Recruitment of Divisional Managing Director – Global Oilfield Services Company

The Challenge

Our client was an international Oil & Gas service business operating in 60 countries and employing 50,000 staff.

Following the appointment of a new UK VP, a decision was taken to launch a new Division offering Well delivery services to E&P Operators. The first step in establishing the new strategic offering was to bring in an appropriate leading external expert who understood the niche business and was able to lead the launch of the Division in the global marketplace.

We were asked to conduct an anonymous, global search to identify, attract and assess suitable candidates. The commercial sensitivity of the new  business offering meant that our client’s identity had to be protected and candidates had to be brought to shortlist stage without knowing the potential employer.

The Approach

Following an extensive brief taking process, we identified the key requirements of the ideal candidate and put together a team comprised of technical specialists and those with the relevant domain knowledge from within our global Oil & Gas team. The Search was led from our Aberdeen office, giving the Client local access to global resources.

The ideal candidate needed strong operations and project management skills and experience, gained within Well services, as well as the ability to work effectively in a large, complex Oil services organisation. A proven track record of growing a business backed by outstanding contacts and networks in the global industry in the relatively narrow Wells delivery arena was essential.

We conducted an Executive Search into direct competition in Well services providers, as well as a wider market mapping of the oil services sector and Well engineering specialists.

We were successful in bringing candidates to shortlist stage without disclosing the company in order to preserve the Client confidentiality.

The Result

From our global Search recruiter, we identified over 150 individuals, 48 of whom were relevant. Of these, 16 were fully assessed by the Odgers team, and six shortlisted to our Client. The successful candidate was a Well engineering specialist with a first class honours degree and PhD, whose career included roles with major E&P operators and service companies, including technical, business development and general management positions. Most recently he had successfully set up a new division of a major oilfield services provider.

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