We competed two assignments for this client – and emerging VC-backed Oil & Gas technology firm that were a stretch for us. The first was in Australia and the second was in Colombia. On both occasions we went about building a shortlist of candidates, utilising our on-line tools and our experience to find and approach potential candidates on the other side of the world, without ever leaving the UK.

The first assignment was to recruit a new Country Manager for Australia, based in Perth, WA to report to the VP for Asia Pac, who was based in Singapore. We took the assignment on, and the identification and approaching stages were no different than other assignments, although we had to make telephone and Skype interviews in the middle of the night and it became very complicated when participants were in Perth or Singapore and Calgary or Houston. We didn’t quite build a five-man shortlist, but we found two candidates who were very strong matches and over a series of subsequent interviews, including with the Group CEO, one of them was appointed to the post.

The second assignment was to recruit a Latin American Finance Manager. The client had a growing presence in South America and they needed someone with both finance and language skills to oversee the financial matters across all of South America, from their continental HQ in Bogota, Colombia. The client was sceptical that we could find the right candidate in Bogota and certainly we weren’t sure how best to recruit in such a remote location, but we found that our online tools were just as effective – although we had less candidates to choose from. Again we found two strong contenders for our post and they went head to head in Skype interviews and then a face to face with the LATAM Regional Director, and they ultimately hired a candidate who had “ticks in every box”.

In both cases we established that with application and ambition, we can search effectively for our clients regardless of location or time zones.