The Company
Case Study: Strategic Finance Talent Acquisition for a Niche Real Estate Lending Firm
Trez Capital is a leading private real estate lender with over $6 billion in assets under management. The firm provides innovative financing solutions across North America, supporting commercial and residential real estate developers with flexible capital. Known for its disciplined approach and entrepreneurial spirit, Trez Capital continues to expand its footprint and strengthen its financial infrastructure.
The Challenge
As Trez Capital scaled its operations, the need for specialized financial talent became increasingly critical. The organization required professionals with deep expertise in fund accounting, financial reporting, and operational transformation. The challenge lay in sourcing candidates with both the technical acumen and cultural alignment to thrive in a fast-paced, growth-oriented environment. The pool of candidates with competency in US GAAP is inherently small, and even more so when you overlay industry-specific knowledge (real-estate lending, credit-fund accounting, private-equity style structures). Given Trez’s rapid growth and the competitive hiring environment in Vancouver (and across Canada), time-to-hire was critical — the client could not afford lengthy search cycles while key roles remained vacant.
The Solution
Strive Recruitment partnered closely with Trez Capital to deliver a strategic and high-touch recruitment solution. We focused on three key pillars:
- Strategic Sourcing & Headhunting: We deployed targeted headhunting strategies to engage passive candidates and niche talent not accessible through traditional channels.
- AI-Powered Sourcing Efforts: We leveraged advanced sourcing tools and AI-driven filters to comb not only for traditional “finance accountant” titles, but for those with dual-reporting standard experience. This allowed us to scan broader datasets (including hidden talent not actively job-seeking) and identify professionals who might have US-GAAP exposure (for example, from a U.S. listed REIT) and IFRS knowledge (from Canadian or international operations).
- Network Reach: Leveraging our extensive network in finance and real estate, we tapped into high-performing professionals across Canada and beyond.
- Industry-Targeted Mapping & Engagement: We conducted targeted market-mapping across the real-estate/private-capital finance sector, built pipelines of passive talent, and engaged candidates with a narrative around a high-growth lending firm requiring multi-standard reporting expertise.
- Dedicated Recruitment Delivery Team: We assigned a focused team to the Trez account — comprising a senior lead recruiter and an intermediate recruiter — whose sole mandate was to fill Trez’s mandates. This ensured continuity, speed, and deep industry alignment.
- Optimized Screening & Short-Listing: Given the dual-standards requirement, our screening process included deep technical discussion (US GAAP vs IFRS), and scenario-based questions to ensure candidates not only had the credentials but could use them in complex lending/credit-fund contexts.
- Client Immersion: Our team invested time to understand Trez Capital’s business model, leadership team, and organizational culture. This allowed us to align each search with the company’s strategic goals and leadership style.
Through this approach, we successfully placed critical roles across multiple verticals, including Fund Accounting, Financial Reporting, Loan Administration, and Finance Transformation.
The Outcome
We successfully filled several key hires, with some searches completing within just 4 weeks from kick-off to offer — significantly faster than typical finance-recruitment cycles in this niche.
The quality of submissions was markedly higher: candidates brought clearly documented US GAAP experience, as well as relevant real estate and private capital exposure, allowing Trez to make confident hiring decisions with fewer rounds of interviews.
Trez gained access to a previously untapped talent pool, thanks to the AI-powered sourcing and focused mapping, which expanded their options and accelerated the fill-rate.
The dedicated delivery team model ensured strong alignment, transparent communication, and sustained momentum — reducing administrative lag, speeding up scheduling, and keeping the entire process on track to meet tight deadlines.
These strategic hires have significantly strengthened Trez Capital’s finance function, improved reporting accuracy, and supported key transformation initiatives. By building a high-performing team aligned with the company’s values and growth trajectory, Trez Capital is well-positioned to maintain its leadership in private real estate lending.
The volume of placements delivered and the ongoing partnership with Trez Capital underscore the distinction between being a true recruitment partner and simply another vendor — built on trust, consistency, and results.
Search Completed By: Accounting & Finance
