Finding scarce talent for a company facing exponential growth

Morningstar, Inc. is an American financial services firm headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It provides an array of investment research and investment management services. Morningstar’s research and recommendations are considered by financial journalists as influential in the asset management industry. Morningstar’s growth in recent years relies on the company’s ability to attract highly skilled professionals in very demanding talent markets. In this conversation with Roxana Brahasteanu, Director Talent Acquisition EMEA at Morningstar and IESF Partners Spain and Romania – Victor Carulla and Adelina Rosca – we emphasize that agility, speed and trust are the three most important success factors to bind and captivate the best candidates in today’s candidate marketplace.

Victor Carulla, IESF Spain: “Morningstar is a dynamic environment with a high focus on people. They are growing in different areas and want to hire specific profiles that are scarce. These professionals can work in and from different cities around Europe. This made the search extra dynamic, because we were in a way competing blind with other possible candidates and processes in other countries.”

What are the focus points for a new AVP European Corporate Credits?
Roxana Brahesteanu: “The candidate had to conduct all the activities required to assign new ratings for European NPL securitization transactions, as well as other relevant rating actions. The perfect candidate needed to assist in the update and development of the relevant rating methodologies. But also, be involved in various on-going projects, including research projects, and developing analytical tools.”

Can you give a summary of the assignment and the placement? How did the process go?
Victor Carulla: “The assignment went very well and quite fast. We focused on specific companies within their sector, and we proceeded to identify around 30 potential candidates. After interviewing several candidates, we presented the three candidates we considered as most suitable to Morningstar. Morningstar offered a very complete compensation package to one of them, he accepted and that is how we completed this search assignment.

Adelina Rosca: “Morningstar is a great international client in all aspects. Always easy to contact, responds quickly and gave us all the information and access to contacts within their company to understand the position, the market and the company even better.”

Roxana Brahesteanu: “The choice for the final candidate ultimately was a combination of their experience and market knowledge but not least importantly, their motivation and interest to join Morningstar and support our mission to empower investors’ success through our range of products and solutions. A great example of agile teamwork between our HR team and the support of executive search partners of IESF.”


the client

Morningstar, Inc. is an American financial services firm headquartered in Chicago, Illinois and was founded by Joe Mansueto in 1984. It provides an array of investment research and investment management services.
With operations in 29 countries, Morningstar’s research and recommendations are considered by financial journalists as influential in the asset management industry, and a positive or negative recommendation from Morningstar analysts can drive money into or away from any given fund. Through its asset management division, the firm currently manages over US$265 billion as of March 31, 2022. The firm also provides software and data platforms for investment professionals, including “Morningstar Research Portal”, “Morningstar Direct” and “Morningstar Advisor Workstation”. https://www.morningstar.com/

About the author

Adelina Rosca

Romania

Adelina has a BA in Sociology and Psychology and a Master in Strategic Management of Human Resources. She is fluent in English and Romanian and passionate about headhunting and counselling.

The first step in her career was working as a Human Resource Inspector in a small company, followed by a period of a few years as a School Psychologist.

Obtaining a full time recruiting job in an international executive search company in 2006, Adelina specialized in headhunting for several years. In 2010, Adelina began fulfilling mission-critical roles in an international environment, combining HR knowledge with management expertise, running the business in Romania as a Country Manager, with specialization in Middle and Senior Management positions. Adelina joined Rosman in 2014 as a Managing Partner and Head of Business Development.

About the author

Victor Carulla

Spain

Victor has a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) from the European University of Barcelona (Spain), a Master of Business Administration from the European University of Montreux (Switzerland). He completed the Advanced Management Program (AMP) from ESADE and Wharton University and is fluent in Spanish, Catalan and English, with basic French.

Victor launched his career as a Financial Corporate Controller at one of Spain’s biggest insurance companies. He transitioned to the recruitment industry, a few years later, actively participating in the launch of leading Barcelona business. He soon became Sales Director of a company, establishing all new parameters in the commercial and operational area and meeting established objectives.

Over the past 10 years, Victor has been involved in the Executive Search business while based in Barcelona and working throughout Spain & Portugal, specializing in Senior Management. His outstanding track record speaks for itself.

Victor Carulla is the Managing Partner (founding partner) of Headway Executive Search.

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