Installing Cosmetics Testing Virtuoso

Pairing a Beauty Industry Trailblazer with a Product Testing Pro

THE CLIENT

A global beauty industry pioneer and trendsetter.

THE NEED

This global cosmetics leader was in search of a topflight cosmetics testing expert with substantial domestic and international product testing experience. They wanted an established professional with a strong network of vendors and the ability to infuse new ideas into the company’s testing approach.

TAKEAWAYS

The Expert Needed:

Elite Cosmetics

Product Testing  Manager

The Skills Needed:

  • Budget management & cost control
  • Research proficiency
  • Regulatory expertise
  • Supplier oversight aptitude
  • Cross functional  project management skills

Time to Placement:

3.5 weeks

Client Satisfaction  Level:

Off the charts

THE SOLUTION

Every Intellex talent solution begins with a discovery process in  which we unearth the skills and traits that will make or break  the senior consumer products placement. For this Fortune 500  beauty industry leader, there were three critical factors:

  • The experience to handle consumer product testing both domestically and internationally, including budget  management, cost control, research, and supplier oversight.
  • The ability to manage the entire testing program, from start to  finish, with minimal input from the client’s Director of Product  Development.
  • The skills to connect and collaborate across a diversity of  internal business functions including Clinical Testing, R&D,  Packaging, Product Development, Legal, and Marketing.

With this careful profile in hand, the Intellex consumer products  recruiting experts identified an ultra-qualified cosmetics testing  expert who offered:

  • 25+ years of testing industry experience across the cosmetics  industry
  • BA Psychology and Sociology, Miami University, Oxford
  • Graduate work in Psychology & Ethnography, University of  Cincinnati
  • Methodology expertise in:
  • Culture codes (Dr. Claude Rapaille)
  • Deep Metaphor Elicitation (ZMET, Jerry Zaltman)
  • The Grove Graphic Facilitation and Strategic Visioning
  • Certifications from:
  • Stanford University dSchool and IDEO Design Thinking
  • Creative Problem-Solving Institute – Creative Problem  Solving (CPS)
  • P&G Gym Innovation Labs: Facilitation and Insights  Activation
  • Extensive remote CPG testing experience

Within a week of being introduced to the expert, the cosmetics  firm had chosen to engage our senior product testing  expert. The remote arrangement was a win-win for the client  organization and the consultant as both were eager to move  forward with focused speed. They dove into the work just a few  weeks after the search for the right CPG expert began.

THE RESULTS

This product testing pro was a perfect match for the company  and the work and the project was extended to incorporate our  expert into more areas of the testing process. For the company’s  hardworking product team, infusing outside insights and  momentum into the organization has made a big impact.

“With her external perspective, she [the  Intellex expert] has offered several new,  innovative processes,” said the company’s  Senior Director of Product Development.  “I can count on her to professionally handle  issues independently and to know when to  get me involved.”

For Intellex, the proof of success was in the client’s enthusiastic  request to extend the work with this expert, and fill other  product gaps with experts from the highly experienced,  immediately effective Intellex team.

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