Case Study: Beating The Competition

Fraser Dove International partnered exclusively with a Contract Research Organisation specialising in providing products and services to help further medical discovery in early-stage development.

Our client sought a Senior Director of Global Category Procurement Laboratory Operations to take responsibility for implementing a procurement category strategy for laboratory spend. The successful candidate would be required to improve processes and the inner workings of that category to generate significant savings opportunities. 

Identifying and engaging an outstanding candidate with a senior-level mindset, the ability to lead high-performing teams and the specific category management experience had proven to be a challenge for our client, which is why they reached out to Fraser Dove. With almost one hundred sites worldwide, the successful candidate would be given free rein on which location to base themselves at. A relocation package was not offered, however, so the candidate would have to already be located nearby to one of the sites.

Solution: Partnership Search

Partnership Search helps life science organisations to identify and secure high-impact talent with the ability to add value to existing and future operations. This exclusive and contingent offering was the ideal solution for this highly specific and esteemed position. 

Following the discovery call, the Assignment Lead – Joshua Wheldon – mapped out the entire market and relevant talent for the role, searching for an exceptional leader with specific category experience in both his extensive network and by headhunting additional talent. Joshua delivered a total of six outstanding candidates with niche category experience across two shortlists, thus giving the hiring manager further choice. 

With sites located across the globe, the working setup of the organisation was quite unique and virtual in the sense that face-to-face interviews were displaced in favour of online video interviews. However, with several hiring stakeholders taking sick and annual leave, the interview process slowed as a result. 

Outcome:

There could only be one victor; the successful candidate had specific experience for that category,  in-depth knowledge of spend and was an exceptional negotiator and communicator. Since his commencement of the role, the successful candidate has hit the ground running in his new role and has been adding significant value to the organisation and cost savings across the spend category.

The search was contingent, meaning that other executive search firms were also gunning for the prime candidate. However, Joshua received exceptional feedback on his shortlist of top-talent, with our client citing that his candidates were far stronger than the rest submitted to them. This further cemented Fraser Dove’s reputation as a successful and reliable search firm to work with.