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People Capital Filled Two VP Positions with One Exceptional Candidate in Under Two Weeks.  

 

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About the Client  

• Global natural & synthetic color/ingredient manufacturer with products in 130 countries   

• Expanding innovation agenda requiring two VP R&D specialized color leaders simultaneously  

• Offices in 22 countries  

• Manufacturing in 14 countries   

• 1,200 employees plus  

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The Challenge  

Client needed to fill two VP-level R&D positions at the same time. They searched on their own and engaged two recruiters for six months and came up empty.  

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Two Senior Roles, One Impossible Search: Filling a single VP-level R&D position in the global color and ingredient space is difficult. Trying to fill two simultaneously made it even harder.

 

Why Traditional Methods Fall Short:   

In-house recruiters can fill certain positions and do a good job— but when you have other duties like full requisition and HR responsibilities, finding high level talent for a VP R&D leadership position in the color/ingredient/flavor space can be extremely challenging, to say the least. To have a fighting chance to be successful with these roles, you need to be in the R&D recruiting trenches every day, every month for 20 plus years building relationships and solid connections to get optimum results.   

   

Average contingent recruiters: How many connections do they have on LinkedIn? Is your recruiter a job hopper? Look at their job postings - Posting only Manufacturing jobs? Posting only Sales openings? Are they niched in our space? If so, how long? They can post jobs, search LinkedIn, and work their small general networks — but the best candidates in the color/ingredient/flavor space aren't going to be found that way. Six months of searching through average channels proved exactly this. Take more time analyzing your outside recruiter – it’s worth it. Average recruiters get average results or in this case, no results. Experience matters. Relationships matter.  

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The Right Candidates Aren't Found Through Traditional Methods: The most qualified people in this space are already employed, well-compensated, making long runs with their current employer, and not actively looking. They don't have "Open to Work” checked on LinkedIn. They aren't browsing job boards. They get hit up every month with new job opportunities and become numb to it. Reaching them requires something that can't be built overnight — deep, trust-based relationships developed over years of working exclusively in this niched space.

 

R&D Innovation Was Stalled: Every additional month without R&D executive leadership meant delayed product development, compounding pressure on the existing team, and real cost to the business.  

  

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The People Capital Relationship Solution  

People Capital was engaged. Within two weeks — after six months of the client and other recruiters finding nothing — we presented a candidate so well-matched that she was hired for not one, but both roles.  

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This is what 20 years in the R&D ingredient recruiting trenches makes possible. Our network of 30,000+ professionals across food, color, ingredient, and nutrition isn't just a database — it's a community built on real relationships, developed week after week, month after month, for two decades. We don't dabble in this space. We live in it. That singular focus is what gives us access that no average recruiter or internal HR team can replicate.  

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The Right Candidate Wasn't Looking on LinkedIn or job boards: Our candidate was a senior director at one of the world's leading natural color companies — excelling, well-compensated, and not on the market. Our candidate was exactly the type of high performer we specialize in finding: the ones who only move for the right opportunity, and who you'd never find any other way.  

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Not a Pile of Resumes: We didn't flood the client's inbox. We presented one exceptional person, thoroughly vetted and precisely matched to both roles — technically, culturally, and professionally.  

  

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The Result  

The client hired her for both positions. One candidate. Two VP roles filled. Six months of failed searching erased in under two weeks.  

Our candidate now serves as Vice President of Global Innovation, and still works there today — traveling the globe, leading R&D Product Development & Applications strategy at the highest level, thriving, and loving every minute of it. The long run she's making is a testament to the quality of the match.  

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Our client saved an enormous amount of time and money: they eliminated the cost of two separate executive searches, ended six months of organizational drag, and gained a single transformational leader who immediately elevated both functions she was hired to run globally.  

  

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Why People Capital  

We operate exclusively in the food, beverage, flavor, ingredient, health, nutrition, color, nutraceutical, agriculture, chemical, and pet food space. Every day, every week, and every month for the past 20 years, we’ve been building genuine relationships with high-performing professionals in this incredibly niched space. The result — our inherent ability to cast a much wider net (more connections and more experience) and fill a position quicker than any other firm in the market today. Typical search time is under 6 weeks at People Capital.  

  

Our distinct combination of experience and specialization is not something an average firm or an internal team can replicate. Our access is what makes the difference. It's built over decades, and it's what makes the difference between a six-month search that goes nowhere and a placement in under two weeks.   

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If you've been searching on your own and coming up empty — or if you know a search is going to be hard before it starts — that's exactly when you call us.  

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The better the people, the better the company. Find the best with People Capital.  

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people-capital.com| searchsavvy@people-capital.com | +1 630-297-9084 | Chicago, IL | Bradenton, FL