deep blue water

Executive search

We find executives who are a good fit for your company, provide added value, engage in continuous training and education and have the potential for further development.

Philosophy

For us, consultants are partners. We assume full entrepreneurial responsibility for each assignment. We have a strong personal interest in maintaining a long-term, successful and excellent relationship with our clients and candidates.

We only accept assignments we believe we can carry out professionally and to the full satisfaction of all involved within a short period of time.

We conduct each search – from the initial briefing to the conclusion – personally and without the involvement of any junior consultants. As an extension of our client, we speak with potential candidates respectfully and on equal terms. Interviews are also conducted exclusively by the partners.

Method

The basis of each search is a detailed, personal briefing meeting with the client. Only after we understand the position and the company and its culture and values in-depth is it possible to fill the position successfully.

Our consulting approach

In order to be able to present the best qualified candidates at the end of a search, it is necessary to think outside the box and to consider people from industries that enable a transfer of knowledge.

A central element of success of each search is a methodical assessment of the companies included in the list of target companies.

To do so, we use publicly accessible platforms, the personal contacts of our consultants, the specific network of our knowledge partners and – in special cases – highly specialized contact researchers. At the same time, we work with industry experts to expand the search to include other companies that seem expedient.

Extraordinary individuals have many choices. As an extension of our clients, our job is to interest candidates in the position and attract them to the company.

We check references – upon request, at the beginning of the search process. This enables us to assess the sustainability of the candidates’ track record as well as their personality at an early stage. The structured interview and science-based online tests form the basis for a thorough and comprehensive assessment of the candidates.

We support candidates in their new positions and also share information with our clients in regular interviews.

Industry expertise

Based on the industry expertise of the consultants, supplemented by the specific industry knowledge of our knowledge partners, we are able to provide advice in most industries expertly and in a forward-looking manner in matters related to management and leadership.

Executive Search: Financial services

Lower revenues, greater requirements, new competition and technological constraints as a result of legacy systems present significant challenges to financial services providers, fundamentally altering the competitive parameters.

In particular, fintechs are showing traditional market participants which elements of the value chain can be offered in a segregated, simplified and therefore more profitable manner, or which services can be provided entirely without intermediaries thanks to disruptive technologies.

Regaining the trust of society, clients and employees remains a priority, especially for large international companies.

Digitalization and automation as well as the intelligent use of current and future data to develop innovative solutions help to create added value.

Executive Search: ICT

The digitalized economy rewards companies that are able to respond to new requirements quickly and precisely.

On the client side, this means, in addition to having ICT that moves at different speeds, ensuring a robust operation and increasing excellence in the areas of cyber security, data management, service and asset management, and the establishment of an architecture that supports a mobile first approach.

On the ICT provider side, the trends toward more software and toward services that are offered on demand and irrespective of location are accelerating.

Powerful platforms and specific ecosystems enable economies of scale, but they also create considerable dependencies.

Executive Search: Media

Aside from strengthening the customer relationship and developing new business and revenue models, the development/adjustment of existing media brands taking account of new technologies and new user behaviors is the biggest challenge facing the media industry.

The dissemination of existing and new publishing offerings as well as a consistent positioning of the media brand across all channels is one of the successes of the industry, alongside efficient production.

In addition to a good sense for what is worth reading, it is necessary to be alert and have the ability to work on the relevant and central social issues and enable the formation of opinions that lead to constructive solutions.

Executive Search: Industry

Industrial business systems are being globalized further, and increasing efficiency and effectiveness are high priorities.

A highly volatile economic environment presents opportunities for agile market participants, but it also requires adaptations to ensure greater robustness during market turbulence.

The digitalization of processes, combined with continuing automation and an intelligent combination of value chain flows remains challenging and capital-intensive, but also essential for increased productivity, greater innovation, flexibility and agility as a response to increasing competition and higher customer requirements.

Executive Search: Life sciences

Increasing pressure to innovate and high development costs, the choice of the optimal commercialization strategy – all while meeting increasingly strict regulatory requirements – present life sciences sectors (pharmaceutical/biotech, medtech and diagnostics) with more challenges than ever.

At the same time, collaboration between young and established companies and the use of data-driven business models presents new opportunities to optimize treatment results and improve profitability.

Executive Search: Services

The service sector is characterized by companies in the area of transportation and logistics, aviation, tourism, business services and professional services.

The individual sectors have different levels of competitive intensity. However, they all face the pressure for a high level of flexibility and comprehensive availability.

The high interchangeability of service and difficult market conditions has led to low margins and a need for strict cost management as well as enormous pressure to consolidate and innovate.

Functional expertise

With a history dating back more than 30 years and an international network, we have extensive international search experience in nearly every corporate function as well as board members, CEOs and senior management functions.

Executive Search: Board members

Strategically navigating the Fourth Industrial Revolution requires a thorough understanding of its impact as well as in-depth knowledge of the relevant technological and social catalysts.

Rather than looking back, we need to take a long view. When there is less planning certainty, it is necessary to find a way to reach the next “level” in good time and, in the best case, before our competitors.

In addition to traditional and normative concerns, the board of the future will have to have IT expertise, knowledge about new industry-specific technologies, familiarity with testing new customer experiences, experience dealing with agile organizations and an increased awareness of social responsibility.

Executive Search: CEO

It is necessary to find the balance between robust current results and future growth.

Increasing difficulty managing various stakeholders and more volatile business and revenue models call for more agile structures and greater innovation.

In the knowledge economy, the CEO is increasingly morphing into the company’s architect and designer, someone who unleashes its collective knowledge, creativity, experience and energy and makes use of these factors.

This transformation requires CEOs with modesty, authenticity and predictability.

Executive Search: CIOs

As an efficient and reliable member of the project and operational business, the CIO plays just as important a role in managing and renewing the infrastructure as in supporting corporate management through a robust enterprise architecture, derived from the corporate strategy via processes, business capabilities, application and technology architecture, portfolio management, data management and cybersecurity.

Digitalization and innovation in business processes are playing an increasingly important role and the CIO is morphing into the chief transformation officer.

This requires a strong business understanding and excellent business and IT acumen. The CIO also drives the cultural transformation of the entire company toward agility and serves as an intermediary between hierarchical management models in the core business and networked organizational models with indirect leadership of IT.

Fast implementation and collaborative service delivery models are becoming more and more important.

Executive Search: CFOs

As an information broker, the CFO must ensure transparency and develop forward-looking statements. In the future, the CFO will increasingly provide added value by shaping tomorrow more than by analyzing yesterday.

Ongoing globalization, unforeseeable and major dislocations on the capital markets, unpredictable interest rates and more volatile exchange rates as well as rapid technological change and new, non-traditional risks, increased regulatory requirements and obsolete valuation models present challenges for CFOs.

Financial efficiency and service level and the ability to protect and safeguard the company’s assets and reputation through functioning internal controls remain a priority.

The CFO of the future will actively contribute to the company’s strategic focus and ensure the efficiency of its strategy through operationalized performance and financial management.

Executive Search: HRMs

The effective management of people within a company needs to change fundamentally and be decoupled from tactical HR work.
Issues like employer branding play an increasingly important role in attracting the best employees. The targeted collection, accumulation and sharing of knowledge within a company will become as important as demographic change, inclusion and the changed expectations of work models.
The company can create the desired identity and valuable engagement through supporting and values and cultural elements.
HRM is destined to become a catalyst of the transformation process toward work and organizational forms with a greater focus on effectiveness that will once again increasingly focus on people.

Executive Search: CSOs & CMOs

Sales and marketing are the big winners of the technological revolution. Never before has there been greater and more precise customer information available to those who know how to use the technology correctly.
The trend is toward real-time and right-time marketing, although the basis for these continues to be a positive customer experience. Analytics and cognitive services support and validate the value promise and the harmonization of the sales channels, while further customized content and offerings enhance the information and purchase experience.
New career fields like data scientist, user experience experts and marketing technologists enhance the sales and marketing organizations.
CMOs must become champions for in-depth knowledge of customer needs and be able to meet these needs through new value promises and/or new business models.

Executive Search: Legal / Compliance / Audit / Risk

In legal departments, new topics, such as data security and maintaining data security, safeguarding privacy and protecting intangible assets, are playing an increasingly important role.

The increasingly decentralized and externally supported provision of services raises questions related not only to liability and tax law, but increasingly licensing law as well.

Liability management geared toward the special aspects of networked systems will therefore be essential in the future.

Fees

We work with guaranteed fixed fees. The amount of our fee is based on the amount of time spent on consulting, the complexity and  international scope of the search and the importance of the position.

As our fee is agreed in advance and is not defined as a percentage of the salary, there is at no point an incentive for us to recommend candidates with higher salary expectations or to exclude potential internal candidates who work at the client’s company.

Guarantees

If a candidate we have recommended leaves the company within six to twelve months (depending on the position and fee) for reasons that are demonstrably due to his/her lack of professional qualifications, we will work to find a replacement for no additional fee. Only any expenses incurred will be charged.

If a search project is not completed within the specified period of time, we will continue to work to find a candidate until the position is filled successfully at no additional charge.

A key element of our business policy is that we do not actively contact the employees of our clients for positions at other client companies. This rule applies to the department or division for which we provide consulting. It remains in effect for the duration of the business relationship, but not less than two years.