Diamonds in the Rough – Succession Planning at its Best
Diamonds in the Rough – Succession Planning at its Best
“Diamonds in the Rough” is a phrase used to describe individuals who have great potential. Perhaps they are early in their security career but possess the ability to develop and refine their skills. They may need more time in a company to deepen their knowledge of the corporation as they move through positions. Given the right circumstances they often grow into some of the most solid, experienced employees an organization has.
SMR specializes in succession planning strategies for security risk and resilience departments, so we were excited to take on a multi-year contract for one of the world’s most revered luxury jewelry and specialty retailers as they staffed up and planned for their future security leaders.
Their goal was to elevate the level of their security teams at their retail locations in North America. They wanted to develop a pool of strong internal candidates who would be destined for promotion opportunities. They were seeking security practitioners and managers for a series of non-uniformed positions and were committed to promoting team members into more senior roles when those jobs became available.
The sheer number of positions they wanted to fill was a challenge. Secondarily, the jobs were to be located in almost every major metropolitan area in the US. This meant working with multiple human resources departments because each position would be recruited by individual regions.
The SMR Senior Advisor who spearheaded the project was an ideal match for our client. Previously he had staffed and managed security and guarding forces in various settings around the country which meant he knew exactly the type of “Diamonds in the Rough” our client was seeking. And how to manage dotted lines to multiple stakeholders within a single client.
Many of the positions were similar in structure so SMR was able to build a large nationwide cohort of candidates. We did not need to reinvent the wheel with each placement and that resulted in cost savings for our client. The moment another location was ready to hire, we had an already-vetted group of security professionals they could immediately begin interviewing.
SMR placed candidates with our client in 25 different locations in the US. We were honored they selected us to help them build a high-potential internal team, and we have stayed in touch with some of the friends we made in their human resources group long past the final placement.
It was rewarding to work with a company committed to the advancement of their security team. And some of those “Diamonds in the Rough”? They are now senior security managers, having turned out to be true gems in our client’s organization.
Want to discuss succession planning for your organization? Contact us to hear more of our success stories and learn how we can help. Sign up to receive job announcements for the region and join our security talent community to be considered for our current recruitments.
