The process of replacing key team members in a business can be very hard and require extreme delicacy. In my practice there were a lot of cases with special requirements for official secrets. And here is a very demonstrative one.

 

One day we were approached from the European office of a multinational corporation. We were to become partners in finding the CFO for their Ukrainian representative office. The highest degree of confidentiality was immediately spoken. The peculiarity of the situation was that neither the head of Ukrainian representative office, nor, of course, the acting financial director, had to learn about the plan of the head office to make the replacement. And these two top managers have worked together for over 10 years ... I assumed that the customers have faced compliance issues.

The "funniest" thing was that only two companies almost exclusively dominated in the industry. Therefore, in order to ensure confidentiality, not only the company could not be mentioned to the candidates, but also the product they will work with!

 

The project was successfully completed. The new CFO was found, while we managed to maintain complete confidentiality and not give the market the slightest signal. All this notwithstanding the fact that the project was launched in July, and the final meeting, at which the Ukrainian leader learned that he would have a new CFO, was held with the three finalist candidates in December. Candidates were named the company a week before the meeting with regional leaders. Prior to this, all have passed the SHL assessment center. I cannot imagine what the head of the representative office felt when he was invited to meet with the candidates ...

During the entire project, in order to prevent critical leaks, we had to use the entire specific arsenal of information security.

 

So, what do we recommend to foresee in such situations based on this and other cases from our practice?

-- Exclusivity of the recruitment partner. There should be maximum two points of information exchange between the partners.

-- Careful selection of neutral places for meetings with the candidates.

-- Using undeclared phone numbers (after all, a candidate may try to find them through search engines).

-- Avoiding mentioning in conversations any names, products, and even the market in which the company operates.

There were cases in our practice, when the potential candidate and the one who was replaced, had previously worked together and communicated. Of course, in such situations it is necessary to take additional precautions.

All this requires excellent performance discipline at all stages of work.

But even being compliant with formal requirements does not guarantee the successful protection of information. In addition it is very important to know and feel the market well. For example, a company may use in its work unique specific terms, unique names for key sales channels, etc. In the close circle of professional network, even one such word can be enough to violate the confidentiality.

 

The ability to work as quietly as possible is a sign of the highest professionalism of a recruiter. Therefore, choose a partner not only by what and how he talks. It is very important how skillfully he keeps silence.

 

Comment from Tetyana Bashmachnikova:

I think that it is important to raise one more topic here: maintaining confidentiality within the company itself.

In the story above, it was not the issue, although employees from three different countries were involved. But I can tell another case from my practice.

 

The head office of a company also carried out a confidential replacement – of the head of Ukrainian representative office. Recruiters worked perfectly, confidentiality during candidate search and approval was maintained at the highest level.

The new CEO was employed and started his induction at the head office. The CEO who had to be replaced, was still occupying the position. The company planned to talk to him later.

But as a result of information leakage inside the company, he received information about the future dismissal. It was not just a suspicion: he knew the name of his successor, the company he came from. It was clear that he got his information from colleagues. Such situation can be extremely dangerous for the company.

 

In the case of a confidential replacement, it is important not only to find a reliable partner who will work flawlessly in a delicate situation, and to communicate with him through a limited number of secure channels. It is equally important to provide the very limited access to critical information within your own company.