The Client
Our client is an engineering and general contracting firm with thousands of complex ongoing projects around the globe. They are a market leader in their space and are passionate about their work and their clients. Their geographical presence spans offices in most major markets in the US and overseas. Since our client is currently growing at a rapid pace, they have partnered with The Squires Group, Inc. (TSGi), a top information technology staffing and recruiting agency, to provide them guidance and provide talent to support their accounting and finance teams.
The Challenge
Our expert recruiting and staffing team has been working with the CFO and supporting him in their Accounting team’s direct hire needs. While discussing one of his direct hire positions, he presented our talent acquisition team with a challenge. He felt strongly that the company would benefit if an expert was hired to evaluate their business model–with the goal of finding ways to save money and eliminate wasteful spending. This would include analyzing business expenses and spending trends.
The Solution
As a next step, our dedicated client account manager engaged Ed Kennedy in the client discussion since he is our Resource Manager that specializes in sourcing and building a network of Accounting and Finance professionals. After an exchange of ideas, Ed suggested that we focus our talent search on finding a senior Accounting and Finance candidate that would be willing to work as a Squires Group consultant to support this critical short-term project.
Ed set out to find a Controller/ CFO candidate who was transitioning between jobs, had the deep cost-saving analysis skills required and was open to working on this project as a Squires Group consultant. Equally important was the requirement that this person would have to be comfortable working with another CFO. As Ed reached out to his network of Accounting and Finance talent professionals, he had a variety of candidate discussions and within four days presented his top pick.
Our candidate possessed over 20 years of progressive accounting experience and had stellar professional references. He also brought prior experience working with a “Big Five” accounting firm, and as a CPA, he previously worked in both CFO and Controller roles. With a solid understanding of corporate/operational accounting and finance, he was able to provide recommendations (starting with the interview process) from a fresh perspective. The timing to join a new project was perfect since our candidate had just wrapped-up his previous role as a CFO and was looking for a challenge to keep his skills updated while he was building the plan for his next career move.
The Success
Our client was so impressed with our candidate that he decided to start him on the project right after their first meeting. During the two-month contract, our consultant hit the ground running and analyzed the business model for potential cost savings. From the start, our consultant looked at the business on a macro level before deciding to focus on real estate, merging offices, costing and procurement to dig deeper to help cut costs. As a result, our client’s CFO got the help he needed to conduct the cost-saving analysis to impact the bottom line.
Our client was pleased with the results of this project, and our consultant felt that this contract fulfilled his desire for a challenging project. This opportunity also allowed our consultant to get visibility into a new industry and a look into how their business was structured. This was a win-win for both the sides and shows another way how our accounting & finance recruiting team can help you with your business needs.
Do you have a need for direct hire placement services? Reach out to The Squires Group, a top accounting and financial services recruiting firm that provides custom talent acquisition solutions designed to help your organization achieve its goals.
