Finance Manager

Commercial Kitchen and Catering Equipment Supplier, Privately owned, London

The Context of the Assignment

Our client, a highly respected supplier of high end commercial kitchen and catering equipment, needed to recruit a Finance Manager to replace the co-Partner who was planning to retire after 30 years in the business. The individual joining the business needed to be a proven Finance Manager with a solid track record of success. This was also a great opportunity for the successful candidate to develop and grow the role within the company. Reporting to the Operations Director, the Finance Manager would be at the heart of the business responsible for providing sound, accurate and timely financial information and financial advice as required ensuring the business understood the financial implications of any potential business decisions.

The Recruitment Process

There was a timing challenge combined with the need to find the right ‘fit’, someone who could comfortably step in to the retiring partner’s ‘finance shoes’ and confidently own and manage the finance function. It was also essential that the successful individual came from a related industry background and could commute to the office within 30 minutes.

Our approach was different to the recruitment process that the Managing Director had previously experienced but we committed that we would treat this very important assignment as completely fresh and new. By agreeing to retain our services, we were able to dedicate significant time up front to get a full and accurate brief, meeting key people in the business so that we could really get ‘under the skin’ of the company understanding its culture and values to ensure we were able to deliver a robust and thorough interview and recruitment process. Following sign off of the job specification and a telephone screening process, we undertook a face-to-face interview with each chosen candidate. A short list of candidates, supported with commentary on our recommendations, was presented to our client for the next stage of interviews.

The Outcome

We successfully recruited a Finance Manager who is making a great impact on the business.