Case Studies

Case Study – Candidate looking for a CEO position in an SME
SalesAhead regularly conducts interviews with passive job seekers. A jobseeker was in discussion with us and expressed the desire for a CEO position in an SME, also with a possible shareholding. The person had worked for several years in leading positions in large corporations and SMEs. She has a strong entrepreneurial personality and is above all a strong leader. Our candidates are always informed that we cannot guarantee them a position, but that we will keep their CV in our database and will contact them if we have a suitable vacancy. Four years after the interview with this person, we received a mandate to search for a sales-oriented CEO. We immediately searched our database for the candidate from back then, contacted him and established the connection between him and our client. Just two weeks later, he was able to sign the employment contract for his dream job, which he had told us about four years earlier.

Case Study – Placement of a Chief Executive Officer within 10 days
The board of directors of a medium-sized company in the technology sector gave us the mandate to search for a CEO. The person should have worked in the same or a similar industry. For operational reasons, a suitable candidate had to be recruited as quickly as possible. Thanks to our comprehensive database, which allows us to filter candidates by region, education, occupation and industry, we were able to present suitable candidates to the Board of Directors within two days. After three more meetings, the new CEO signed his employment contract. The mandate was successfully completed within two weeks.

Case Study – Building a sales team for a start-up
The founders of an online platform gave us the mandate to recruit several sales representatives and key account managers. The challenge with this sales recruitment was that a start-up is often unable to pay wages in line with the market, or the salary is made up of a lower fixed salary and higher commissions. A start-up is also a risk for many sales people, as the future course of business is relatively uncertain. Through personal discussions and thanks to our own conviction in the business model, we were able to inspire candidates for the company. This resulted in a partnership lasting several years, in which we were able to fill various positions. The company was successfully sold three years later.
Learnings: Start-ups often face the challenge of finding suitable employees to build up their company. Many candidates see it as a risk to work in a start-up, as the fixed salary is often low and it is also not certain whether the business model will be successful in the long term. In contrast, companies often want candidates with several years of work experience, good training and a low salary. Of course, experienced candidates are important. However, we have found that young people with a good education but little work experience are particularly interested in working in start-ups. We call them high potentials – motivated, proactive and “hungry to learn”. After a short training period, they can contribute just as much to the success of the company as an experienced employee, which is precisely why we want to encourage young companies to take a closer look at such high potentials.

Case Study – Placement of high potentials
The aim of most companies is to place talented individuals who can then develop successfully within the company in the long term. An international cosmetics company commissioned us to find a Retail Manager for the whole of Switzerland. The requirements profile for this position was very demanding. The person sought had to be fluent in German, English and French, have a university degree, be under 30 years of age and be willing to travel throughout Switzerland. Many people would like to work for well-known companies, but are not prepared to spend five days a week on the road. Thanks to a targeted direct approach and our large network, we were able to successfully place one person. Within a very short time and at a still very young age, the person was promoted to CEO and still holds this position today.

Case Study – Non-industry sales manager in the luxury goods industry
A company in the luxury goods industry asked us to recruit a sales manager. The candidate’s profile was developed together with the client. The most important factors were industry knowledge, retail management experience and fluency in English. After a short time, we were able to suggest the first potential candidates from the luxury goods sector to the client, which was followed by initial discussions with the client. In the meantime, a candidate had sent us an unsolicited application. He had many years of experience in the international hotel industry. His personality, his internationality and his experience as a General Manager in the luxury hotel industry were decisive factors for us in presenting the candidate to our client as an “out-of-the-box” candidate. Although this candidate did not meet the original requirement profile, he was hired as the new sales manager. As he had the right attitude, mentality and personality and was familiar with the complexity of daily problem solving, he was able to convince the client of his candidacy.
Learnings: In many cases, companies are looking for the ideal candidate for the vacant position and are thinking of a person who exactly matches the requirements profile. Candidates who are top personalities and would also be suitable for the position due to other experience are screened out from the outset. However, our experience has shown that these candidates are often the ones who contribute to the long-term success of the company and, at second glance, represent the ideal candidate for the vacant position. We therefore encourage all companies to also consider unconventional solutions and candidates when recruiting for a position and not to restrict themselves too much by setting too strict guidelines.

Case Study – Building an international sales team
Our client, a young e-commerce company based in Switzerland, commissioned us to recruit several sales employees in Europe. The challenge was to find the right personalities who were prepared to work relatively independently in their respective countries, but also to adapt to the Swiss work mentality in an integrative manner. Sales persons must always have the same characteristics – regardless of the country.
They must be authentic, likeable, empathetic and, above all, ambitious. By approaching people directly and placing advertisements on selected platforms, we were able to identify suitable target persons within a very short time. The first pre-selection is usually made by telephone. For example, how communicative someone is and how he or she reacts to our questions is crucial. At the end of the day, however, the personal interview is decisive. Because only in a face-to-face interview can the personality of a candidate be fully captured through both verbal and non-verbal communication.
Lessons learned: Authenticity, sympathy and empathy are difficult to assess in an initial telephone conversation and can lead to misconceptions. Facial expressions, gestures and body language provide valuable information in a personal interview. That is why it is very important to us to get to know all candidates personally, whether abroad or in Switzerland. For example, it is important to pay attention to how the candidate treats the assistant, how firm the handshake is, what clothing the candidate has chosen for the interview, whether the candidate remains seated or stands up when greeting the assistant, what choice of words the candidate uses and much more.