Establishment of an Executive Search Practice
James Mitchell - Executive Recruitment Consultant & Specialist
Following the break-up of the Soviet Union and the transformation from a command economy to a market orientated system, with a growing reliance on a strong private sector, the Partner in Charge of the newly established Price Waterhouse office recognised the value of offering an executive search service, in order that his office could provide a complete range of services to organisations building businesses in Poland (both Foreign Direct Investors and local).
James Mitchell established the practice, recruiting local staff (some with overseas experience) and then training and mentoring the new consultancy team to run the operation. All existing international clients and all clients new to the country were visited and substantial business won. This success was maintained and built upon after completion of the assignment.
James Mitchell was seconded to the recently established Price Waterhouse Warsaw office from the highly successful executive recruitment team, in the UK. The brief was to assess the viability of, and establish, an executive search and selection practice, within Poland, to service international corporations already in-country and those that were moving into the emerging markets of Eastern Europe.
This was done by:
- Meeting and selling the concept to all partners and managers based in the office,
- Attending meetings with existing and potential international clients (intending to become foreign direct investors) to gauge their interest,
- Undertaking two senior recruitment campaigns to assess the quality of candidates available, in country.
Following the success of these assignments:
- Recruiting a manager and assistant, both Polish, to take the new executive search practice forward,
- Training and mentoring of these staff, in interviewing, assessment and report writing techniques, over a period of two months. (Assessment Centre techniques were investigated and considered. However, at that stage of the economic transition, these were not appropriate.)
Following this project, James Mitchell was invited by the senior partner, who had transferred to be Partner in Charge of PWâs Moscow practice, to undertake an international targeted search for a senior finance manager for the practice.