Onsite Delivery Manager – Procurement

Summary of the search: This was an existing role with very high levels of attrition due to the role being a combination of location (wherein the pool of candidates locally was small and hence candidates needed to be relocated for the job), long term contract position without benefits or relocation support. The position was responsible for managing client stakeholders by interacting with internal Buyers and to manage and process volume locally & also develop good business knowledge to support live production.

Client: A leading Business Process Outsourcing subsidiary of a key Global IT Consulting company. A global company operating in the Americas, APAC, Australia and Europe with over 20,000 employees with consistently growing revenues over the years.

Location: Irving, TX

Search Challenge: Limited pool of availability of local candidates with a combination of expertise in the SAP space, basic contracting skills/understanding, P2P knowledge, good analytics. This search required extensive networking and passive candidate sourcing apart from selling relocation for a contract job.

Methodology:

  • Involved extensive market survey to research top firms in the country.
  • Extensive cold calling and interaction with venture capitalists/private equity professionals to understand the space and their scope of work.
  • Networking within professional networking sites to build and develop contacts of individuals within the PE space.
  • Phone discussions with PE professionals to gain a better understanding of the space/ position requirements.
  • Extensive filtering/ networking finally paved the way to reach the ideal candidate through professional networking.

Result: We were able to find 3 candidates who were qualified and interested in the role. However, while the interview process proved to be fairly quick, changes in the client’s recruitment policy, compensation structure, and new decision making team led to a delay in the process. One of the candidates was zeroed in on but he was interviewing extensively and in a situation where he needed to make a quick decision. Our role morphed into an advisory one where we were constantly making sure information flowed seamlessly in both directions. We kept the focus of the candidate on the potential of the client and growth within the specific subsector that he could drive. We had to keep the candidate warm by bringing Client and candidate to the table for informal conversations. While we managed to get the candidate to keep other offers at bay, the economy took a turn for the worse and the budgets for the role changed. When the offer was released, the numbers were lower than what had been discussed earlier. The time and effort invested in working with the candidate paid off in getting the candidate to accept a compensation package that was lower than originally thought with a tradeoff for career growth potential.

The candidate joined them and has been a part of the team for over 6 months now and is glad having made the decision.