A rapidly growing data center builder had trouble keeping up with its own hiring needs in its construction division. The business needed a Vice President of Talent Acquisition who could both manage the desk and expand the operation at the same time.
The Client
Founded in 2009, the company provides turnkey data centers in the US and Canada from design through to handover. Based in Dallas and classified as one of the fastest-growing companies in the US, it had grown well beyond its original construction focus. The mission-critical construction market had taken off in a big way, and the company was hiring at a speed its structure wasn’t built for.
The construction division was growing so fast that its existing talent acquisition team didn’t have the bandwidth to keep up. Additionally, there was no senior leader to own the TA agenda or hold hiring managers to consistent standards across the function. The Chief Human Resources Officer saw the gap and made the search the company’s top hiring priority.
The Challenge
The search primarily targeted candidates from large commercial contractors and EPC companies where construction workforce recruitment is the main function. The client was clear from the start of the brief that the VP was also to be responsible for direct recruitment alongside the team.
The new VP would also inherit an ATS replacement that was already underway, with hiring continuing at full speed until selection and migration are completed. There were no dashboards to track hiring performance and no clear process to hold hiring managers accountable yet.
The VP of Talent Acquisition was a new role, with no playbook or predecessor. Whoever stepped into the role would be building the function as they went, at the fastest point of the company’s growth to date.
The Solution
The search focused on VP-level TA professionals from large commercial contractors, where field-heavy hiring and a player-coach approach are already standard. This meant that those who had moved into strategic or advisory roles were excluded, which narrowed the realistic pool.
Several candidates were interviewed, some of whom progressed to second-round talks with the CHRO and VP Talent Management, before one candidate pulled decisively ahead. The client described the drive she brought to the conversation as exactly what they were looking for. She had a background in major commercial contractors and knew how to build the reporting infrastructure and hold a recruiting function to measurable standards.
She lived out of state and would have to move to Dallas. Her family accompanied her to the on-site visit, which they used to look at homes in the Dallas area.
The Results
The offer was in line with the client’s upfront declaration to go in strong. With a $27,000 sign-on fee, $20,000 for relocation, and a 40% annual bonus, the package totaled $230,000.
Background checks were completed without any problems, and the hire was confirmed within the client’s target window. Keller Executive Search confirmed a VP with the commercial construction background and drive to recruit directly that the client had asked for. The search opened in October and closed with a signed offer before year-end, on the client’s target schedule.
The Impact
The construction division was hiring at a pace that its talent acquisition function was not built for, and the VP who stepped into the role came in at the company’s fastest point of growth, with no predecessor and an ATS migration already underway. The real test was the player-coach expectation: she had to recruit directly with the team while simultaneously creating the dashboards, standards, and accountability frameworks that had never existed in the function. What she does next will determine, in part, how successfully the company enters its next phase of growth, but in the meantime, there is a hiring function that can scale with the company.
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