Automotive

Belgium

Assignment

A well-known European brand operating in the automotive retail sector engaged the services of our Belgian team to secure a new Benelux Country Manager. With the goals of increasing brand awareness, developing a B2B service on top of the B2C offering and delivering double digit growth from the 40+ outlets in the territory – it was crucial that the right talent was secured for this strategically critical role.

Solution

As the services offered by the client were relatively niche in the sector, the Hays Executive team knew that simply headhunting professionals from similar services providers would not have created a suitable shortlist. The team therefore decided to focus their search on three key criteria:

• Automotive services experience
• Retail experience (as at its core, this was a retail business)
• Experience diversifying a B2C focused offering into the B2B market

By finding one profile that was strong for each point of the criteria, the team was able to provide a varied and thought-provoking shortlist to the client. This shortlist actually helped the client to understand what they really needed for this role – someone that was a top class retail general manager.

Result

Once the right person was identified, the team was able to help the client build a competitive package to pull them away from the lucrative Belgian freelance market and onto the client’s permanent payroll. Within three months of starting the search the right talent was engaged, secured and performing in the role.