Client story · Telecommunications
Telco Group Head Search: When the Best Candidate Isn't at a Competitor
- Industry
- Telecommunications
- Job function
- General Management
- Level
- Group Head
- Location
- Jakarta
About the Company
Our client is a market leader in Indonesia's telecommunications industry, and it needed a Group Head. As a result, expectations for the role were exceptionally high.
The company was not simply looking for someone with the right title or years of experience. It needed an executive who could operate at a very high level, understand the complexity of a market-leading organization, and bring the strategic capabilities required for the company's next stage of growth.
What Challenges They Faced
Naturally, one of the first places to look for senior telecommunications talent is within competing telco providers. But as the search progressed, even candidates from major competitors, people with strong industry credentials and relevant experience, were not consistently meeting the client's expectations.
The issue was not a lack of experienced candidates. It was that the conventional talent pool was simply not producing the level of fit the client expected, and searching the same group of companies would likely produce more of the same profiles.
How Talent Hunts Helped
From candidate search to talent mapping
Instead of limiting the search to direct competitors, our consultant ran a thorough talent mapping exercise across the broader ecosystem around the telecommunications industry: adjacent technology, digital, infrastructure, ecosystem and customer-related businesses.
The question changed from "Who is currently a Group Head in a telecommunications company?" to:
"Who has the capabilities to succeed as a Group Head in a market-leading telecommunications organization?"
That distinction opened up an entirely different talent pool.
Looking beyond the telco provider
Through talent mapping, we identified a candidate who did not come from a traditional telecommunications provider, but who had significant exposure and connectivity to the telecommunications ecosystem, together with the strategic capabilities, leadership maturity and business perspective the role required.
The profile was unconventional, but highly relevant. The best candidate does not always come from the same industry.
Why talent mapping matters
For senior positions with exceptionally high expectations, a database search is rarely enough. Talent mapping shows:
- Where the strongest talent actually sits
- Which organizations have developed comparable capabilities
- Which executives have transferable leadership experience
- Where adjacent talent pools may exist
- Which candidates could bring a different perspective to the organization
If the existing talent pool cannot meet the standard, the answer may not be to lower the standard. It may be to expand the talent map.
For this Group Head assignment, that meant looking beyond traditional telecommunications providers, and identifying a candidate from outside the conventional telco talent pool who met the client's expectations. Learn more about our executive search services.
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