Acting on Inside Information

Recruitment of a CFO, Large Investment Bank

This case shows that it is worth to run your needs by us instead of turning to one of the big brands in the business that will go through a time-consuming process that they are required to use by their own internal guidelines. We had been tipped off that a large investment bank was looking for a successor to the current Chief Financial Officer (CFO). The CFO was an expatriate whose mission in Tokyo was to reorganize the whole Financial Control Department and to look for a successor, a Japanese national, for the first time in the company's history in Japan. The skill sets required for the CFO position were normal for a western bank but Japanese nationals fulfilling them were rare. The interim-CFO was too occupied to actively look for a successor for months, apart from notifying some job registration agencies. These were naturally unable to introduce the caliber of candidates that was required to fulfill such an important role. The timing was perfect, however, for a candidate we had kept in touch with. His organization had just merged with another and he did not want to stay. During their first meeting, the client realized that our candidate possessed a unique set of skills and experience, such that he hadn't yet come across in Japan. The only concern he had was the candidate's lack of managing a department with more than fifty people. He was not aware that only about five firms in Tokyo had Financial Control Departments of that size. When we informed him of this, he realized that the window of opportunity open at that moment could not be missed. An offer was made within a month and the candidate joined.

A Team Moves Over Drinks:
Recruitment of a team of ERP consultants, Big-5 consulting firm