The Problem
The company needed senior production leadership in two locations at the same time.
These were not general plant-manager searches. Both roles required direct experience in a specialized manufacturing environment, and the qualified candidate pool was narrow.
The founder had also been burned by recruiters who created volume instead of signal, leaving his team to vet unqualified candidates and run references themselves.
“Every recruiter I start with sounds great. Then we get a barrage of resumes, and it just falls back on us to vet them and check references. It’s almost like placing a net in the water and hoping.”
Founder-CEO
What ALAC Did
ALAC built the recruiting infrastructure first, then sourced narrowly rather than broadly, running both searches as an embedded partner.
Built the infrastructure first
Within 48 hours of kickoff, ALAC completed onboarding, tech-stack setup, calibrated job descriptions, and market-compensation analysis before sourcing began.
Sourced narrowly
ALAC targeted direct competitors and adjacent manufacturers instead of posting broadly and filtering after the fact.
Ran both searches in parallel
ALAC managed the Director of Manufacturing and Manufacturing Manager searches across two states using structured scorecards and calibrated shortlists.
Owned the process through offer
ALAC managed submissions, reference checks, interview coordination, candidate communication, and offer negotiation through each candidate’s start.
By the Numbers
2 of 2
Both leadership searches filled
17
Candidates shortlisted across both searches
About 8 weeks
Kickoff to first signed offer
18 days
Source to signed offer on the first placement
The Result
Both searches converted to signed offers.
The first placement, a Director of Manufacturing, moved from initial sourcing to signed offer in 18 days. The second placement, a Manufacturing Manager for the newly opened second facility, followed through a similar shortlist-to-offer process. Both hires accepted six-figure first-year base salaries and started on-site.
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The Strategic Impact
The two placements installed operational leadership in both locations during a simultaneous multi-state production scale-up. That reduced the risk of operating either site without dedicated on-site leadership and allowed the founder and COO to focus on broader execution rather than carrying the hiring burden themselves.
Built for Direct Industry Fit
Finding the hire is half the job. ALAC engineers the other half, the staying, from the first conversation.
Selected for direct industry fit
Both hires were selected for experience in the specific manufacturing environment the roles required.
Coached through negotiation
ALAC managed compensation negotiation through signed offer.
References run before the offer
References were completed as part of the evaluation process before offer acceptance.
A narrow shortlist, not a candidate dump
The client received a narrow, high-signal shortlist instead of a high-volume candidate dump.
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