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HR CAPITALIST SEARCH: Director of HR at Cimation (Houston)

Kris Dunn (HR CapitalistFistful of Talent) is working exclusively with CIMATION to fill its newly created leadership role seeking a Director of HR.  This role will be a member of the Cimation leadership team, located at Cimation HQ in Houston and reporting directly to Cimation's CFO.  Compensation and rewards are inspiring for the right candidate.

How I Conduct a Search for an HR Leader:

Some of you probably know that, from time to time, I get to help select companies find their next great HR pro.  I do searches for companies looking for a different type of HR Leader, and it's one of the best Cimation logo parts of my job(s).  

I've got a great one for you today—I've been retained to help Cimation (HQ in Houston) find its first Director of HR.

Let's do this.

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Twitter Position description:  @Cimation seeks first ever HR Leader. If you're a deep, talented HR pro who's frustrated with the shackles and wants a clean whiteboard, I've got the gig.

Of course, I can't stop with a single tweet, so the follow-up would look like this: Re: @Cimation HR Leader spot—that whiteboard comes with implied pressure. Are your ideas and ability to get it done enough to live up to the opportunity?

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Cimation Director of HR Opening - The HR Capitalist Job Description

Kris Dunn (HR CapitalistFistful of Talent) is working exclusively with CIMATION to fill its newly created leadership role seeking a Director of HR.  This role will be a member of the Cimation leadership team, located at Cimation HQ in Houston and reporting directly to Cimation's CFO.  Compensation and rewards are inspiring for the right candidate.

KD’s comments: If you're already whining about the fact that you don't report to the CEO, walk away.  I'm looking for the type of person who understands that all that talk about a "seat at the table" is really personal weakness. Players take the seat, and reporting structure doesn't reserve you the chair. The type of person I'm looking for knows that working for a Leadership Team who really gets and values the talent side of the business is a significant advantage.  Regardless of reporting structure, you’re going to have access and opportunity to influence and work with all the C-level team, CEO included.

Who is Cimation?  Great question and we've got a great answer. Cimation is a fast-growing technology company dedicated to revolutionizing the energy industry through automation, IT and enterprise data solutions. They develop and integrate innovative technology that fundamentally changes the way companies do business by providing real-time data that enables smarter decisions, safer operations, and improved efficiency. Founded in 2009, they are headquartered in Houston and currently have six offices in energy hotspots throughout North America. They have earned numerous awards in 2013 including places on the Inc. 5000 list and the Forbes list of America’s Most Promising Companies.

KD's Comments: In case you haven't heard, the energy sector is blowing up, and Cimation was formed to plug the aforementioned gap in tech solutions available to the energy sector. That's why the company has had explosive growth, going from $5M to $30M in revenue in 3 years, a growth rate of 491%.  The phrase "blazing hot" comes to mind.  The story so far in 2013 and future growth projections are incredibly strong as well. One of the priorities for a dynamic, progressive leadership team is to get the people side as innovative as the product side. That's where you come in.

Demographics of the Cimation Opportunity: You know the industry and the growth curve, so let's get you up to speed on what the people side of the company looks like.  230 employees, looking to go to as much as 380 in the next year.  There are six primary locations that, as you might guess, follow the curve of the energy sector in America—Houston (headquarters), New Orleans, Denver, Lafayette (Louisiana), Calgary and Pittsburgh.  Cimation has a strategy to lead in compensation, although part of your responsibility will be to figure out where that goes in the future.  Cimation was born as an incubated company out of a leading engineering firm in the energy sector (Audubon). The business mix at Cimation is heavily weighted towards the build out of custom technology solutions for clients, although the imminent future will undoubtedly include a move to a more standardized product line.  That transition comes with its own set of talent challenges, which is again where you come in.

KD's Comments: With growth of the workforce on tap for the foreseeable future, Talent Acquisition, Recruiting, and Retention is going to be a big part of what you do as Director of HR at Cimation. That means I'm looking for the type of HR pro who likes the recruiting side and views it as an attractive part of the role. If you don't like to think about recruiting, this one probably isn't for you.

Who You Work For: At this time, the plan is for you to report to Iser Cukierman at Cimation, a deep CFO type who's been on the Big 6 career path with firms like KPMG, worked in less-than-stable environments like Venezuela (Accenture), and was on the M&A due diligence at E&Y before refining his own view of what works with people management at Fiserv.  You'll also have a chance to work with co-founder Jonathan Klein, a 33-year old visionary who's picked up his share of accolades (see LinkedIn bios of both by clicking on the name link).  

KD's Comments: Both Iser and Jonathan are all you could ask for—leaders who get the talent function and are looking for the best person possible to own where they go from here. They'll be involved in a good way, you just have to be sharp enough to keep up and execute on the fly while bringing your own thoughts, experience and value to the party.

The 5 Most Important Things You'll Work on at Cimation: I'm not going to give you the laundry list of what you're responsible for overall at a company like Cimation—you know that list. Instead, here are some quick notes on where you'll be expected to change the game inside Cimation:

1. Organizational Structure - Cimation is a technology firm, so it's not surprising that they're inquisitive about how philosophies like Agile can drive their business moving forward. How are Agile techniques best deployed in a multi-location environment? That's what you're going to help them figure out. The answers are more Spotify than Oracle.

2. Culture – The first think you need to know is the building blocks of the culture are there, and it feels more like a entrepreneurial software start-up in Silicon Valley than an energy company. You know, it's easy to have a great culture when you have 50 people. Cultures start breaking down once a company gets to 300+ employees, so you'll be there to help them understand how to continue what they've built culturally while they grow it moving forward.  Expect one of the answers you'll need to provide being related to the best ways to design best-in-class onboarding.

3. Talent Acquisition and Retention - There's a couple of recruiters on the team you'll manage, and an important thing for you to know is that the recruiting function of Cimation routinely places talent on-site with clients. That means recruiting is not just internally focused, it's at times part of the product for clients. That makes your role directly linked with the services Cimation provides—implementing a process to identify cultural and personality fit.

4. Performance and Comp - I'm guessing that the concept of performance at Cimation is going to stretch the normal definition, including a model heavy on coaching (consistent with the Agile world), 360 tools that include feedback from clients, lightweight mentoring relationships, etc.  Compensation strategy will also be important moving forward.

5. ERP Ownership - The future likely includes full implementation of an ERP, so you'd own all the mapping of HR processes that fall under the domain of an ERP implementation.

Final Comments:  It’s a great role.  I think the right candidate could come from a couple of different places, most likely a candidate from a big company with great human capital strategy who feels like things have gotten just a bit too bureaucratic over the last couple of years, or an up-and-comer who’s built similar infrastructure at a similar sized company and wants to do it again. Tech seems to be a bigger fit than the energy sector, although energy-sector knowledge could be valuable for the person who is a match in all the other ways. 

Submittals for this opportunity are being handled by Kris Dunn. To apply, please send your resume in Word format directly to Kris Be sure to ask him for a packet of company information and intelligence that you can use to separate yourself from the pack in this search (the deep dive).  If you’ve made it this far and are energized by the opportunity, hit me with your resume and ping me on Twitter.

Cimation's got a great whiteboard for the right HR pro.  High growth, technology play in an under-served niche and leaders who value the people function.  Ping me if this describes you. 

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