Case study: Project manager for railway technology, Dresden

For a European technology company headquartered in Bavaria, which is also a development partner for the rail vehicle and construction machinery industry, we were able to successfully fill the vacancy for Project Manager Railway Technology within 2 months.

1. Our Mission

Due to the urgent order situation at the Dresden location, the position of Project Manager for Railway Technology (m/f/d) needed to be filled as quickly as possible. Our client therefore expected the first profile to be submitted within 6-8 weeks. Furthermore, the search was conducted with due consideration of their country list, as candidates with any connection to the defense sector are not accepted. With regard to our client's business partners and customers, we also initially coordinated the blacklist—the companies not to be approached.

2. Our approach

We need to know exactly who we are looking for.

A key foundation for successful work with us is a requirements profile that is as detailed as possible. Our dedicated recruiter worked on this thoroughly and in-depth via an online call with our client's Dresden department head, accompanied by an HR business partner from headquarters. This took place immediately after the contract was signed in order to achieve initial results as quickly as possible.

Transparency is important to us. During the search process, we regularly kept everyone involved, including the candidates and applicants, updated on the current status.

Nothing is set in stone. Our clients can always coordinate any further adjustments and changes during the search process with their responsible recruiter. Therefore, we decided not only to advertise for a Project Manager in Railway Technology (m/f/d) or to focus on this position directly, but also to expand the search filter slightly by including the job title "Project Engineer in Mechanical Engineering (m/f/d)," which ultimately led to success.

In principle, maintaining a personal relationship with our clients and applicants helps us to make our collaboration productive, fast and efficient.

3. The result

Four days after agreeing on the requirements profile, we were able to deliver the first profile. One week later, the initial interview with our client's department head took place, followed by a second interview with representatives from the HR department. Two months after the order was placed, our recommended candidate received a contract offer, which was still being negotiated by both parties. Throughout this process, we continued to provide advice and support to both our client and our applicant. After just two months, both parties have now found a common ground and are very much looking forward to working together.