We are happy to assist these companies!
Chief Lady for Para-military Vehicles
The joy is double when you manage to find a solution to a complex problem.
The task assigned to CONSORT’s consultants by an IESF’s client was to find a Regional Director for the sale of dual-use vehicles (or, in simpler terms, SUVs intended for both military and civilian needs) to Ukraine, Georgia, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.
Search for a foreign government agency
In November of 2018, one more Marketing Director found by CONSORT’s consultants came to work for our client — it is now difficult to remember their numbers — in the twenty-six years of CONSORT Group’s history. The search was not easy as we had to introduce adjustments to meet the changing specs but who can be surprised by this now! We completed the assignment successfully and on time.
A trusted consultant would not give bad advice
It took CONSORT Group five long months to fill a role of quite a rare IT expert for our long-standing client — a large state-owned company specializing in industrial construction. Why so long? What could have been unusual in such a seemingly standard search project?
CONSORT Group’s contribution to the success of 2018 FIFA World Cup
In summer of 2018, CONSORT Group team completed the 2018 FIFA World Cup project.
Within its framework, CONSORT provided recruitment, interpretation outsourcing and temporary staff services as accredited by Rostrud.
In 13 cities of Russia, over 1000 interpreters from various languages as well as transportation team, supervisors and other administrative support staff, and project managers with unique experience of hosting sporting events were selected.
Such was the scale of CONSORT Group’s contribution to this country’s overall success in organizing one of the best football championships in the world history.
It was the biggest project in CONSORT Group’s history, with work being conducted since last autumn. To find 1000 interpreters, at least twice as many candidates had to pass through selection interviews, assessment centers, testing of foreign language skills, and onboarding process. After the recruitment, CONSORT team coordinated and administered the work of the selected staff.
It included a colossal responsibility for each of these hundreds of younger people. The project brought a lot of positive emotions for the selected staff, and a sense of pride for CONSORT team’s success.
Our customer, a British company Lapwing, was satisfied with CONSORT Group’s services, same as a year ago when they first contacted us for assistance during the 2017 Confederation Cup.
Native advertising is “on trend”
The world does not stand still, as you know, and in order to be successful you have to be “on trend”. To promote the youth line of their products through digital channels, companies need novel tools. And here comes to the rescue … native advertising!
What is it? The phrase native (natural) advertising comes from English and is the way in which an advertiser attracts attention in the context of the site and the customers’ interests.
There are very few such specialists, especially those who also know how to sell. But we have found one! For one of our favorite clients – a well-known Russian publishing house – CONSORT Group’s consultants have been painstakingly “sifting” through the market for three months! Having begun the search for a native advertising sales manager, we managed to find a specialist of a much higher caliber – Head of Division – able to build a long-term strategy using modern technologies and the latest tools for digital channels.
The company and the candidate found each other
HOMAG, a German manufacturer of machines and system for the wood-processing industry, first requested CONSORT Group as part of International Executive Search Federation (IESF) in 2015 to find a Chief Finance Officer (CFO) for its Russian subsidiary. At that time five suitable candidates were presented. But despite the fact that the Client liked them, and the first installment for the search was paid, a candidate “that someone referred” unexpectedly appeared and was hired for the job.
Two years later, disillusioned with that candidate, HOMAG again sought CONSORT’s help in filling the CFO role. This time the emphasis was placed on the need for not just finding a competent financial controller but – first and foremost – a business partner – CEO’s right hand who would be actively involved in the business as a leader and a head of the financial function.
CONSORT was able to present in the shortest time possible six candidates who met all of the requirements: minimum ten years of experience as a CFO in a comparable-sized foreign manufacturing company, with fluent English, knowing SAP, responsible for reporting to western and Russian standards, and well-versed in Russian accounting.
Moreover, taking into account an “off-the-record” interest of all German customers in candidates with experience of working for German companies, CONSORT formed a short list consisting only of those who worked for most of their careers in brand-name German manufacturers.
The selected finalist, fluent in English and German, worked for ten years (!) in Germany as a Financial Controller for Central and Eastern Europe with a German manufacturer of welding equipment. Her return to Russia for family reasons luckily coincided with the offer from HOMAG RUS in Moscow.
We are sincerely happy that in this search an “exclamation mark” finally appeared instead of an “ellipsis”: the company and the candidate found each other!
Is there a common ground between IT and healthy nutrition?
In the autumn of 2017, one of CONSORT Group’s key clients commissioned a search for a Senior Event Manager. This was a new, strategic role within the company, designed to strengthen the event-function, to offer a different level of event-structuring, and to introduce a fresh motivational and entertainment component into strategic events for top distributors.
It was required to find a high-caliber person, multitasking, flexible, with a solid stance, possessing a “helicopter view”, capable of not only optimizing finances and organizing events for thousands of participants at the stadium and million-budget level, but also plunging deeply into the specifics, and the creative component.
Since the products of the client company are aimed at weight correction, a healthy lifestyle and a balanced diet, then, in addition to strong professional competencies and fluent English, a successful candidate had to be fitness-oriented, adhere to the concept of proper nutrition, know and use the client company’s products.
CONSORT consultants found a person from a well-known IT company who not only met the stated requirements and personal profile but also turned out to be a real adept of our client’s products. At first glance, the IT sector and healthy food products are completely different but our consultants managed to find common ground between those and discover the relevance of the candidate’s experience.
Moreover, the client liked our candidate so much that they revised the salary range to up it, and the candidate managed to integrate harmoniously into the corporate culture of the company whose products he had enjoyed using for a long time. It was a win-win situation for both sides!
CONSORT and Russian professionals for the European Union
A pilot project of cooperation between CONSORT and VMP Group — our Finnish partners in the search business — was a success. Our candidate, Nikita Lovinskiy, went to work in Finland. He became an employee of Areva at Finland’s Olkiluoto nuclear power plant’s third unit which is undergoing pre-commissioning procedures.
According to Consort Petersburg’s Managing Partner Yury Mikhailov, there were quite a lot of challenges: a fixed-term contract, a long period of candidates consideration and feedback from the client, and a lack of experience in “importing” professionals from outside the EU. However, all this was eventually overcome, and in December 2017 CONSORT Group’s rep office in St Petersburg managed “to open the window onto the West” for Russian professionals.
Incidentally, one of the first questions that came from our candidate was “Is there anyone else from Russia here?”. To which Yury Mikhailov replied with a smile: “No, not yet. You are CONSORT’s Gagarin: he was the first representative of this great country in space, and you are in Finland and the EU. We hope that more specialists will follow.”
Where to find a Logistics Director
In August 2017, Consort Ural completed a search project that lasted for almost nine months, to find a Logistics Director for Magnat group of companies — the largest distributor and 3PL services operator in the Urals.
The major challenge laid in the fact that — by the time of signing the contract — the candidate market was “rummaged through” by other search agencies and the stop list included ninety-two (!) candidates. It was necessary to find a top manager who was capable and prepared to simultaneously carry out operational activities, strategic planning, inventory management of up to one billion rubles a month, as well as manage changes related to the company’s expanding its territorial outreach and responsibilities (achieving extensive development of business).
Nadezhda Ekhlakova, Managing Partner of Consort Ural, and Consultant Alexander Elantseva worked hand-in-hand and employed various search tools to ensure completion of the project. The candidate was found in a non-standard way (via the Best Employees announcement board of one of the largest retail network companies). Moreover, that candidate was motivated to change jobs and move from Moscow to Yekaterinburg. A true example of search consultants’ team work!
After this initial success, Magnat entrusted Consort Ural to search for a number of other top management positions.
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