HomeMy WebLinkAboutProthman April 26, 2021
Mr. Randy Neatherlin
Chair, Board of County Commissioners
Mason County
411 N 5th St
Shelton, WA 98584
Dear Chair Neatherlin:
We thank Mason County for its confidence in Prothman to assist in providing services for the
recruitment of its new Support Services Director. The following represents a scope of work for
these services and the associated professional fee and expenses.
Scope of Work
1. Develop a Tailored Recruitment Strategy
Project Review
The first step will be to:
♦ Review the scope of work and project schedule
♦ Review compensation and decide if a salary survey is needed
Information Gathering and Research
We will travel to Mason County or meet via phone / Zoom and spend as much time as
it takes to learn everything we can about your organization. Our goal is to thoroughly
understand the values and culture of your organization, as well as the preferred
qualifications you desire in your next Support Services Director. We will:
♦ Meet with the County Commissioners
♦ Meet with Retiring Support Services Director
♦ Meet with Leadership Team, as directed
♦ Meet with other stakeholders, as directed
♦ Review all documents related to the position
Position Profile Development
We will develop a profile of your ideal candidate. Profiles include the following:
♦ A description of the ideal candidate's qualifications
• Years of related experience, education required and ideal personality
traits
♦ Organization-specific information
• Description of the organization, position, and key responsibilities
• Priorities and challenges facing the organization
♦ Community-specific information
♦ Compensation package details
♦ Information on how to apply
206.368.0050 ♦ 371 NE Gilman Blvd., Suite 310 Issaquah,WA 98027 ® www.prothman.com
2. Identify, Target, and Recruit Viable Candidates
Outreach and Advertising Strategy
We recognize that often the best candidates are not actively looking for a new position--this
is the person we want to reach and recruit. We have an aggressive recruitment strategy
which involves the following:
♦ Print and Internet-based Ads placed nationally and locally in professional
publications, journals, and related websites.
♦ Targeted Direct Mail Recruitment Brochures sent directly to hundreds of
county/city management professionals who are not actively searching for a new
position.
♦ Focused Candidate Outreach via thousands of personal emails from our
database of county/city employees, as well as personal networking and outreach.
♦ Posting the Position Profile on Prothman's Facebook and Linkedln pages
and on the Prothman website, which receives over five thousand visits per
month from potential candidates.
3. Conduct Preliminary Screening
Candidate Screening
Once the application deadline has passed, we will conduct an extensive candidate review
designed to gather detailed information on the leading candidates. The screening process
has 3 key steps:
1) Application Review: We will screen the candidates for qualifications based on
the resumes, applications, and supplemental question responses (to determine a
candidate's writing skills, analytical abilities and communication style). After the
initial screening, we take the yes's and maybe's and complete a second
screening where we take a much deeper look into the training, work history and
qualifications of each candidate.
2) Internet Publication Background Search: We conduct an internet publication
search on all semifinalist candidates prior to their interviews. If we find anything
out of the ordinary, we discuss this during the initial interview and bring this
information to you.
3) Personal Interviews: We will conduct in-depth videoconference or in-person
interviews with the top 6 to 12 candidates. During the interviews, we ask the
technical questions to gauge their competency, and just as importantly, we
design our interviews to measure the candidate's fit within your organization.
Candidate Presentation
We will prepare and send to you a detailed summary report and binders which include
each candidate's application materials and the results of the personal interviews and
publication search.
We will travel to Mason County or meet via phone/Zoom and advise you of the
candidates meeting the qualifications, our knowledge of them, and their strengths and
weaknesses relative to fit within your organization. We will give you our recommendations
and then work with you to identify the top 3 to 6 candidates to invite to the final interviews.
We will discuss the planning and design of the final interview process during this meeting.
-P OT HMAN Page 2 of 5
4. Prepare Materials and Process for Final Interviews
Final Interview Process
The design of the final interviews is an integral component towards making sure that all
stakeholders have the opportunity to learn as much as possible about each candidate.
♦ Elements of the design process include:
• Deciding on the Structure of the Interviews
We will tailor the interview process to fit your needs. It may involve using
various interview panels, community tours and/or an evening reception.
• Deciding on Candidate Travel Expenses
We will help you identify which expenses your organization wishes to cover.
• Identifying Interview Panel Participants & Panel Facilitators
♦ Background Checks
Background checks include the following:
• References
We conduct 6-8 reference checks on each candidate. We ask each candidate
to provide names of their supervisors, subordinates and peers for the last
several years.
• Education Verification, Criminal History, Driving Record and Sex
Offender Check
We contract with Sterling for all background checks.
♦ Candidate Travel Coordination
After you have identified the expenses you wish to cover, we work with the
candidates to organize the most cost-effective travel arrangements.
♦ Final Interview Binders
The Final Interview Binders include the candidates' application materials and are
the tool that keeps the final interview process organized. Each panel member
will be provided a binder.
♦ Final Interviews with Candidates
We will travel to Mason County and facilitate the interviews. The interview
process usually begins with a morning briefing where schedule and process will
be discussed with all those involved in the interviews. Each candidate will then
go through a series of one-hour interview sessions, with an hour break for lunch.
♦ Panelists & Decision Makers Debrief: After the interviews are complete, we
will facilitate a debrief with all panel participants where the panel facilitators will
report their panel's view of the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate
interviewed. The decision makers will also have an opportunity to ask panelists
questions.
♦ Candidate Evaluation Session: After the debrief, we will facilitate the evaluation
process, help the decision makers come to consensus, discuss next steps, and
organize any additional candidate referencing or research if needed.
♦ Facilitate Employment Agreement: Once the top candidate has been selected,
we will offer any assistance needed in developing a letter of offer and negotiating
terms of the employment agreement.
/Z077-//VJ,4N Page 3 of 5
FEE, EXPENSES & GUARANTEE
Professional Fee
The fee for conducting a Support Services Director recruitment with a one-year
guarantee is $18,500. The professional fee covers all Prothman consultant and staff time
required to conduct the recruitment. This includes all correspondence and onsite meetings with
the client, writing and placing the recruitment ads, development of the candidate profile, creating
and sending invitation letters, reviewing resumes, coordinating and conducting semifinalist
interviews, coordinating and attending finalist interviews, coordinating candidate travel,
professional reference checks on the finalist candidates and all other search related tasks
required to successfully complete the recruitment.
Should Mason County desire to hire Prothman for any subsequent recruitments, the fee
would be $17,500, plus expenses.
Professional fees are billed in three equal installments throughout the recruitment, at the
beginning, halfway, and upon completion of the final interviews.
Expenses
Expenses vary depending on the design and geographical scope of the recruitment. We do not
mark up expenses and we work diligently to keep expenses at a minimum and keep records of
all expenditures. Mason County will be responsible for reimbursing expenses Prothman incurs
on your behalf. Expenses include:
• Newspaper, trade journal, websites, and other advertising (approx. $1,700 - 1,900)
• Direct mail announcements (approx. $1,600 - 1,800)
• Interview Binders & printing of materials (approx. $200 - 500)
• Delivery expenses for Interview Binders (approx. $75 - 150)
• Consultant travel: Mileage at IRS rate, travel time at $65 per hour, lodging if required
(approx. $150 - 350 per trip)
• Background checks performed by Sterling (approx. $170 per candidate)
Other Expenses
Candidate travel: We cannot approximate candidate travel expenses because they vary
depending on the number of candidates, how far the candidates travel, length of stay, if spouses
are included, etc. If you wish, we will coordinate and forward to your organization the
candidates' travel receipts for direct reimbursement to the candidates.
Warranty
Repeat the Recruitment: If you follow the major elements of our process and a top candidate is
not chosen, we will repeat the recruitment once with no additional professional fee, the only cost
to you would be for the expenses.
Guarantee
Prothman will guarantee with a full recruitment that if the selected finalist is terminated or
resigns within one year from the employment date, we will conduct one replacement search with
no additional professional fee, the only cost to you would be for the expenses.
Cancellation
You have the right to cancel the search at any time. Your only obligation would be the fees and
expenses incurred prior to cancellation.
-P MAN Page 4 of 5
Accepted by:
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