Established in 1990 as the brainchild of Pamela Ruebusch, TSI Group is a boutique talent search firm offering a comprehensive suite of Executive Search and Talent Acquisition services to a wide range of organizations. By embracing a client-centric, pragmatic approach, the company develops practical solutions that help address their varying talent needs. TSI Group’s service portfolio includes executive search, strategic talent acquisition, and leadership development. Coupled with the ability to integrate its industry knowledge and best practices with clients’ business objectives, the company helps source and deliver talent that adds value to their organization.

In an interview with Manage HR, Pamela Ruebusch, CEO of TSI Group, shares her insights on how the company leverages its expertise and experience to provide exceptional talent search services to clients throughout the U.S. and Canada.

How does TSI Group help clients mitigate their talent search challenges?
We have over 32 years of experience in the talent search space, and in that time we have seen all of the challenges that organizations have faced in this regard. Today, the “Great Resignation” and consequent talent shortage prevails at all levels of organizations—from professional to the C-suite—presenting a major challenge. The result is an increased demand for quality talent that drives fierce competition across all industry verticals. This has made it challenging for businesses to hire more employees and grow, forcing several crucial positions to remain vacant for long periods. Recent changes in supply chain dynamics are also altering the way organizations hire and retain talent in order for them to survive and meet their business needs.

At TSI Group, we believe that obtaining and developing optimum talent can help businesses stay relevant and competitive in their market. Keeping this in mind, we adopt a unique approach that brings together retained search and leadership development to help clients mitigate their talent management bottlenecks. Our integrated support, combined with our rigorous methodology to executive search and talent acquisition, helps clients reach their business goals—irrespective of their size and industry vertical.

Our roots come out of placing supply chain talent acquisition, catering to various clients across Canada and throughout the U.S. As an agile firm, TSI Group quickly expanded its reach to serve clients in multiple industries including manufacturing, consumer packaged goods, healthcare, retail, food, energy, and engineering. This includes offering Leadership talent for M&A clients looking to acquire, merge or sell businesses.

Could you elaborate on TSI Group’s service portfolio?
As a leader in the executive search and talent acquisition space, we serve as our clients’ extended hiring needs, providing them with the knowledge and capacity to hire the right talent. Our goal is to deliver the right hiring outcomes to clients, and we are well-positioned and equipped to uncover the top talent in the market.

We have placed many CEOs and senior leaders in diverse industry verticals by leveraging our rigorous process and methodology to ensure optimum fit. Through proper research, candidate screening, and final placement, we develop a deep understanding of our clients’ corporate culture in order to deliver the best short list

All our operations are enhanced by our state-of-the-art AI-powered hiring tools that help clients easily identify the best fit talent. We are among the few companies in Canada to adopt an analytics tool for improving executive search efficiency. The unique combination of our industry expertise, search consultants, research team, and technology enables us to meet and exceed our clients’ expectations. We work in collaboration, think as one brain, and divide our knowledge internally to deliver the hiring outcome efficiently.
For us, talent acquisition is not just finding the right people; it is integrating new people with the existing team and organizational culture. To this end, we provide leadership assessment, leadership development programs, and executive coaching services, empowering them to stay at par with their business imperatives and customer expectations.

What does TSI Group’s client onboarding process look like?
We are committed to delivering optimum results to clients and adopt a highly collaborative and transparent client onboarding approach. We listen, understand, and deliver the best way to find and develop talent that adds measurable value to the organization.

A typical client engagement begins with our team gaining a holistic view of their needs, organizational culture, and business imperatives to understand the right talent pool to hit. We will then create a comprehensive search strategy
As a retained search firm, we usually target passive talent, and then build a robust pipeline that entails over 100 candidates— all of them are fit for our clients’ job role. We have a dedicated team of HR specialists who screen and interview talent, choosing only the very best from the lot. By providing clients with a list of highly skilled people, they can easily and quickly hire the most suited option, instead of searching across the vast global talent pool. Clients can also leverage our AI-powered hiring tool to validate their decision and move forward with confidence.

All our operations are transparent, wherein we track all candidates during the search process. We provide clients with the necessary market intelligence to properly present their brand and value in the talent search space. This empowers them to make informed decisions when it comes to making changes to their job role descriptions and packages. Clients can access this much needed information via a portal that offers a holistic view on the executive search operations in real time.

Could you cite a case study that exemplifies TSI Group’s value proposition?
One of our clients was a leading manufacturing company looking to hire new business leaders for their multiple divisions. We helped them meet their needs by leveraging our rigorous methodology and robust tools, which has now turned into a longstanding relationship. Till today, we have placed more than 25 leaders presidents, general managers, and financial specialists helping the client align with the changing aspects of their business. By helping them hire the right professional leadership, TSI Group enabled the client to drive more ROI after they acquired a new company.

We have also collaborated with a Class 1 railroad client that was in need of a partner to help them with their growing and changing workplace demands. This relationship started over 25 years ago, and to-date, we’ve placed more than 500 professionals in the organization throughout Canada and the U.S.—a testament to our in-depth knowledge about the market.

TSI Group continues to adapt to the changes in the marketplace. We look for ways to better support the talent needs of our clients and are actively expanding our capacities that complement our talent acquisition services.