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When an organization serves as a global advocate for an entire industry, every hire matters. For this agricultural trade association, finding the right Assistant Director of Industry Relations required more than simply filling an open position. It meant identifying someone who could represent its mission, build trust with industry stakeholders, and bring the right mix of agriculture knowledge, association experience, and professional presence.
After facing challenges with previous hiring efforts, the association partnered with AgHires to lead a targeted search for a candidate who could thrive in the role and support the organization's continued growth, member engagement, and industry relationships.
About the Client
The client is a nonprofit agricultural trade association dedicated to increasing demand for U.S. agricultural products in international markets. With offices and representatives across key global markets, the organization conducts marketing, trade servicing, and market access activities in more than 80 countries.
The association represents stakeholders from across the agricultural supply chain, including producers, processors, commodity organizations, and industry partners. Through collaboration with industry stakeholders and government agencies, the organization works to strengthen export opportunities and support the long-term success of U.S. agriculture.
The Hiring Challenge
The association needed to hire an Assistant Director of Industry Relations, a highly visible role responsible for supporting member engagement, industry partnerships, and external relationships.
Several factors made the search particularly challenging:
- The position required full-time, on-site work downtown in a large city.
- The ideal candidate needed a rare combination of livestock industry knowledge, association experience, stakeholder engagement skills, and cultural fit.
- Compensation expectations for candidates with the desired experience level created an additional challenge.
- While the position was vacant, senior leaders had absorbed additional responsibilities, creating a need to move quickly without compromising candidate quality.
The association did not need a large volume of applicants. It needed a focused search capable of identifying the right person for a specialized, relationship-driven role.
AgHires' Approach
To overcome these challenges, AgHires began by defining what success looked like in the role.
Rather than casting a wide net, the recruiting strategy centered on identifying candidates who:
- Had strong livestock industry experience.
- Had recent experience working within an agricultural association.
- Understood stakeholder engagement, membership-based organizations, and industry relations.
- Demonstrated the communication skills and professionalism needed to serve as a public-facing representative.
- Aligned with the association's culture and mission.
AgHires managed the full hiring process through candidate sourcing, interviews, reference checks, background screening, compensation discussions, and offer management.
Throughout the search, AgHires maintained close communication with the client through weekly strategy meetings, providing market feedback, candidate insights, and hiring recommendations. This collaborative approach helped the organization stay informed and make adjustments when necessary, including reevaluating compensation expectations to remain competitive for the right candidate.
The Results
AgHires helped the association fill the Assistant Director of Industry Relations role in approximately 37 days.
From roughly 14 candidates selected to interview, AgHires identified and presented three highly qualified finalists. The selected candidate stood out for their direct experience in a similar role within an agricultural association, giving them the livestock industry knowledge and stakeholder management skills needed to make an immediate impact. The hire gave the association a strong industry and cultural fit for a highly visible position.
Just as importantly, the association was able to relieve leadership of additional responsibilities that had been absorbed during the vacancy. The hired candidate was able to immediately begin contributing to member engagement and industry partnerships, while allowing senior leadership to refocus on strategic initiatives.
By combining agriculture industry expertise, targeted recruiting strategies, and ongoing collaboration throughout the hiring process, AgHires helped the association secure a specialized industry relations leader who was positioned for long-term success.
Key Outcome
AgHires helped a national agricultural association secure a highly specialized industry relations leader in 37 days, despite a narrow candidate profile, location constraints, and compensation challenges.
