New Member Interview, Frank Schulz, Partner and Managing Director of Kienbaum K.K. Japan

Please tell us something about yourself?

I graduated in 1997 in Japanology at the University of Bochum. I have been working in executive search for more than 10 years , 5 years in Germany and 5 years in Japan – since 2006 as the starting member of Kienbaum Japan

Now you represent Kienbaum here in Japan, what Kienbaum do?

Kienbaum is a privately owned executive search consulting firm, founded in 1945 by Mr. Gerd Kienbaum. At this moment his son, Mr. Joachim Kienbaum, is the majority shareholder and the company is very well known and by far the biggest executive search firm in Germany. Internationally , Kienbaum has now 34 offices worldwide and is ranked in Executive Recruiter News (ERN) – the leading information source on executive search – as one of the top 10 largest retained search firms in the world

Kienbaum is helping clients with finding middle to higher-level executives in all industries. All our research client relations are retainer based, exclusive and executed by our in-house search team and consultants.

Why did you join the NCCJ and what are your expectations?

Our Japan office represents many clients of European origin. We have an office in the Netherlands and have a client base of Dutch companies as well. Our Dutch office sometimes transfers searches to Japan and this strengthens our international network. Therefore , our joining of the NCCJ widens our business opportunities and gives Dutch companies a better chance to get to know us and to benefit from our services and capabilities

What are your experiences so far?

I have participated in a few events like the visits to Teijin and Nippon Steel and the Deshima Award Ceremony. All events were very well planned and I enjoyed the open atmosphere. I appreciated very much the efforts made by the NCCJ to organize these events and look forward to meet more NCCJ members in the near future