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Global Luxury Goods firm - Finance Manager and Chief Administrative Officer
With a minimal hiring budget and a slow period in the business year, the client was struggling to find an experienced Finance Manager who could oversee F&A, HR and General Affairs.
Our client was a global luxury goods firm with over 200 years history and a strong, established brand in Japan. The Tokyo office was run by a core team of 30 personnel managing the overall nation wide operations of 20 stores.
A Finance Manager was required to manage the F&A team, HR and General Affairs and report to corporate headquarters. In addition, as the Country Manager was often occupied with business development trips throughout the APAC region, the Finance Manager was required to manage daily operations for the 30 person team at Tokyo headquarters.
Despite being a luxury brand, the company was not performing well in recent years and budget for this position was rather limited. The client was only able to pay a salary of approximately 60% of the going market rate for a position of this level.
The search came in only 10 days before the Christmas and New Years break in Japan, which is typically a slow time of the business year. Adding to the client’s limited budget, this would prove to be a difficult assignment to fill. The Professional Services Team took a two pronged approach of working through a target list of companies which would have suitable candidates close to the client’s budget and undertaking a thorough referral plan.
Fortunately because of Optia’s broad industry coverage and in-depth network of back office candidates, the team was able to come up with an abundance of referrals leading to 3 qualified and interested candidates by early January. Meetings with all 3 candidates were arranged and a finalist who was also from the luxury goods industry was chosen. After two meetings with the Country Manager and a third meeting with the other key management team members, the candidate was offered.
Fortunately there were no obstacles in negotiation of the final terms and conditions and the candidate was guided throughout the resignation process, leaving amiably with his previous employer.
The offer letter was signed at the end of January with the candidate accepting a salary which was close to the client’s initial budget and similar to his previous compensation plan.
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