Case Study 1: Understanding What Our Clients Truly Need
Case Study 2: Delivering Quality Versus Quantity
Case Study 3: Digging Deeper Than the Competition

Case Study 1: Understanding What Our Clients Truly Need

A large financial services company searched long and hard for a senior-level direct-mail marketing manager with a strong background in mortgage banking. Unfortunately, tracking down a candidate who possessed this highly specialized skill set was like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. Frustrated after several months of searching on its own, the company decided it needed a better strategy. For expert advice on how to find the right person for the job, the company turned to CM Access.

CM Access guided the client through an extensive and thought-provoking interview process, carefully listening to the hiring manager’s concerns and assessing the company’s needs. Then, we played devil’s advocate. By suggesting that the position might not require an individual with senior-level experience and then investigating that proposition with the client, CM Access went far beyond the scope of typical placement agencies. CM Access posed probing questions and hypothetical scenarios to highlight the benefits and drawbacks of hiring a senior executive. The insights garnered from this process enabled the client to determine that a less senior candidate – one whose qualifications combined the right background and skills with the ability to quickly synthesize new information – might prove to be a better fit.

Our next step was to present four highly qualified candidates. With a nod to the client’s original request, we included three senior-level professionals. The fourth candidate was a mortgage pro with great skills but fewer years in the marketing business. This candidate’s sharp intellect, together with her mortgage expertise, professional accomplishments, and confident presence, convinced the company to hire her before they had even interviewed her competition. Without the fresh perspective provided by CM Access, this candidate’s resume would probably never have made it to the hiring manager’s desk, and the company would’ve lost the opportunity to gain an exceptional new contributor to their marketing department.

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Case Study 2: Delivering Quality Versus Quantity

A successful software firm with both U.S. and international operations was seeking a vice president with enough marketing savvy to eventually become CEO. After a laborious, frustrating search by its human resources department, the organization brought in CM Access to help.

To meet the tough challenge of identifying a top-level executive—and potential CEO—for this software firm, CM Access put its crack team of veteran recruiters to work. As not only successful recruiters, but also seasoned marketing and creative professionals, the team’s members combined the knowledge and instincts needed to negotiate all the complexities of this exhaustive and crucial executive search. The team combed through a long list of executive-level software professionals, and after rigorously screening potential candidates, narrowed the candidate list to one outstanding individual.

This candidate’s skill set, professional qualifications, and work experience, as well as his personality and temperament, aligned so perfectly with the company’s needs that the client immediately recognized him as the right person for the job. Nevertheless, with so much at stake – the candidate’s career and reputation and the client company’s future – the hire was hardly a done deal. The ensuing negotiations proved stressful and protracted. CM Access guided the client every step of the way, ensuring that the final agreement was fair to all parties. It was a sweet moment when the final signature was inked on the dotted line. The candidate, the client, and CM Access all cheered their own victory as well as their mutual success.

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Case Study 3: Digging Deeper Than the Competition

An international marketing agency was looking for a new creative director for its vibrant Boston group. After a brief phone interview, the company hired a well-known search firm. To get the search firm started, the agency supplied the resumes of 60 applicants. Yet despite this huge pool of candidates, this big-name firm failed to identify any professionals that the marketing agency considered suitable. The discouraged marketing agency had no choice but to resume the search. This time, however, the company understood that one search firm isn’t necessarily as good as the next. After careful research and consideration, the agency decided to partner with CM Access.

In discussions with CM Access, the client expressed its disappointment with the previous search firm. The search firm didn’t seem familiar with the agency’s work or its corporate values and didn’t express much interest in the culture and style of its office. Nor did it spend much time assessing the agency’s needs or learning about the responsibilities of the position or the qualifications it required. The enormous influx of resumes from this search firm succeeded only in overwhelming the hiring manager with its sheer volume.

The agency was pleasantly surprised with the CM Access team’s dedication to client satisfaction. At CM Access, we believe that nurturing successful relationships begins with doing our homework. The recruiting team researched the agency and met at length – and in person – with the agency’s senior managers. The intensive discussions gave us a clear picture of not only the agency’s expectations of the new hire and how this employee’s goals could be achieved, but also of how the employee’s accomplishments would fit into the company’s overall corporate strategy.

CM Access knew from long experience that finding the best candidate requires a painstaking vetting process. After carefully screening the applicants and meticulously documenting the references and credentials of each one, CM Access presented two superior candidates with the talent, skills, and personality to become the driving force of agency’s creative department. When the time came to choose between the two, the agency had only one complaint: both candidates were perfect for the job. The client’s ultimate choice proved to be a happy one. The new hire’s talents and style fit perfectly with agency’s culture and vision, and he quickly evolved into one of the agency’s top performers.

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