Our client, a world leader in the delivery of innovative electronic manufacturing services, using specialised technology (SMT - surface mounting) was searching for a Business Unit Engineering Manager (responsible for improving process flows, development, quality and costs, customer relations) for its Czech plant. Accord Group was assigned to find the right person with the combination of appropriate education, long-lasting experience in this particular technology and with proven track record in managing a team and several projects simultaneously.
As our client's technology was highly specific, there were no competitors and thus no available candidates in the Czech and Slovak market with the required experience. There was a real dearth of qualified managers with relevant experience in managing similar production processes - so we came to the conclusion that we could not find the appropriate solution in the Czech and Slovak markets. Furthermore, we were facing time constraints, as this position needed filling urgently.
Realising that the pool of potential candidates was extremely limited, we widened our search to the regional level. Knowing from our experience that there were more companies active in the segment (with 4-5 years market experience on average) in the neighbouring countries (especially in Hungary), we decided to focus our search in these markets. Obviously, even in the Hungarian market our possible target group was fairly narrow and a few factors had to be considered: lack of mobility, slight cultural differences, lack of proper language knowledge, higher risk of working abroad are all potential hurdles in the ECE market, even in this relatively young sector. Nevertheless, we felt possible to offer a viable short list to our client in a very short timeframe.
We were able to present 7 candidates to our client in 3 weeks. This initial pool of candidates was then narrowed down to 2 people for the final round. Together with the client we managed to raise the candidates' interest within a few days, and shortly after the presentations the successful candidates met the management team in the Czech Republic for the final decision. The negotiations with the selected candidate lasted only two weeks before reaching a final agreement.
The company appreciated the thorough and quick regional search process executed by Accord Group (acknowledging that the most proper and available solution was the one chosen) and the selected candidate turned out to be a great addition to their teams on both personal and technical levels.