Case Studies
The costs of making a bad hire
It happens quite often: a fundraising executive who appears to be the right fit turns out to be anything but. Mis-matches like this can be very costly for the hiring organization.
In this case, and before we were brought into the picture, our client had hired an experienced fundraiser who looked great on paper and in the interviews, but who simply did not suit the position after being hired. Team morale soon began to drop, as did the organization’s fundraising results.
Our client quickly knew they had erred in hiring this person. They also knew they had to make a change. But, not surprisingly, they were anxious about potentially making the same mistake all over again. It’s a small organization with a strong culture of cohesiveness. Fit was essential, but hard to find.
Diligence and candour in finding the right person
The organization’s leaders started meeting several candidates on their own. However, they had neither the time nor the search expertise to properly articulate their exact needs or vet the people they were meeting to meet those needs.
We were hired to find that right fit, beginning with a thorough review of what went wrong and how we could deliver the right person to replace the bad hire.
Tapping into our extensive network, we made more than 600 calls to find quality candidates to bring forward. We created an in-depth hiring process, employing a variety of tools to diligently ensure we were looking for the right person. This included our intensive reference-checking process.
Our client became increasingly keen to simply hire someone during what turned out to be an extended search. Although our search budget had long been spent, we were candid in counselling our client to be patient so as to avoid making another expensive hiring mistake.
Securing the ideal fit for the long-term
The ideal candidate we identified had said no to the opportunity twice before, partly because she didn’t fully understand the opportunity. Nor did she want to make a mistake in her own career progression.
Yet, in working closely with our client to properly define the job and the organization’s strategic objectives, we were successful in securing this person for the job.
She’s a great fit, and has been an integral part of the organization for the past 3 years. She has built a solid team and has grown their annual fundraising revenue.
Excellent talent attracts multiple offers
Highly experienced and accomplished university administrators are often in high demand.
That was the case here: a very strong candidate for Executive Director at a large university had two equally attractive offers from two major institutions. And he was having a hard time deciding which one to choose.
Our client, one of these two institutions, was prestigious. But it also had a reputation for being a difficult place to work. That meant we had to sell the opportunity to this sought-after candidate, but only if that candidate truly wanted the job in the end.
Making the right choice for themselves
Sometimes candidates have a hard time articulating to themselves what they are seeking in a new position, and how they see their careers moving forward. Career coaching support, a discipline in which Sandra Paquette excels, helps those candidates understand what they really want when it comes to considering and seizing new opportunities.
In this example, it became clear through many conversations that the finalist candidate was attracted to the prestige of our client’s university. But making a move like this has many levels to it. So we talked at length about trade-offs of each offer. And because our conversations were always based in integrity, we offered him clear and candid guidance, in his best interests, as he considered the two opportunities.
The ongoing benefits of making that right choice
In the end this candidate decided that our client’s university was the right fit for all the right reasons.
Ten years later he is still there, having led a capital campaign that attracted some of the largest gifts his faculty has ever received.
Finding a leader in a small talent pool
A national federated charity was looking for a new CEO to guide it forward in a challenging time for the organization, and for fundraising in general.
While this charity had a Canada-wide scope, its national office was small. This meant fit was critical. This office also lacked authority to execute change on a national scale, making it difficult for the CEO to drive the charity’s strategic direction at a common pace and scale across the country.
Working with a variety of stakeholders was particularly important in this position, putting a premium on strong relationship skills. However, because the organization was federated, many not-for-profit leaders did not want to take on the CEO position. This shrank the NFP candidate pool, making the search that much more difficult
Expanding the talent search
Once brought in, we immediately realized that this small pool of potential NFP talent was a limiting factor on the search. Our client had to expand their thinking.
They agreed, and we guided them all the way through the process of finding attractive private sector candidates. This included tapping into fast-growing sports organizations given the nature of the charity with which we were working.
Our targeted and rigorous search process uncovered a candidate who had been the CEO of a large national company. He also had many years contributing to the NFP sector on boards and in fundraising roles, and was considering a career move.
A thorough review of his references affirmed that he was a very solid fit. So, we worked closely with our client and this private sector executive to secure the hire.
Making a match that lasts
Our client would never have met this candidate if we had not expanded their search horizons and gone beyond Canada’s NFP talent pool.
But now, 3 years later, the ideal candidate is still the best fit for this complex national charity.
Getting started in fundraising, without experience
A cultural organization decided to start a foundation to help it raise money and awareness for the unique needs of its members. However, with no experience in this sort of thing, the leaders of this organization didn’t know where or how to start in their quest to find a leader for their new foundation.
What’s more, there was a very small and underdeveloped pool of candidates who had both a thorough understanding of this organization and its culture, and experience in fundraising.
Respecting culture and unique needs
Due to the unique cultural needs of the organization, we knew it was important to look for candidates from within this cultural group and fundraisers from outside it but who had extensive fundraising experience in the charity sector.
We also understood that an ideal fundraising candidate from outside the cultural group would be better accepted by the community it served if we could prove our due diligence in trying to find the right fit within that cultural community.
We spent at least 30 percent of our time delving deeply into the community, getting to know all the key leaders and their ambitions for – and concerns regarding – the new foundation.
With our targeted recruitment experience, we were able to efficiently identify potential candidates from outside the community yet who understood its values. And, as we anticipated, the ideal candidate was not to be found within that community.
Fostering growth and developing skills
In the end, our ideal candidate had a broad range of fundraising and operations experience. She also had a style we thought would mesh well with the culture of the community.
We presented our candidate recommendation to the organization’s leaders for their consideration. In short, our candidate was committed to building both the organization and the community’s own fundraising skills, such that the next leader would come from that very same community.