Chris Kenny

The overlap of “sales” and “packaging” is the point, rather than either one alone.

• The claimed advantage is market knowledge: knowing who the strong sales leaders in US packaging are without looking them up, and distinguishing someone who can move commodity corrugate from someone who can defend margin in a large customer’s procurement office.
• They also contrast a “posting strategy”—advertising a role and waiting—with targeted searches for employed candidates who are delivering elsewhere, on the grounds that the strongest candidates are not applying to job ads.
• In one introduction post, they advise employers to judge the consultant rather than the company brand, because reputation, in their framing, sits with the individual rather than the agency logo.

One post tells packaging companies struggling to hire that those landing top talent partner with specialists rather than generalists.

• Kenny writes that every recruiter claims to understand manufacturing, and that this means nothing.
• A sign of real specialism, they say, is being able to name the top ten VP Sales people in US packaging without looking them up.
• In another post, they describe generalist agency search as “shotgunned” and say employers should look at the consultant, not the company.

Kenny claims 15 years of experience in one post, 16 years and “almost 17 years” in others. The posts have no publication dates, so their order cannot be confirmed.

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They contrast short sales cycles with 12-to-18-month buying processes, selling innovation with selling parity, and working with marketing support with carrying the full load alone.

• Packaging is unforgiving, they say, because customer switching costs are low, procurement runs the buying process and price pressure never fully goes away.
• For employers, their conclusion is that past performance means little without understanding the conditions someone sold in; “top performer” is meaningless without that context.

The post pairs what the seller was used to with what the packaging role actually demands, then names three conditions that make the mismatch bite: low switching costs, procurement-led buying and permanent price pressure.

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The resulting sequence—pipeline drops, panic, job posted, long interview process, then a ramp period—costs roughly six months of lost revenue before the new hire has a chance to fix anything.

• The alternative is to build bench strength in advance: map competitors’ strongest performers, meet good candidates when there is no open role, keep shortlists warm and move quickly when a seat opens.
• Their argument is about planning, not recruitment technique: if sales hiring starts only when numbers fall, the real problem is planning.

Kenny tells a story about the cost of passing on a candidate.

• They quote a senior HR leader who said that if somebody is interesting, it is better to know about them than not.
• Kenny then describes presenting candidates who were a perfect fit on paper, knew the company’s customers and said unprompted they would like to work there—only to hear that the company was not looking right now.
• Thirty days later, the candidate signed with a competitor, brought the relationships along and started winning business.
• Kenny’s proposed question instead of “do we have a vacancy?” is whether the company can afford not to talk to the person.

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They describe a VP of Sales introducing a weekly cadence, with the CRM kept current and the pipeline reviewed in front of peers.

• People became uncomfortable, Kenny says, not because the market had moved but because the story had changed.
• In private, a representative can hide behind “I’m working it” or “relationships take time”; in public, one shows momentum and next steps while another shows a spreadsheet.
• Kenny presents this as accountability rather than humiliation, and ties it specifically to packaging, where territory and freight economics are real.
• Representatives coasting on legacy business are costly while capacity sits open.

A VP of Sales described the cadence to Kenny: keep the CRM current and review the pipeline weekly in front of peers. The post contrasts the two kinds of representatives revealed by public reviews, and closes by saying that a leader who avoids peer pipeline reviews because they feel harsh is probably protecting the wrong people.

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Their instruction is specific: if there is a delay between stages, tell the candidate, give them a timeframe and explain why.

• Without information, candidates fill the gap with their worst assumptions.
• Excitement from a first interview drains away, and the next conversation becomes a re-sell to someone who has already half moved on.
• Some withdraw from roles that were never wrong for them simply because nobody kept them informed.
• Kenny’s underlying claim is that initial enthusiasm is the hardest thing to rebuild and the cheapest thing to preserve.

Kenny’s example of an adequate update is brief: tell the candidate the company is waiting for the CFO to return from leave, so they should expect around two weeks. That, they say, is all it takes.

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The answer they hear most often is some version of getting to try new things without having to leave—not necessarily a promotion, sometimes a sideways move from sales into operations or procurement.

• Larger companies find this easier because they have divisions to move people through.
• Their uncomfortable conclusion for smaller businesses: they lose good salespeople around the third year to boredom and call it the market.
• Since they cannot win a pay fight, they should compete by giving people a reason to stay curious.

Kenny says they ask one question every time they meet someone with 15 to 30 years at one company: what kept you there? The recurring answer, they report, is the freedom to try new things without leaving, including lateral moves into unrelated functions.

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A colleague being polite does not count.

• Kenny describes the network as the substance of the service, arguing that the best packaging salespeople rarely reach the open market.
• A recommendation from a VP who previously hired the person is therefore a short window, not a standing opportunity.
• In a related post, Kenny describes contacting people who had previously asked to be kept in mind—the same idea in practice: maintain relationships before they are needed.

A VP of Sales introduced a salesperson they had hired before.

• Kenny’s profile of the candidate includes 15-plus years in packaging sales across manufacturer and distribution, strategic accounts worth more than $60M in annual revenue across dozens of North American manufacturing sites, multi-year supply agreements negotiated through tight supply chain years, inventory programmes that cut customer operating costs by 20% in key accounts, and a territory grown 150% with three consecutive years in the national top 10% of representatives.
• Kenny’s distinguishing note is that the person sells like an operator—supply chain, inventory and contract terms, not just price.
• In a separate post, a placement that began with a referral two years earlier ends with an accepted offer and a published candidate reference praising Kenny’s responsiveness, follow-up, industry knowledge and reach into passive candidates.
• The reference is the candidate’s words about Kenny, not Kenny’s own claim.

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It defines the work in one sentence and names the four kinds of people Kenny says they help.

Kenny says the business does one thing: place salespeople in the US packaging industry, from rep level up to chief commercial officer.

• The post is explicit about what is excluded: not sales in general or packaging in general, but the overlap of the two.
• It names four audiences: packaging companies making a sales hire once rather than using a generalist agency; VPs of Sales with open seats; HR and talent leaders seeking a commercial-role specialist; and packaging sales professionals considering a move.
• Kenny says OC Recruitment is their own company, bearing their name, and advises readers to judge the consultant rather than the company brand.

For brands planning a campaign

For a packaging manufacturer briefing a senior sales leadership search, this post works as a scope test.

• It shows the intended relationship is direct with the hiring company, and the pitch is personal accountability rather than agency scale.
• Check whether that matches what the manufacturer needs from a recruiter.

The claim is that strong sellers stall in new packaging roles because the environment changed, not because they cannot sell.

• Kenny lists the mismatches: someone used to short sales cycles dropped into 12–18 month buying processes; someone who sold innovation now selling parity; someone used to marketing support now carrying the full load.
• Packaging is unforgiving when switching costs are low, procurement runs the process and price pressure never lets up.
• The conclusion is direct: past numbers mean little if the person has not sold in that reality, because "top performer" is meaningless without context.

For brands planning a campaign

This gives a search for sales candidates a usable filter. Rather than screening on quota history alone, describe the buying environment — cycle length, procurement's influence and the persistence of price pressure — and ask for candidates who have sold in it.

Kenny names three behaviours: treat hiring like sales, not admin — move fast, sell the vision, avoid three-week interview gaps and give updates, even small ones; lead with market reality, not wish lists — stop chasing unicorns and price for today's market, not the one remembered from 2019; and partner with specialists rather than generalists.

• Kenny's blunt point is that every recruiter says they understand manufacturing, and that claim means nothing.
• The proof of specialism is market knowledge: being able to name the top VP Sales people in US packaging without looking them up.

For brands planning a campaign

A hiring company can read this as three commitments to agree before a search starts: a realistic timeline, compensation set against current market rates, and a clear reason to use a niche recruiter instead of a generalist.

A VP describes introducing a simple cadence: keep the CRM current and review the pipeline weekly in front of peers.

• People grew uncomfortable not because the market moved, but because the story changed.
• Kenny contrasts private pipelines, where a rep can hide behind "I'm working it" and "relationships take time", with public reviews, where one rep shows momentum and next steps and another shows a spreadsheet.
• The point is that this is accountability, not humiliation.
• The post notes that territory economics and freight are real in packaging, so reps coasting on legacy business are costly while capacity sits open.

For brands planning a campaign

Use this as an interview probe for a sales leadership hire: ask how they manage pipeline visibility and whether they would accept peer review. It also signals the kind of leader this recruiter tends to surface.

Kenny attacks this sequence: pipeline drops, panic sets in, a job is posted, a ninety-day hiring process follows, then another ninety days to ramp — six months of lost revenue before the fix has a chance.

• The alternative is built on habits: map competitors' top performers, meet strong candidates before a role opens, keep shortlists warm and move quickly when the moment comes.
• The closing point: if sales hiring starts only when numbers dip, the real problem is planning, not recruiting.

For brands planning a campaign

If the packaging manufacturer already has an open seat, this is an argument for deciding quickly when a good candidate appears rather than running a long internal process. If the role is not open yet, it makes the case for an exploratory conversation now.

Kenny argues that speed wins in hiring and, when speed is not possible, communication does.

• If a stage is delayed, tell the candidate, give a timeframe and explain why — the example is waiting for a CFO to return from leave.
• Going quiet leaves candidates to fill the silence with their worst assumptions.
• Excitement from the first interview drains away, and the next conversation becomes a re-sell to someone half moved on.
• Some withdraw not because the role was wrong, but because nobody kept them informed.

For brands planning a campaign

Sets expectations for the client side of a search: regular updates and honest reasons for delays are part of the process. A hiring company whose internal approvals go quiet for weeks should expect to lose candidates, not just goodwill.

Kenny opens with a reference from a VP of Sales who put their own reputation on the line by hiring someone, watched them deliver, and still recommends them.

• The profile is specific: 15+ years in packaging sales across manufacturing and distribution; strategic accounts worth $60M+ in annual revenue across dozens of North American manufacturing sites; multi-year supply agreements negotiated through tight supply chain years; low churn when customers had reason to walk; inventory programs that cut customer operating costs by 20% in key accounts; and a territory grown 150%, with three consecutive years in the national top 10%.
• The person sells like an operator — focusing on supply chain, inventory, and contract terms, not just price — and is Texas-based.

For brands planning a campaign

Read this when judging whether the network reaches the people a packaging manufacturer wants. It shows a referral route to senior, currently employed candidates and names the operator-style evidence — contracts, inventory and margin defence — that a procurement-facing sales leader should bring.

A connection referred a candidate two years earlier, and the two stayed loosely in touch without an immediate opportunity.

• The candidate was happy in a role until the position was eliminated earlier that year.
• They reconnected to work out what the person wanted next and, just as importantly, what they did not.
• Kenny then went back to contacts who had previously asked to be kept in mind and called with an offer that was accepted.
• The published reference praises responsiveness, consistent follow-up, industry knowledge, and reach into passive candidates.
• They note the case was special because the relationship began through a mutual connection.

For brands planning a campaign

An example of how an ongoing search relationship works in practice — value built over years rather than produced by one search. The published reference is the closest thing in the posts here to an outcome statement, and is worth weighing as one example rather than a pattern.

Kenny quotes a senior HR leader: if somebody is interesting, it is better to know about them than not.

• The counter-example follows: candidates presented to companies were a perfect fit on paper, knew the customers, and said unprompted they would love to work there.
• They answered with "not looking right now" and a closed door.
• Thirty days later, the candidate signed with a competitor, brought the relationships along, and started winning business.
• Kenny's alternative to asking "do we have a vacancy?" is to ask whether the company can afford not to talk to the person.

For brands planning a campaign

Argues for taking an exploratory conversation even when the seat is not formally open, and for keeping good candidates warm. For a packaging manufacturer with a likely future opening, this is a case for engaging before the requisition exists.

One post contrasts a "posting strategy"—advertising a role and waiting—with targeted searches for candidates who are already employed and delivering somewhere else.

• Another says every recruiter claims to understand manufacturing, but few can name the top packaging sales leaders without looking them up.
• It tells employers to "look at the recruiter, not the company."
• Kenny also says directly that placing sales people in US packaging is the only thing they do, from representative level to chief commercial officer, across roughly 16 to 17 years.

Contrast pairs (posting versus recruiting, throwing breadcrumbs versus getting in the boat), followed by a clear recommendation and short bulleted lists of who the service is for.

For brands planning a campaign

This is recruitment-service marketing aimed squarely at packaging employers. Brands working with Kenny should expect the specialist-versus-generalist case to lead: it suits campaigns about sales hiring and recruitment, but fits product or manufacturing topics less well.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3 · Source 4

Kenny describes a familiar sequence—pipeline drops, panic, job posted, long interview process, then a ramp period—and argues that it costs about six months of revenue before the new hire has a chance.

• The alternative is maintaining bench strength: mapping competitors' performers, meeting strong candidates when there is no open role, and keeping shortlists warm.
• A related post recounts an HR leader's view that it is better to know about an interesting person than not, then follows a candidate who was passed on and signed with a competitor 30 days later.

For brands planning a campaign

These posts support ongoing or proactive search work and speak to sales leaders and HR teams planning hires. For brands, they show how Kenny frames the problem their service solves and provide a natural anchor for campaigns about building a sales bench.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3

Examples include sellers used to short cycles dropped into 12-to-18-month buying processes, sellers of innovation moved into selling parity, and sellers used to marketing support now carrying the full load.

• Packaging is unforgiving because switching costs are low, procurement runs the process, and price pressure never fully goes away.
• Past performance numbers mean little without knowing the environment someone sold in.

Paired mismatches—what the seller was used to versus what the new packaging role requires—followed by the conditions that make the mismatch bite.

For brands planning a campaign

This post most directly demonstrates fluency in packaging commercial realities rather than generic sales advice. It works as domain-credibility evidence for hiring or sales-enablement campaigns, showing Kenny can discuss buyer behaviour, procurement and pricing pressure—not only recruitment.

Examples: Source 1

Kenny describes a VP who introduced a weekly cadence with a current CRM and pipeline reviewed in front of peers, and the discomfort that followed when private pipeline stories became public comparisons between reps with momentum and reps with a spreadsheet. The argument is specific to packaging, where territory and freight economics make coasting on legacy business costly while capacity sits open.

For brands planning a campaign

This content addresses VP Sales and commercial leaders rather than marketers, and takes an opinionated management stance. It suits campaigns aimed at sales leadership—training, enablement or CRM tools—but is less relevant to brand-side or product-marketing briefs.

Examples: Source 1

Otherwise, candidates fill the gap themselves, lose the excitement from the first interview and sometimes withdraw from roles that were never wrong. A separate post traces a two-year relationship that began with a referral and ended with an accepted offer, including a candidate reference praising Kenny's network, responsiveness and ability to reach passive candidates.

For brands planning a campaign

These posts work for employer-brand and recruitment-process content, showing how a recruiter argues for candidate experience as a hiring outcome. The reference quote is the corpus's closest thing to third-party validation of Kenny's work and is worth citing when credibility matters.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

The uncomfortable conclusion: smaller companies that lose good salespeople around year three are losing them to boredom and calling it the market. They should stop competing on salary and compete on reasons to stay curious.

For brands planning a campaign

This broadens the material from hiring to retention and targets smaller packaging employers that cannot win a pay war. It offers a useful angle for campaigns about employer positioning or career development, and shows Kenny commenting on management topics beyond recruitment mechanics.

Examples: Source 1

Each post closes with an invitation to message Kenny directly or refer someone.

A short framing anecdote or referral story, followed by a bulleted credential list with figures and a direct message-me call to action.

The CPG-side commercial leader broadens the pool beyond packaging-native candidates, while the Chicago notice is an open vacancy rather than a candidate spotlight. The format covers both candidate supply and employer demand.

For brands planning a campaign

This is the most frequent and sponsorship-like format in the posts, showing how Kenny uses their network to ask sales leaders for referrals or to view a profile. Brands should read these as recruitment notices rather than editorial commentary, with engagement likely concentrated among employers with active or anticipated sales vacancies.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3 · Source 4

The posts present it as a US packaging-industry sales recruitment business, placing salespeople from representative to chief commercial officer level.

Original disclosure

OC Recruitment is my own company. It's my name above the door and my reputation on the line.

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Kenny makes a similar argument that hiring damage comes from a company's own timing and process. Both build short, first-person posts around one operational observation and close with a question or an open invitation to talk.

Philie advises printing company owners as a consultant on stalled pipelines and over-reliance on a few large accounts; Kenny places salespeople as a recruiter and writes from the hiring side of the same problem. Philie's sector is commercial printing, not packaging.

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They argue that generalist recruitment produces poor results and that a consultant's judgement matters more than the agency brand. Both stress candidate experience and understanding a company properly before a search, rather than matching a CV to a role.

Georgiou recruits across law, cybersecurity and tech, financial services and healthcare in the US, UK and EU, and writes from the perspective of someone who has sat on the hiring manager's side. Kenny works only on US packaging sales roles and writes as an owner-recruiter inside a single industry.

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Both tie hiring to underlying business performance: Bennetts through leadership gaps and Kenny through fit with the selling environment.

Bennetts writes about the data centre supply chain and wider commercial sectors such as distribution and manufacturing, framing issues around leadership quality and business momentum. Kenny focuses on US packaging sales and on procurement-led buying, persistent price pressure and sales-cycle fit.

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The posts discuss customer concentration, stalled pipelines, slow quoting and weak accountability in printing companies. That work may help a manufacturer diagnose what the role needs to change before opening a search.

The posts focus on improving sales at printing companies, not recruiting packaging sales leaders. They do not show Philie has a packaging-focused candidate network, so they are not a like-for-like search alternative to Kenny.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

The posts also address the hiring experience from an HR perspective.

The posts focus on a different sector, not US packaging sales recruitment. They do not demonstrate access to packaging sales candidates or experience filling a packaging sales leadership role.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

The posts discuss passive candidates, leadership quality and placing people in roles suited to the business's needs.

The examples do not establish a packaging-sales recruiting focus or show that Bennetts has recruited a packaging sales leader. For the stated packaging search, Kenny's posts provide more directly relevant sector-specific evidence.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2