ABOUT US

About Us

CNS Worldwide is an executive search consulting firm based in London, Singapore and Spain.

Our mission is to help companies to shape and identify their recruitment needs, establishing, reinforcing and reimagining their presence globally. Our clients design niche and unique industrial products. The majority of them are “hidden champions:” highly successful companies that are largely unknown to the general public, but which are global market leaders in their area of activity.

We have three interconnected fields of expertise:

Machinery

Food Ingredients

Agribusiness

Through our unique, consultative, and hands-on approach, we place hard-to-find candidates in strategic roles, which enhance the global performance of our clients. The majority of our searches have very specific requirements, with a small pool of potential candidates who typically are not actively seeking a new position.

Our customer approach is global and international. This means that each of our consultants is able to support clients for projects in Europe, the United States, or across Asia Pacific. With rare exceptions, our clients always work with the same consultant.

Our Approach

We define for each client a specific solution that evolves as the project progresses. By definition, a recruitment process is often full of twists and turns. Our years of experience allow us to anticipate what can potentially go wrong. Our obsession is to keep control at every moment of the process and to remain agile.

Recent Projects

Global recruitment solutions
A French laboratory equipment manufacturer raised funds. We helped them scale-up, recruiting their entire team across Europe (UK, Germany, Eastern Europe), technical support team in France, CEO and sales team in China, application team for pharmaceutical in Denmark and board members.
Expansion into APAC
A European leader in Packaging machinery wants to set-up an office in Asia. We provided a 1st hire solution, taking into account their future growth plans (Sales / Service / Warehouse), talent on the market and industry dynamics.
International Expansion
For a German start-up specialized in plant-based food ingredients and alternative proteins, we helped to recruit their sales team across Europe and Sales Director in Singapore.
Management Restructuring
A European company specializing in CNC Machines wants to change its management team across Asia. We helped them recruit their new General Managers in China, Malaysia and Korea. Ultimately, we replaced their Managing Director Asia.
Global Recruitment Solutions
For a Luxembourgish company specialized in design and manufacturing of beverage dispensers we recruited their Head of Sales Europe and Head of Sales US.
Team Restructuring
For a German company specialized in animal feed and feed additives, we helped to restructure their entire sales team in Europe (Spain, UK, Germany) and across US.
Global Recruitment Solutions
A growing organisation in the agribusiness appointed a Global Sales Director with a new commercial strategy. After replacing the Country Manager China, we successfully recruited Area Sales Managers to develop the Middle East and the Americas.
Strengthening Presence
We supported an Italian company specialised in CNC machines for the glass industry to enter the French market recruiting their entire technical support team.
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Our Values

  • We share our opinions.

Partnering with CNS Worldwide is above all the guarantee of working with consultants who will share their opinions in an honest and independent manner.

  • We are resilient.
We always take a courageous and resilient approach. We like the idea of being challenged by clients, and don’t shy away from a search that may seem difficult. For each search, we define a unique strategy that we adapt as the recruitment process progresses.
  • We are responsive and flexible.
We know how to make ourselves available and adapt to the schedule of our clients. We work with clear timelines and deadlines.

Some facts and figures

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The amount of countries where we successfully completed projects in the last 3 years

France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Sweden, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, Austria, Czech Republic, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, China, Korea, The Philippines, United-States, India, UAE.

80% of our clients are European privately or family-owned businesses: “owner- entrepreneurial families” worldwide leader on their niche market. They are sometimes called “hidden champions”.

50% of our clients are German SMEs (Mittelstand firms) expanding globally.

80% of our projects are sales and general management related positions: General Manager, Managing Director, Sales Director, Sales Manager, senior After-Sales.

20% of our projects are corporate functions: Finance, Human Resources, or Legal.

50% of our projects handled by our Singapore office are companies’ first posts in Asia.

François Chrétien - Partner and co-founder

François Chrétien leads CNS Worldwide’s business development in Europe and global recruitments.

He has more than 15 years’ experience in the recruitment of senior executive positions. Beginning his career in Geneva and Paris, he went on to spend nine years working in Singapore, where he initiated hires for European companies.

Currently based in London, he leads recruitment assignments globally.

Kristof Smeets – Partner and co-founder

Kristof Smeets leads the CNS Worldwide’s business development in Asia-Pacific.

He has 10 years of experience in recruitment, eight of which spent between China and Singapore. He works on projects around the world, with specific expertise in supporting companies taking their first steps in Asia.

Currently based in Singapore, he travels extensively between Asia-Pacific and Europe to stay connected with clients and candidates.