Trulite is a nationally recognized manufacturer of architectural glass and aluminum systems. They produce solutions primary for commercial spaces, and they’re best-known for their beautiful curtain wall products, storefront systems, and specialty glass products (including hurricane-resistant systems, bird-friendly glass, and even glass that can be both transparent and opaque). 

They’re well-known for their prominent promote-from-within culture, but some searches require sourcing new talent from the market. We began working with them years before this search as they looked to grow their sales team. They’d just had negative experiences with a couple of other recruiting firms that failed to provide the quality or quantity of candidates they needed. When they were ready to throw the towel in with the other firms, they decided to give us a shot. Suffice it to say it went well! 

We’ve helped them flesh out their sales team in the years since then, but we’ve also placed candidates with them across HR, finance, safety, operations, and even engineering. 

For this search they had to fill an Operations Manager vacancy in North Carolina. Per usual, they attempted to tackle this one on their own first. They hoped to fill it by hiring internally, promoting a current employee, or—if it came down to it—bringing recruiting someone with their internal talent acquisition team. But their Regional VP of Operations wasn’t willing to settle for anything less than perfection for this role, and when they hit the final wall they brought us in to secure someone who would meet those high standards. 

The “perfect candidate” looks different to everyone, but the Trulite team had a solid understanding of exactly what this hire needed to be. 

This was one of their larger facilities that benefited from a more hands-on management style, and they needed someone who could manage a team of 50-75 people. They also value lean principles of continuous improvement and operational excellence, but official “certifications” didn’t matter to them. What did matter was being able to actually apply those concepts to improve facility operations. Their final (and most important) requirement was hiring someone with glass manufacturing experience. This wasn’t a “nice to have,” it was a “must have.” 

Combining their niche industry experience requirement and their desire to hire someone local significantly narrowed the available talent pool. Which, in the end, worked in our favor. They were clear that they had high expectations, and we were eager and ready to meet that demand. We dove right into the search, putting four qualified candidates in their hands within a week of kick-off. 

That one slate of four candidates was the only one we sent. They chose to interview two of them, and one candidate immediately stood out as exceptional. As you might expect, in the end they offered the role to that outstanding candidate, who happily accepted. 

The man they hired was working as a Plant Operations Manager for a smaller, well-known manufacturer in the glass space. He had the fancy job title, but growth-wise he felt he’d maximized his potential there. He wanted a job that offered more advancement opportunities, where he wouldn’t have to wait for someone to leave or retire. Despite the title change, this was a lateral move for him, but one accompanied by much more room for upward mobility and operations scaling. 

Luckily for them, he checked every box on their list. He had ~15 years of experience at all levels of the glass industry, much of which was managing facility operations. He was well-versed in lean tactics, applying concepts like continuous improvement without seeing the methodology as the end-all-be-all solution to everything. As an added bonus that made him a great culture fit, he also had a military background that taught him to roll up his sleeves, dig in, and be highly engaged with the work. 

He had the experience. He worked hard. And it was clear from their very first meeting that he’d make an excellent addition to their team. 

We’ve heard fantastic things about his tenure so far. Now well-established in the role, leadership is investing significantly in growing the operations team. He’s been tasked with training and mentoring these new hires as they learn how to manage a team and facility operations. 

Since making this placement, their internal talent acquisition team continues to successfully tackle most of their talent searches. But we remain their preferred third-party vendor for talent searches whenever they need extra support filling a role. 

Experience a faster, smarter, smoother search.

CONTACT US ▶