Need: Third-party help finding great candidates
Service: Executive search
When their internal search failed to yield an appropriate candidate to oversee corporate and foundation relations, the Arthritis Foundation turned to Smith Beers Yunker for professional search assistance. Division Vice President Tracy Carter, who was in charge of overseeing the search, insists that after hiring SBY, “It was a night and day difference.”
Elaborating, Tracy explained that “It really got to a point that it was clear that we had exhausted our internal resources in terms of trying to recruit quality candidates for the position. But literally, within a month of hiring Smith Beers Yunker, I had a list of very qualified candidates to choose from. I just can’t tell you how astounding it was to me how quickly SBY transformed the process.”
In addition to easing the burden of the search, Tracy valued SBY’s professional and sincere approach: “Jim Yunker does things with such tremendous respect and sensitivity. I think he really handled the communication process in such a way that made everyone feel good about being part of the process, even the candidates that were not selected for the position. I appreciated the way that he communicated with everyone in a way that honored the effort and energy they shared with us.”
But most importantly, Tracy reported, the Arthritis Foundation is delighted with the results: “The person that we hired is exactly the kind of person we were looking for – someone with the level of experience that the position required, but also someone that really fit our family and culture here, someone who is really going to be able to become a vital part of our team. It was really a unanimous decision for us, among our leadership and staff.”
Overall, Tracy speaks highly of the services provided, commenting that “Smith Beers sets the bar when it comes to customer service and helping organizations meet their needs. Truthfully, I wouldn’t even consider working with another organization for our local hiring needs. Their service goes so far above and beyond what other firms offer in this particular area.”
Tracy offered this advice to other nonprofits: “I really wish we had utilized their services earlier. In retrospect, the return on the investment that we got would have made so much more sense than us having spent so many months trying to do the search ourselves. I think that the investment that you make in outsourcing with a company like SBY is well worth it in terms of the organization’s long-term interests!