Original Post
Subject: How do you feel about placing candidates from an outside industry?
Date: February 19, 2008 08:28 PM
I recently submitted my resume to your job bank. My experience lies in the paper industry in sales and marketing as both a manufacturer's (mill) rep and distributor. Most of my efforts have been focussed on sales and specification to the graphic design industry. A colleague recently left "paper" to pursue an A&D opportunity with an office furnishings company. She found the transition to be easy and industries to be quite similar. I was wondering, given the right candidate and experience, if you have had success placing people in similar industries? Thank you.

Replies
Subject: Placing from outside the industry
From: Brian
Date: February 25, 2008 11:33 AM
As the operations person here at The Viscusi Group, I have spoken with Stephen about this question at length. Because we are a retainer based search practice and our clients (the manufacturers) pay us in advance to find very specific people for very specific positions, it is exceptionally rare that we place a candidate from outside the industry. It is not impossible for a person to change careers or move from industry to industry on their own. But it is unlikely to happen through a headhunter. Our clients (the manufacturers) pay us to find people who are already doing the same job at one of their competitors. Please take a look at Stephen's extensive letter on the Job Listing page which can more fully explain how The Viscusi Group works.

Thanks for your question.

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