Dr. Schwerdtfeger Personnel Consulting

What Dr. Schwerdtfeger Personnel Consulting does

Dr. Schwerdtfeger Personalberatung GmbH & Co. KG is a privately held German personnel consultancy founded in 2002 by Dr. Clemens Schwerdtfeger and headquartered in Emstek, Lower Saxony. The firm specializes in executive search, recruiting, and HR consulting exclusively for the agricultural and food industry (Agribusiness, Food, AgriTech), placing leadership and specialist roles across the value chain from agricultural technology and trading through food processing to retail. It operates from four German locations — Emstek (HQ), Ulm, Menden, and Berlin — serving mid-sized and enterprise corporate clients, with particular depth in the Weser-Ems and Oldenburger Münsterland regions where it is recognized as a leading specialist consultancy.

The firm's core service portfolio comprises recruiting for agribusiness and the food industry, executive search via a dedicated schwerdtfeger-executives.de brand, personal and organizational development (business coaching, talent development), and compensation consulting. Supporting offerings include the AgriFood Talents candidate development platform, a Stellenbörse job board, and career guidance tools. On the technology side, the firm has integrated generative AI for deep market and candidate research, AI-assisted interview transcription, and an internally developed custom GPT for office management and scheduling, layered on top of the EmmySoft applicant tracking system hosted on German servers for GDPR compliance.

The business operates on a professional services, project-based fee model tied to successful candidate placements and consulting mandates, with revenue generated from executive search, recruiting, organizational development, and compensation advisory engagements. GTM is enterprise field sales — direct consultant-led engagement with mid-market and enterprise clients in agricultural machinery, food processing, and agricultural trading — supplemented by event presence at EuroTier and adjacent industry trade fairs, thought-leadership through HR trend studies and agricultural industry press, and organic social on LinkedIn and XING. The firm was converted from a sole proprietorship to a GmbH & Co. KG on January 1, 2017, and is led by founder Dr. Clemens Schwerdtfeger alongside partners Rainer Haske, Dirk Grave, and René Wessels.

Name

Dr. Schwerdtfeger Personnel Consulting

Legal name

Dr. Schwerdtfeger Personalberatung GmbH & Co. KG

Website

https://personal-schwerdtfeger.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Dr. Schwerdtfeger Personalberatung is a privately held German personnel consultancy, founded in 2002, that provides executive search, recruiting, and HR consulting exclusively to the agricultural and food industry, placing leadership and specialist roles across the agribusiness and food value chain for mid-sized and enterprise clients in Germany.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Executive Search and Personnel Consulting

NAICS

Human Resources Consulting Services (541612), Executive Search Services (561312), Employment Placement Agencies and Executive Search Services (56131)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Employment Agencies (7361)

akta.pro primary industry

Talent Management & Workforce Planning Consulting (BPAHAGAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Performance Management & Productivity Consulting (BPAHAGAL), People Analytics, Assessment & Psychometrics Consulting (BPAHAGAH)

Keywords

• Executive search services
• Agricultural recruitment
• Personnel consulting
• Talent acquisition
• HR consulting services

Headquarters

HQ city

Emstek

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Executive Search and Recruiting: Fee-based placement services for filling leadership positions and specialist roles in the agricultural and food industry. Services include recruiting, executive search, and personnel development consulting. Revenue generated through successful candidate placements for corporate clients.
2. Personnel and Organizational Development: Additional consulting services including business coaching, talent development, and organizational structure development, complementing the core recruiting services.
3. Compensation Consulting: Advisory services on compensation structures and salary benchmarking, often bundled with executive search engagements.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Dr. Schwerdtfeger Personnel Consulting provides fee-based executive search, direct recruiting, personnel and organizational development, and compensation consulting exclusively for the agricultural and food industry. Its consultants identify and place executives and specialists across the full value chain from agricultural technology and inputs through food processing and trading, leveraging 20+ years of regional networks and AI-augmented research to reach passive candidates.

Product overview

Dr. Schwerdtfeger Personalberatung is a specialized personnel consulting firm focused exclusively on the agricultural and food industry. The company operates as a unified service offering with specialized divisions covering executive search and recruiting for Agribusiness and Food sectors, HR and organizational development (including business coaching and talent development), Executive Search, and Compensation Consulting. Supporting services include the AgriFood Talents platform for candidate development and a Stellenbörse (job board) for current vacancies. The company emphasizes technology-augmented recruitment combining AI-powered research and transcription tools with deep industry expertise spanning the entire agricultural and food value chain from field to shelf.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Recruiting Agribusiness Executive search and direct recruiting services for the agribusiness sector, including agricultural technology, agricultural trading, animal nutrition, plant production, and agricultural inputs. Designed for mid-sized and large agribusiness companies seeking executives and specialists who understand the full agricultural value chain.
• Recruiting Food Industry

Quantifiable outcome

• Reach to hidden candidate market through personal networks

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability7 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• EmmySoft GmbHcoreTechnology or IntegrationEmmySoft provides the applicant management software (Bewerbermanagement-Software) used by Dr. Schwerdtfeger Personalberatung for capturing, managing, and selecting application materials. The software processes data on servers located in Germany in compliance with GDPR requirements. A data processing agreement (AVV) has been concluded with EmmySoft.
• JC ConsultingminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerWebsite conception and implementation services provider for the company's digital presence.
• Stefan Depta ConsultingminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerWebsite conception and implementation services provider for the company's digital presence.
• Kubus Medienproduktion GmbHminorOthersProfessional photography and media production services for website imagery and marketing materials.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Kienbaum Consultants International: Germany's leading executive search and HR consulting firm. Directly comparable as a German-headquartered executive search boutique with strong management consulting overlap, serving similar mid-market and enterprise clients across multiple industries including adjacent industrial and consumer/food segments.
• Amrop: International executive search partnership with a German presence and a structure similar to a partnership-led boutique. Comparable as a partnership-model search firm competing for senior agribusiness, food, and industrial mandates, with industry-vertical practices that overlap the subject firm's positioning.
• Hays Germany: Major international recruitment firm with a strong German operation. Comparable as a professional recruitment provider in the German market, though more focused on contract and permanent specialist hiring across multiple industries rather than pure executive search in agribusiness.
• PageGroup (Michael Page / Page Executive): Global recruitment group with Page Executive dedicated to senior-level search. Comparable as a competitor for mid- and senior-level agribusiness and food industry placements in the German market, with a similar multi-tier service approach.

Broad incumbents

• Korn Ferry: Global organizational consulting and executive search firm. Comparable on the executive search and talent/leadership development side of the business, representing the type of large incumbent with a German footprint that could encroach on agribusiness mandates.
• Heidrick & Struggles: Global executive search and organizational consulting firm. Comparable as a full-service leadership advisory with a German presence that competes for the same agribusiness and food industry executive mandates, but at a different scale and breadth.
• Odgers Berndtson: International executive search firm with German offices. Comparable as an executive search competitor for senior agribusiness and food industry leadership mandates, but without the subject firm's deep vertical specialization.
• Egon Zehnder: Global executive search and leadership advisory firm with a strong German presence. Comparable as a senior leadership search provider, though it operates across all industries rather than specializing in agribusiness; it represents the type of broad incumbent the subject firm competes against on enterprise mandates.
• Spencer Stuart: Global executive search and leadership advisory firm. Comparable as a senior-level search competitor in the German market, including for agribusiness and consumer/food industry board and C-suite mandates.

Regional players

• Robert Half Deutschland: Global staffing and consulting firm operating in Germany. Comparable as a professional staffing and placement competitor, though more focused on finance, IT, and office support rather than agribusiness executive search.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/dr-schwerdtfeger-personalberatung
• Facebookfacebook.com/personalberatung.schwerdtfeger

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Dr. Schwerdtfeger Personnel Consulting