By Mike Troy, DSN Retailing Today - April 4, 2006

CONNECTING NORTHWEST ARKANSAS | 1Q • 2006
CAMERON SMITH, PRESIDENT, CAMERON SMITH & ASSOCIATES, ON SUPPLYING THE NO. 1 RETAILER WITH TOP-NOTCH EXECUTIVES

Cameron Smith & Associates is a Bentonville-based executive search firm that specializes in serving the needs of Wal-Mart vendor teams. Smith, a native of California, founded the company in 1994 that today employs 15 people and serves hundreds of companies.

CNWA: YOU ARE IN CONTACT WITH A LOT OF THE VENDOR TEAMS THAT CALL ON WAL-MART. WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST CONCERNS PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE FOR LEADING THESE ORGANIZATIONS HAVE FOR THE COMING YEAR?

CS: Recruiting the best and brightest talent for their team is always a top concern as teams continue to grow and expand. Because the vendor job market here is so competitive, retaining quality people is also important. Team leaders are challenged to continuously devise creative ways to keep people other than increasing salaries.

CNWA: WHAT TYPE OF CREATIVE APPROACHES ARE YOU SEEING FROM THE VENDOR TEAMS ADDRESSING THOSE CONCERNS?

CS: Many companies are looking for innovative ways to attract and retain employees. Ongoing professional training, promotion opportunities, mentoring programs and teambuilding activities are ways progressive companies build employee loyalty. Additional perks such as flexible hours, working from home, cell phones, laptops and health club memberships help the employees establish a better work/life balance.

CNWA: WHAT TYPE OF POSITIONS ARE THOSE TEAMS WHO MOST EFFECTIVELY SERVE WAL-MART CREATING AND FILLING THAT WILL ALLOW THEM TO REMAIN LEADERS?

CS: Some of the newly created positions for leading supplier teams include shopper solutions / consumer insights, junior national account manager and IT solution specialist. Most team leaders will try to define the work involved before thinking about staffing. Once they have a feel for the work involved, they will resource the work to win versus their competition.

CNWA: WHAT’S THE MARKET LIKE NOW IN TERMS OF THE DEMAND FOR TALENT? ARE CONDITIONS STILL INTENSE OR HAS DEMAND BECOME MORE RATIONAL?

CS: To find the best and the brightest is always challenging and competitive. The demand remains high for the “A” players. Team leaders recognize that, aside from pure technical skills, there must be a good personal fit with the existing teams.

CNWA: GIVEN THAT DEMAND VARIES BY THE TYPE OF POSITION, WHAT POSITIONS ARE YOU SEEING THE GREATEST DEMAND FOR?

CS: The demand remains highest for experienced category managers. We have also seen an increased demand for marketing, consumer insights and various international positions.

CNWA: WHAT IMPACT HAS THE GROWTH AND EXPANSION OF WAL-MART INTERNATIONAL HAD ON THE PERSONNEL NEEDS AND SKILL SETS REQUIRED BY THE SUPPLIER COMMUNITY?

CS: After talking with those who lead global teams, there does seem to be a skill-set change occurring. At one time the international role was more about communication between Wal-Mart and their people in the various countries outside the United States. The focus was on training or sharing best practices. That is still important, but more emphasis is being placed on actual results in those countries. Increasingly the skill set requires someone who really knows how business is done every day at Wal-Mart and Sam’s in the United States, the actual blocking and tackling. These managers must also be able to influence their company to change in other countries. Accountability is still principally placed within each country but increasingly the expectation is that the international resources also be accountable. the sharper focus on results and accountability will require a more engaged business manager rather than just a good communication manager.

CNWA: HOW DO YOU EXPECT THAT SITUATION TO CHANGE IN THE FUTURE AS THE INTERNATIONAL DIVISION PENETRATES ADDITIONAL COUNTRIES AND ADVANCES TOWARD SALES OF $100 BILLION?

CS: The workload is growing rapidly. As Wal-Mart moves from 10 to 20 and even more countries outside the United States, the support work grows. Leading teams will need more people to do this work and better systems to stay on top of the business.

CNWA: WAL-MART HAS MADE THE ISSUE OF SUSTAINABILITY A TOP PRIORITY AND LAST YEAR NAMED A VP OF CORPORATE STRATEGY AND SUSTAINABILITY. DO YOU EXPECT VENDOR TEAMS WILL FOLLOW SUIT BY CREATING SUSTAINABILITY POSITIONS OR ASSIGNING THOSE RESPONSIBILITIES TO EXISTING TEAM MEMBERS?

CS: Teams will take more initiative with sustainability when they see Wal-Mart awarding shelf space to a supplier for their efforts in, let’s say, packaging. Once a team loses shelf space, it will become highly motivated to implement changes. I believe teams would initially outsource this work to an agency that has the expertise in sustainability rather than adding a dedicated person to the team. Once it is recognized as an ongoing, successful effort, teams may then add that kind of a position to their Wal-Mart team. Because it applies to ingredients involved in packaging and how products are produced, it is really a total company responsibility. It would be the responsibility of the entire Wal-Mart team to communicate back to corporate any needed behavior changes with regard to environmental changes that would be beneficial. Obviously, any changes would incorporate research and development, marketing, purchasing, all the
way down the line.

CNWA: WE’VE TALKED A LOT ABOUT THE NEEDS OF SUPPLIERS AND HOW THEIR BUSINESSES ARE CHANGING. HOW IS CAMERON SMITH & ASSOCIATES EVOLVING TO ENHANCE THE SERVICES IT PROVIDES CLIENTS?

CS: We believe one of our major strengths—our strong local presence where we stay on top of the true pulse of the community—has enabled us to become the largest executive search firm serving the Wal-Mart suppliers. We have added new technology to facilitate better data management and communication. CSA also recognizes that this is our community and we work to make it better for all by taking an active role in local charities, such as the Single Parent Scholarship Foundation, Arkansas Athletes Outreach, the Cancer Challenge and Mercy Hospital Capital Campaign, among others. One of our major goals is to remain a leader at all levels and so we invest in training programs for ourselves. This month we are completing an intensive training and team-building program through the Soderquist Center for Leadership & Ethics.

CNWA: ARE THERE NEW SERVICES OR CAPABILITIES YOU’RE LOOKING TO ADD IN ANTICIPATION OF THE NEEDS SUPPLIERS DON’T KNOW THEY HAVE YET?

CS: We work in conjunction with the educational speaker series for vendors, Doing Business in Bentonville. CSA is represented on the steering committee for DBB. I am also a member of the board of directors for RFID Global Solutions and the board of directors for Bentonville Software Associates, the market leader of data mining software tools for Retail Link users. We are continually trying to educate ourselves regarding the latest directives Wal-Mart is requiring of its suppliers.

CNWA: YOU’VE BEEN IN NORTHWEST ARKANSAS SINCE 1994 AND SEEN SOME DRAMATIC GROWTH. WHAT HAS BEEN THE IMPACT OF THAT GROWTH ON YOUR ABILITY TO RECRUIT PEOPLE TO JOIN VENDOR TEAMS BASED IN THE AREA?

CS: We don’t recruit as many individuals to Northwest Arkansas as we do companies. We consult with suppliers who are interested in establishing a local presence. Our clients come to us for Northwest Arkansas-based talent. In addition, we place candidates who are willing to relocate to fill positions at suppliers’ corporate headquarters out of state.

CNWA: ARE YOU SEEING ANY MIGRATION OF TALENT OUT OF NORTHWEST ARKANSAS AS COMPANIES BASED IN OTHER PARTS OF THE COUNTRY BECOME AWARE OF THE TALENT AND EXPERTISE IN THE REGION.

CS: Most people still want to work for the No. 1 retailer in the country. That means an ever-increasing population of the best talent in the world comes to the area for a short tour of duty and later decides to advance their career here. There are tremendous opportunities which, combined with the outstanding quality of life for individuals and families in Northwest Arkansas, can’t be matched anywhere in the country. Why would anyone leave?

By Mike Whittington

Making a career move can be a life changing event. Sometimes it can be difficult to find the best fit as far as your interests, career path, location and salary.  These are all things that recruiters take into consideration as we try to find the best match for you and your goals. 

Our goal as recruiters is to find that best fit for you while also finding the best candidate to meet the needs of our client companies.  Sometimes the criteria set by these companies can be pretty detailed.  Some examples of experience requirements might be:
 
• A minimum number of years experience
• Experience using specific software (Retail Link, ProSpace, Spectra, etc.)
• Working knowledge in a specific department or category
• College degree
• Specific companies in previous work experience

These are just a few of the items our client companies discuss with us.  Sometimes companies are very specific on what is not negotiable (college degree) or things that would be a bonus but are not mandatory (work in specific category).  We often help companies set realistic parameters in finding the best talent to work on their biggest account.

It’s smart to learn as much as you can about the job requirements for any position that interests you. At first glance a job might look like the perfect opportunity because it is what you want to do and it pays a good salary. But if you don’t meet the requirements, you probably won’t be considered.

You may be thinking, “But I could do that job!” We know you’re probably right. But our client company has given us a wish list which we must adhere to in our search. That’s our job. We want to help you make the best decisions in your career moves as well as meet the needs of our client companies.

There are some things that you can include in your resume to increase your chances of consideration for more positions. 

• When preparing your resume be sure to include things that make you unique.  For instance, your use of Retail Link – almost everyone in Northwest Arkansas working on the Wal-Mart account has experience using Retail Link.  You want to include things that might distinguish you from the average user.  Include the how, what, and why behind the numbers – how do you use the reports you pull?  Many candidates include “daily use of Retail Link” on their resume – more information about how you use it will get attention.

• Are you using other software specific to the account?  Include Spectra, ProSpace, AC Nielsen, Access, etc. It is better to have this information on the resume than to leave the company wondering if you have the experience.

• Are you including dates of employment?  Companies like to see career progression and the dates you were at specific companies.  That certainly doesn’t mean you will not be considered if you stayed at a company for a short time at some point in your career but it will give the potential employer more information about your background.

• It is helpful to include information about the companies you’ve worked for previously. You might have experience working within a category or with products that would be beneficial to a future employer, but if they don’t know what the company does, it won’t catch their interest.   

• Do you have a college degree? This can sometimes be a deal breaker with good companies so be sure to include any education information.

• How big is the business you are managing or working with in your current position?  Is it SKU-intensive?  Import?  Are you managing people?  Recently a Team Leader mentioned that if he sees a resume of a candidate managing a $100M business, it may be very impressive.  He noted that it is important to find out if the candidate started with $50M and had success or started with $200M and is losing business.

The more information you include that is applicable and detailed on your day-to- day Wal-Mart business, the better your chances of getting noticed.  As noted above, when working with a client company our goal is not just to find an Analyst, Category Manager, National Account Manager, VP, etc.  We try to match the most talented and experienced candidates in these positions that meet the needs of our clients.  A little extra time spent beefing up the resume can help show that you have the talent and experience needed.

Scott Herren
 
Interviewing - what a unique and challenging process we put ourselves through to determine the best for our careers based on three to four interviews and some reference checks.  Come to think of it, the entire process is built around five to ten hours of actually visiting with a company that, if you are the lucky one, will ask you to make a life-altering decision based on what little bit you actually know about each other. 

That is why it is very helpful to have career professionals (CSA Recruiters) to help educate both parties involved in the process.  For instance:  As professional recruiters, we can honestly paint a clear picture of a company’s overall structure and environment for candidates before they walk in the door.  The same principle works in reverse when we can provide a hiring manager genuine insight into a candidate based on our meeting with them beforehand, asking questions and taking detailed notes. 

I tell hiring managers and candidates alike: this is not rocket science. We are simply finding the best fit based on multiple variables – skill set, work ethic, and personalities – that, when they mirror each other, work much better for everyone. 

7/5/04
By Jeffrey Wood, Northwest Arkansas Business Journal

Cameron Smith's original Fort Smith office telephone is a gray, weighty relic.
A beat-up plastic PhoneMate model from the early 1990s, it has a key-covered setup with a clunky neck rest and a corkscrew cord. There's also something else noticeable, something about the buttons that's been just beautiful for Bentonville.

The numbers are worn completely off.
Cameron Smith & Associates Inc., the world's largest executive search firm specializing in vendors to Wal-Mart Stores Inc., has helped bring hundreds of retail supplier teams to Northwest Arkansas over the last decade. During 2003 alone, CSA recruited 65 vendor teams to the area. As of early July 1, it was working on another 11.

These aren't just any jobs that Smith, 53, has helped bring to town. These are the major league all-stars of their field — the Scott Rolens of retailing, the Sammy Sosas of supply chain management. That's why corporations shell out for recruiting searches instead of simply posting a "help wanted" ad.

A professional fast-pitch softball hurler himself, Smith whips the old phone out of a drawer when asked how he turned a legal pad and a pipe dream into a headhunting empire.

"My wife Monica would walk through a store, pick up product packages and write down on a note card where the company was from," Smith said. "Then she'd give it to me for my Rolodex. There were also only about 48 Wal-Mart suppliers with Bentonville offices back in 1994 when I got started, and at that time the Beau Terre office park housed most of them.

"So I just drove up the hill, wrote down all their addresses and went back and made my calls. They were ecstatic that there was finally someone on the ground here doing executive searches for vendors."

Word spread, and so did CSA's business. The Bentonville firm has grown to nine people between a Minneapolis, Minn., branch and its 2,000-SF home office. Smith moved the firm up from Fort Smith last October and into new local digs this June on the downtown Bentonville square — just three doors down from the Walton "Five & Dime" museum.

With more than 10,000 pre-qualified resumes of experienced, high-level retail vendors on file, CSA had 2003 billings of more than $2.7 million. That number grew 40 percent from 2002, Smith said, and he expects to have to add another recruiter soon.

CSA gets a percentage of a placement's base salary when the candidate is hired, and guarantees the employee for a period of time. A number of vendors, Smith said, keep CSA on retainer. CSA also helps in the interview process and with compensation negotiations.
Because his company is privately held, Smith declined to disclose its total placement statistics. Wal-Mart suppliers such as Gary Parker, director of customer management at Atkins Nutritionals Inc., suggest the recruiter's overall impact must be staggering.

CSA lured Parker from the Kellogg Co. to Atkins in January 2003. Since then, Smith helped add five additional members to the low-carb diet food firm's Wal-Mart team. During the same span, the number of product categories Atkins sells through Wal-Mart has grown from 13 to 70 and Atkins' sales — due to several retailers — have grown 10-fold from $93 million to more than $1 billion.

"Unlike some others," Parker said, "Cameron calls and really listens to what you're trying to accomplish. He takes time to get to know the person and the supplier team's needs. There might be a job out there for more money, but it might not be the right job for you. He only calls with opportunities, or candidates, that make sense."

Numerous other retail vendors, such as Wayne Callahan, who leads the global Wal-Mart support group for the H.J. Heinz Co., have provided endorsements for CSA on the company's Web site at WWW.CSARECRUITERS.COM.

Vendor Head Count

As of July 1, CSA was trying to fill 74 open positions on vendor teams that are either moving to, or are already settled in, Bentonville.
Wal-Mart claims to have 23,500 domestic vendors, or what it likes to call "supplier partners."

Smith said his firm has charted 1,143 Wal-Mart supplier offices on the ground from Fort Smith to Joplin, Mo. That includes, he said, 400 to 500 "one-man-show" operations where vendors primarily work out of their homes.

Smith said there's at least 48 additional Wal-Mart vendor teams in Chicago and another 56 in Dallas — two cities within a commuter-flight's length of retail's ground zero. The regional influx, Smith said, has not come from some supposed edict but the suppliers' strategic desire to react to and interface with Wal-Mart quickly.

Many times, he said, a 30-second meeting in Wal-Mart's corporate lobby can make a difference.
"Sometimes a supplier will just put a part-time analyst here," Smith said. "Even that might cut the firm's annual need for trips to Bentonville from eight to four."

Estimates for the number of existing and expected local vendor bases are often bandied about by various public officials, Smith said. But his firm has spent a decade tracking the supplier teams and CSA keeps its collective ear to the ground daily.

Of the firms that supply Wal-Mart, he said, CSA has narrowed the overall total to about 13,000 main, retail-product players. Companies that sell Wal-Mart shelving racks and cash registers, for instance, aren't CSA's forte.

"Every time I read the paper and people are speculating on how many vendors are moving here, I think, 'All we do all day long is track that,'" Smith said. "If we don't know for sure, how do they? Even if another recruiter has a search assignment, typically we know about that, too. Typically, we'll know about six months before a new team is coming."

Hollywood to Hillbilly

Smith, a native of Laguna Beach, Calif., met his future wife on a Las Vegas trip in 1993. He was a district sales manager in California for the Champion Spark Plug Co. from 1976 to 1980 and Gulf & Western Industries from 1980 to 1985.

After a stint in professional fast-pitch softball, including with the Hollywood All-Stars, he went into the human capital business in 1987. By 1991, Smith founded his own executive search firm. After Smith said he fell in love with "a southern belle from Russellville," the couple settled in Fort Smith and started CSA.

Smith had contracted to put together a sales force for Entergy Corp. when he stumbled into "Vendorville." He hand-picked people who had not been executive recruiters before, picking people who were dynamic communicators and solvent enough to give the business time to grow.

"Headhunters eat what they kill," Smith said. "It's all straight commission."
Smith said he restructured the entire business to focus on top-tier retail vendors. CSA's northern office now serves suppliers to Target Corp. of Minneapolis, Best Buy Co. of Richfield, Minn., Walgreen Co. of Deerfield, Ill., Kmart Holding Corp. of Troy, Mich., and Cosco Wholesale Corp. in Issaquah, Wash.

A new CSA division, CSA New Ventures, was recently formed to help Smith tap into non-staffing opportunities that keep coming the firm's way. He's also teaming with some retired Wal-Mart executives and vendors on a supplier education series. This fall, CSA will help present a course called "Street Smarts" for hundreds of high school junior and seniors.

The course will tackle dressing for interviews, college courses that can speed a career and even how to hone a good resume.

The Next Wave

Northwest Arkansas' vendor invasion continues, Smith said, even though the fact many are one- and two-person offices probably means construction is outpacing growth.

"Most of the big guys are already here," Smith said. "They've already seen the value, but Wal-Mart's shift to a category-management model also means that the supplier teams have gotten deeper and wider. They have to keep up.

"The real next wave is that third circle, those 3P [third party] companies that are flocking here with sales and technical people to call on the vendors."

Smith said 3P firms are also probably the best place for local professionals without national retail experience to try to crack into the vendor community. Calling on vendors every day, he said, creates networking and other opportunities.

"I get unsolicited calls every day from people I can't help," Smith said. "There are quality people in other fields who think just because they're already here, that's enough. It's not. I had a Division I football coach from a neighboring state call recently asking about a supplier team leader's job.

"I said, 'I've got a team leader over here who doesn't know anything about football, but he wants to be a Division I coach next year. What do you think?' He said, 'Yeah, OK, I see what you mean.'"

A marketing analyst certificate from Northwest Arkansas Community College combined with additional internships can help, Smith said. But don't expect to go from a fork-lift driver to managing a $100 million category overnight.

"These suppliers are brilliant, analytical people," Smith said. "They're the best out there who have worked their way up through the ranks to call on the largest company in the world. There's not time for training. It's all about speed."

Clothing and smaller food companies, such as pork seller Rudolf Foods, make up a lot of the recent move-ins. Smith said it comes down to a commitment to service.

"The vendors aren't here to sell Wal-Mart," Smith said. "They've already sold them or they wouldn't be here. Now they're moving here to service Wal-Mart better. That means finding the very best people."

Associated Press

December 6, 2006

By Marcus Kabel

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Chinese companies may be the next source of job creation in Wal-Mart's hometown, following in the footsteps of U.S. companies that have flocked to northwest Arkansas to work more closely with the world's largest retailer.

A leading executive search firm, Cameron Smith Associates, and another area company that works with foreign producers will host a conference in China next month to show manufacturers there how they can boost business by opening local offices to manage their accounts with Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Trade experts say the timing is right. Chinese producers, who so far mainly sell to the U.S. market through intermediaries, are expected to start moving into the U.S. in coming years with their own offices to bypass importers, to keep a larger slice of sales revenue for themselves and to gain a better sense of what their U.S. customers want.

"Wal-Mart is a very important customer for Chinese producers," said Myron Brilliant, vice president of the Asian-U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. "One can only expect that Chinese companies are going to do what U.S. companies do, which is to get closer to their customers."

No official registry of Wal-Mart suppliers with local offices exists. And Bentonville/Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce officials say they know of no Chinese firms in the area that do business with Wal-Mart, although some from Taiwan and a handful of other foreign nations have local offices.

The latest figures available, in 2004, show Wal-Mart bought about $9 billion in goods from China directly and another $9 billion indirectly, or goods produced in China for another company and then sold to Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart doesn't provide a public breakdown of its overseas sources, but it has said that China is by far its largest single foreign supplier.

Chief Executive Lee Scott has said Wal-Mart wants to buy more products directly from Chinese producers rather than going through importers, although he has declined to publicly set any targets by percentage or dollar amount.

Cameron Smith, whose firm in nearby Rogers specializes in hiring for Wal-Mart supplier teams, expects 2,000 new executive-level positions could be created over the next three to five years by Chinese manufacturers opening local offices.

His firm and Global Supplier Development are hosting the two-day conference in the southern Chinese manufacturing center of Dongguan that will feature speakers with a professional background in U.S. retail and in working with Wal-Mart.

"The goal is not to increase Chinese imports. The goal is to show Chinese companies how they can optimize their business by working directly with their customer, Wal-Mart," said Gary Dunn, a former Wal-Mart international executive and now partner in Global Supplier Development, a Rogers-based company that targets foreign suppliers.

Smith said Wal-Mart doesn't tell its suppliers to locate in northwest Arkansas. But competitive pressure among suppliers has kept the number growing steadily from less than 50 in 1994 to over 1,200 companies today.

That growth is one of the main factors that has driven a red-hot economy in the Bentonville-Fayetteville corridor, economists say.

Average house prices in the region have risen from about $97,000 in 2000 to about $218,000 now, according to the Bentonville/Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce. Per capita income rose 19 percent, nearly twice the national rate, to $27,112 in 2004 from $22,834 in 2000.

Many of the thousands of jobs at the local offices are executive-level positions with salaries over $100,000, analysts say. Local offices range from one-person home enterprises to the roughly 300 people managing Proctor & Gamble's account with Wal-Mart.

By opening offices near Wal-Mart's Bentonville headquarters, U.S. companies can work more closely with the retailer on issues like product development, delivery schedules and quality control. Smith says Chinese companies can profit as U.S. companies do from a closer physical presence to buyers at Wal-Mart headquarters.

"The idea is to recruit Chinese producers to open offices here that would be staffed by specialists hired in the United States," Smith said.