Helping an international firm establish an Employment Practice in one of its German offices
Background:
- We acted for an international firm which wanted to expand its employment practice by implementing a strong partner into one of its German offices.
Strategy:
- We have been working with the firm for many years, so we already had a deep understanding of the platform and partnership structure. Given the fact that there was already a well-established employment practice in Germany, it was essential that a lateral partner would fit into this perfectly in terms of his book of business and culture.
- We therefore offered an exclusively shaped headhunting strategy using our market insight to identify a shortlist of the most obvious individuals.
Challenges:
- Given the fact that the German employment partner market is diverse in terms of practices and firm cultures, the challenge was not only to offer a market mapping service, but more importantly, to provide a tailored search to ensure an effective process focusing on the right targets.
Outcome:
- We placed one of the key target partners with a top reputation in the market (plus his team) into this firm. The partner became one of the most successful billers of the firm within a short period of time and succeeded in fundamentally raising the firm’s profile by his strong marketing activities.
What did we receive from the client that contributed to the success of the search?
- We worked very closely with the German Head of Employment during the whole process.
- The client was very transparent and open with us which helped us in our conversations with the candidate to further convince and guide him.
- When it came to the “critical stage” i.e. the stage before an offer was issued to the candidate, we discussed the terms and the financial package and advised the client whether we thought the offer was attractive enough (based on our conversations with the candidate regarding his expectations). This avoided any potential disappointment and frustration for the candidate and was extremely effective in driving the process to a successful closing.