Challenge
While most companies have scaled back or urged caution during the COVID-19 pandemic, one home improvement company did just the opposite.
No surprise there. The home improvement industry has mushroomed during COVID as homebound homeowners are actively seeking out DIY projects to occupy their time.
As such, an Illinois-based home improvement and home furnishing company specializing in installed carpet, flooring, and window treatments nationwide, had a personnel dilemma — they needed to rapidly build out their internal sales management team to get to these potential customers.
Their internal recruiters were struggling to keep up with the demand for sales managers, assistant managers and market managers in different markets.
Solution
Based on a referral, the client’s Talent Acquisition Director came to MATRIX for help, even though MATRIX is mostly known for placing contract IT talent, not for filling permanent sales manager positions.
“I let her know that MATRIX is very flexible and willing to learn more about the challenges they were facing,” said MATRIX Account Executive Aaron Rontal.
“We had to learn their process and make it as painless as possible for them,” he said. “They have a very in-depth candidate submittal process which includes the candidate taking and passing an assessment which determines the best overall fit for the client’s environment.”
A dedicated MATRIX recruiting team was put into place, including offshore resources. To come up-to-speed required numerous intake calls connecting hiring managers and recruiters to gather an understanding of what was needed and how the assessment was to be gauged.
The work was fast and furious.
“Permanent placements are typically slow,” said Rontal. “However, with this work, they moved ultra-fast. They needed to fill these spots, because they couldn’t generate revenue without these people in place.”
Ultimately, the client released 22 urgent sales management openings for three different levels of positions. The client moved very quickly providing feedback and interviews and MATRIX made its first placement within three weeks of initiating with the client.
Since candidates were all remote, further coaching on how to interview via Zoom was provided by the MATRIX team. Tips and tricks of virtual interviews made a big difference in how the candidates presented themselves, both in how to make their personalities shine and how to answer situational questions.
Results
The professionals placed by MATRIX are performing well, sales are good, and the future looks bright. The client’s Talent Acquisition Director and MATRIX Account Executive have forged a great working relationship including daily conference calls and frequent IMs. Now MATRIX is helping them find candidates for its traditional sweet spot — IT contractors, while continuing to help in other areas outside of IT.