Case Study #2

The Retiring Banker

One late spring day, we were contacted by a new client that was referred to us. The Hiring Manager, John, was a senior executive for one of the world's largest banks' Commercial Real Estate department and he had an opening for a Senior Lender on his team. After determining that he was ready for a Search to begin, we set up an appointment to discuss his bank, his department, and his needs. It became clear that John was looking for a Commercial Real Estate Specialist that worked with credits from $1 mm to $10 mm. In this discussion, it was also mentioned that if we could over deliver in the qualifications needed for the position, the potential hire could be a backfill for John, as he was looking to retire soon.

Shortly thereafter, we delivered to him a list of 30 candidates that we would contact for the Senior Lending position. From this list, he was allowed to remove 'private' candidates and individuals that did not 'fit the bill'. John took off five names that were not specialized enough for what he was looking for and gave us the green light for the remaining 25. We explained to him that the process would be to find three qualified candidates for him to interview concurrently. We looked at his schedule for the next 2 weeks to ensure availability and we set off to make phone calls.

The candidates on the list were a mix of people that we knew well and lenders we did not know at all. All would be cold-called for the position for John. Over the next five days, 52 calls were made to the bankers on the list. From those calls, we identified the top three candidates and proceeded to set up meetings for Clifford, John, and Eric.

In the subsequent meetings, it became apparent that John felt one candidate was rising to the top. John wanted his boss to be a part of the second meeting so we coordinated all schedules to get the meeting done in a timely manner. At the same time, we took great care to keep the other two candidates warm as 'backups' as they were also qualified for the role.

After the second meeting between Clifford and John, John gave us a call to let us know that he intended to extend an offer to Clifford. He also said that he and his boss thought Clifford would be a possible fit for his role when he retired because Clifford was a former top producing lender in the city. This attribute was not immediately apparent as Clifford had taken some time off for a start up real estate venture.

It was at this point we set out to negotiate salary, title, bonus, benefits, and vacation time. We had already had many discussions with Clifford about his expectations and we then relayed that to John. We worked to get a fair salary and title for the role while at the same time exceeding Clifford's expectations to create a win-win situation for both client and candidate.

In the end, Clifford received a lucrative increase and John felt that with the hire of a proven, trusted Commercial Real Estate producer with enough experience to be the next manager, we had overdelivered on the search. This search was successful because we had direct contact with John throughout a 10 day process of 1st and 2nd interviews and this enabled us to keep the candidates' interest high.