Our Executive Method

As specialists serving niche markets of clients and technologies, we know how to find high-performance candidates and steer them to your company.

Research and recruiting

Before the search begins, we’ll arrange a meeting to discuss your specific needs and draw up a profile of the person you hope to hire. To help us understand the position, we’ll ask you to fill out a brief questionnaire called a “search navigator,” designed to prioritize candidate characteristics and identify companies, industries or markets in which a person with exceptional talent might be found.

During the recruiting process, we’ll provide progress reports and background presentations as qualified candidates surface. We’ll facilitate interviewing, check references when appropriate, weigh in on candidate interest and suitability and even make recommendations about compensation and relocation issues. In most cases, the first round of referrals and interviews takes from three to six weeks.

Generating an acceptable offer

Once mutual interest has been established, we enact our capture strategy to bring the chosen candidate to your company. We identify what the candidate’s needs are in terms of compensation, perks and relocation assistance. We help you find out if there any loose ends that must be addressed and-perhaps most importantly-if the candidate is serious about joining your team (or just juggling offers or overtures to leverage against a current employer).

As difficult as it is to find the right person, your efforts are wasted if the candidate turns you down. It’s our job to help broker the deal.

Ensuring a smooth transition

Once your offer has been accepted, we’ll do whatever’s needed to help the candidate professionally resign from his or her old position-including help with issues like declining a counteroffer-and assist in any way that might help the transition.

Ascott Group refers only candidates who are sincerely interested in joining your team. We don’t waste your time with reluctant candidates, those who might use your offer to test their market value or those looking to leverage an existing position. We only refer candidates with realistic expectations and corporate-culture compatibility.

Industry specialties

Our consultants are more than just skilled executive search agents. They have extensive experience from successful careers in the industries and markets they now serve, and they have broad knowledge and contacts that make them adept at filling clients’ needs.

We also offer cutting-edge search capabilities in industry market specialties. In each of these industries, we’ve crafted a record of achievement across extensive business functions. We’re confident that the executives we place have the skills, experience and passion to drive enhanced performance and increase shareholder value.

Electrical manufacturing

Ascott Group is well known as industry specialists in the $100B electrical industry. Our manufacturing clients represent the full spectrum of products: lighting, switchgear, wire/cable, construction materials, controls, factory automation, fuses, tools and more. Our experience includes most channel strategies: wholesale distribution, big box retail, OEM, MRO, utility, CEDIA, specialty retail and end-user solutions.

Our typical functional positions include sales, marketing, engineering, operations and finance. Typical searches include sales, sales managers, marketing managers, national account managers, product development managers, application engineers, engineers, engineering managers, cost accountants, operations managers, manufacturing engineers, plant managers, quality managers and channel managers.

We also regularly conduct senior executive searches, with recent positions including VP, Sales; VP, Sales and Marketing; VP, International Sales; President; VP, Marketing; Regional VP; VP, Engineering; Director of Product Development and CFO.

Wholesale distribution

Ascott Group has served the wholesale distribution market since opening our doors. Our clients include national chain, regional, specialty and local distributors within the electrical and industrial supply markets, with specialty distributors for Allen-Bradley, Cutler-Hammer, GE and similar switchgear manufacturers, as well as members of the larger marketing organizations such as Affiliated Distributors, Imark, Equity or EDN. Our clients include specialty distributors such as machine tool distributors, industrial MRO distributors, lighting distributors/showrooms and utility distributors.

Our typical functional positions include sales, inside sales, quotations, project managers, technical sales, branch managers, operations, finance, controllers and senior executive positions including VP, Sales, VP, Operations, CFO, President and VP Marketing

Electronics OEM/distribution

Ascott Group is well represented in the electronics industry through our contacts within the manufacturers of passive and active components. Our typical clients’ products include semi-conductors, RFID and PC board components. We also serve the wholesale distribution community for electronic components.

Our typical functional positions include sales, sales managers, marketing, marketing managers, new product design engineers and engineering managers.

Senior executive retained search

With 25 years of industry relationships and experience, Ascott Group is uniquely positioned to offer senior executive search and placement services. Tom Connors, manager of our Senior Executive Search process, brings experience as VP, Sales for a $1B manufacturing company, offering unique insights into strategic planning, organization development and executive compensation programs.

Our typical search positions include all Director, VP, President, C-level and board membership functions. Our process includes strategic planning consultation to ensure the specific responsibilities and accomplishments needed for our client companies to succeed.

Our search process is highly confidential and can accommodate candidate identification and qualification well before the client company identity is released. This ensures complete confidentiality and minimizes internal repercussions.

Our recent positions include VP of Sales/Marketing, Director of Product Development, VP of International Sales, Divisional President and VP of Engineering.