Finding Niche Engineering Talent for a Karawang Manufacturer

Strategic Briefing

We started with a detailed briefing with the client’s HR and IT stakeholders. We went through the job description line by line to understand what the role really involved day to day, what the SAP landscape looked like, and how the person would work with the wider IT team.

The key step was separating the essential requirements from the nice-to-haves. Job descriptions often combine every skill a company would like into one profile, and very few candidates in the market match all of it. Together with the client, we agreed on the few must-have skills and experiences, and on where there was room to be flexible. This gave us a realistic target profile and saved weeks of searching for a candidate who did not exist.

Passive Candidate Outreach

Strong SAP Basis specialists rarely apply to job ads, so we went to them directly.

We mapped the market first. We identified companies running SAP environments of similar scale and complexity: other manufacturers in the Karawang, Bekasi and Cikarang industrial areas, multinational companies in Jakarta, and SAP consulting firms. This included companies in the client’s own industry, since people working in similar environments already understand the technical and operational demands of the role.

From that map, we built a list of potential candidates through LinkedIn, our own candidate database and referrals from our network. Our consultants then approached each one personally and confidentially, by message or phone. Many were not actively job hunting, so our first conversations focused on understanding their career goals and explaining why this opportunity could be the right next step.

Throughout the search, we respected confidentiality on both sides. We never asked candidates to share confidential information about their current employers. The client’s identity was shared only with candidates who showed genuine interest.

Persuasion and Negotiation

Interesting a passive candidate is one thing. Getting them to move is another.

For the shortlisted candidates, we explained the role, the team and the long-term opportunity in detail, and answered their questions honestly, including on commute and location, a common concern for roles in Karawang. We assessed each candidate’s technical depth and motivation before presenting them to the client.

Once the client selected its preferred candidate, we managed the offer stage. We aligned the candidate’s salary expectations with the client’s budget, worked through the notice period, and prepared the candidate for a possible counteroffer from their current employer. Because both sides had clear and honest expectations from the start, the offer was accepted and the candidate joined the client’s team.