Industrial Relation Specialist recruited for a leading international MEP contractor with global operations in the ME division, Columbia, South America.
Location: Columbia, South America Sector: Construction- Power Client request: Industrial Relation Specialist Recruitment type: Executive Search/Head Hunt – short term post
The Requirement:
Our client was a leading international MEP contractor with global operations. The company was involved in the construction of a Power Plant in Columbia, but was having significant industrial relations issues causing severe delays in construction progress. They contacted KCM to ascertain if we could assist them in sourcing a candidate on a six month contract, preferably an American, with experience in South America, to manage these issues with the various factions on the project.
The Method:
This was a very unusual request and we could not commit to our client that we could source such an individual however we did commit to putting the effort into trying.
Although we felt that it was unlikely we would find the right person through advertisements, our first step was to source a relevant job portal in the US and get the process under way. One of our staff members had previous experience in industrial relations within the construction industry and he took on a networking role. As the contract was relatively short-term we were aware that the most likely candidate would be an individual working on a consultancy basis.
Although some relevant candidates were sourced by KCM from the advertisements in the US, they were not deemed acceptable. Some other leads were also obtained by checking references although after 2 weeks we were still not satisfied that we had the right candidate to present to our client.
Ultimately our staff member who took responsibility for the networking aspect of the process, was referred by a contact to an American living in London who he had met at an industrial relations seminar several months previously.
The candidate had all the right attributes, including experience in a similar position on an energy project in Mexico.
After the normal due diligence, our client flew to San Francisco to meet the candidate and a deal was struck.
The Result:
The candidate remained 8 months with the company until the bulk of its work was completed. We are currently working on more main stream positions for this client at present.
