JohnMarch Partners, a Dallas-based healthcare search consultancy, was awarded multiple search assignments by a United Arab Emirates partnership working under contract with the UAE government. JohnMarch beat out several major old-line executive search firms for this attractive assignment.
How did we get the work? Believe it or not, it was not that hard. And the account acquisition costs were minimal.
Professionalism and courtesy won the day for our organization.
A frequent complaint against the old-line search firms is poor communication concerning the progress of the search engagement. Some candidates complain they are contacted by recruiters and enter the black hole of no contact. The JohnMarch standard is weekly communication with candidates and clients. We are by no means perfect but our team works very hard on this standard of service. A year ago the Firm led a nationwide search for a Vice President of Human Resources for a mid-sized public hospital. One of the candidates for this work was — you guessed it – the candidate who became the CEO of the UAE partnership. Although our new UAE client was not really a good fit for that original assignment, our team treated him with respect and communicated frequently with him. He remembered our innovative approach, our commitment to accountability and the courtesy of the team. When he became CEO of a joint venture company in the UAE, he reached out for JohnMarch.
Entrepreneurs who work in the services segment frequently ignore lucrative overseas business opportunities. We think that we are too small. We look at the overseas market as being too costly to penetrate. I know, because I suffered from that disease for years.
Lesson learned? Do not short change yourself. Even small firms can get into the game, especially if they offer value that exceeds that which larger firms are willing to provide. The old-line firms are not that innovative or flexible. Flexibility and creativity are important. They are the strength of entrepreneurially-driven firms. JGS