Client story
Consulting Director Search: Finding the Right Leader Beyond Indonesia's Talent Pool
We appreciated Talent Hunts Indonesia’s initiative in looking beyond the local talent market and exploring the Indonesian diaspora overseas. This approach introduced us to a talent pool we had not previously considered and ultimately helped us find the right Consulting Director for our organization.
- Job function
- Consulting
- Level
- Director
- Location
- Jakarta
About the Company
Our client is one of the world's largest consulting firms, operating in a highly competitive professional services environment where leadership quality, client confidence, and the ability to deliver meaningful business outcomes are essential.
For this assignment, the company was seeking a Consulting Director to strengthen its leadership team. Given the seniority of the position and the expectations attached to it, finding the right individual required more than identifying candidates with relevant experience.
The client needed someone whose overall profile matched the expectations of the role and the organization.
What Challenges They Faced
The Consulting Director position had been open for an extended period. The client had already interviewed numerous candidates in Indonesia but had not found someone who met its requirements.
Despite the time and effort invested in the local search, the right candidate remained elusive.
At this stage, continuing to search within the same talent pool risked producing more candidates without necessarily improving the likelihood of a successful appointment.
The challenge was not simply to identify more candidates. It was to reconsider where the right candidate might be found.
This was when Talent Hunts Indonesia was engaged to support the search.
How Talent Hunts Helped
This assignment illustrates three important principles of effective executive search.
- A difficult search may require a different search strategy.
When a position has remained open despite extensive local interviews, expanding the search beyond the original candidate pool can reveal new possibilities.
- Talent mapping should follow the requirements of the role, not just geographical boundaries.
Relevant professionals may be found outside the local market, including members of the Indonesian diaspora who have built their careers overseas.
- A search partner should contribute insight, not simply candidates.
The value of executive search lies not only in identifying and assessing professionals, but also in challenging assumptions and introducing alternative approaches when the initial search strategy has not delivered the desired result.
Looking Beyond the Local Talent Pool
Rather than limiting the search to candidates based in Indonesia, Talent Hunts Indonesia expanded the search strategy across geographical boundaries.
The objective was to identify relevant professionals whose experience and background could match the client's requirements, even if they were not currently based in Indonesia.
This broader perspective opened up a different talent pool: Indonesian diaspora professionals working overseas.
An Unexpected Discovery: Indonesian Diaspora in the United States
Through a cross-border search, Talent Hunts identified a potential candidate from the Indonesian diaspora who was based in the United States.
This was a significant development in the assignment. The candidate represented an avenue that the client had not previously considered during its search.
Instead of continuing to rely exclusively on the local candidate market, the search had uncovered a potentially suitable professional through a broader, international perspective.
The value of this approach was not simply that the candidate was based overseas. It was that Talent Hunts challenged the boundaries of the existing search and introduced the client to a talent source beyond its original considerations.
Five Shortlisted Candidates, One Successful Appointment
Following the search and recruitment process, Talent Hunts presented five shortlisted candidates for the Consulting Director position.
The client proceeded through its selection process and ultimately hired the candidate identified through the cross-border search.
The position was filled within 45 days.
The outcome demonstrated how broadening the search geography can create new possibilities when a senior-level position has remained difficult to fill through conventional local sourcing.
A Search Strategy That Challenged the Original Assumption
One of the most valuable aspects of this assignment was the client's appreciation of Talent Hunts' initiative in exploring the Indonesian diaspora talent pool in the United States.
This approach introduced a possibility that had not been part of the client's original search considerations.
For Talent Hunts, the assignment reinforced an important principle: when a search has struggled to identify the right candidate, the solution may not be to repeat the same process or compromise on requirements. It may be to reconsider the boundaries of the talent market itself.
"The right candidate is not always found where everyone else is looking"
Your Next Great Hire Starts Here
Hiring a CFO, CEO, Country Manager or another senior leader in Indonesia? Tell us about the role, and a consultant will outline how we would run the search.
Talent Hunts Indonesia — Executive Search Beyond the CV.
