Retained Search or Contingent recruitment? – Are You Risking Your Firm’s reputation with the wrong service……
Executive search firms are talent acquisition specialists who invest their entire careers focused on helping their clients identify, attract, and hire the most qualified individuals (only Senior Executives) for their unique organizational needs. Executive Search Consultants are experts in searching the best passive talent. They also play a very important role in maintaining/ improving your brand reputation.

Retaining an executive search firm to find executive candidates for your company is important for your long term success. The Executive search firm plays a crucial role in helping you hire a star performer who will take your business to the next level.

Before you start selecting an Executive search, you need to prepare a recruitment plan. First create a list of key performance indicators (KPI) aligned with your business goals and strategies for at least the next 3 years. This will facilitate the job mission/goal and drafting a job description.

The job description is very important as it explains the content of the job, company vision, culture, historical performance, candidate experience, desired attributes and management/work style. A good Executive Search firm will systematically help you refine your job description and will submit a ‘search plan’ or a clear ‘research strategy’.

You are now ready to select an executive search firm. It is important to look for firms with expertise within your industry, job position or geographic region (you can search for regional Executive Search firms on Linked in (company search) or go directly on the AESC website (The Association of Executive Search Consultants).

Once your list has narrowed down to 2 or 3 executive search firms, it is now time to understand who will handle your search and will it be a high priority search? Be sure that your consultant can give your search the time that it requires (a Researcher reporting to the consultant should not work on more than 5/6 ‘active searches’ (at a given time) without the quality of their search work beginning to decline). NB: A retained search will always be given a higher priority than a contingency search. So to be on the safe side, always hire an Executive Search for senior positions. It might first seem an expensive service but it will save you a lot of time and avoid recruitment failures or ‘short placements’.

Few other questions/advice once you’ve selected your Executive Search firm :

– Get to know the search team and feel comfortable with the staff (Best is to meet not only with the Consultant but also with the Head of research who will be responsible for the delivery of the search along with the search team). They should provide you with a document that explains the search process. Request them to also provide information about a similar completed search.

– Understand the search process including the search fees, expected expenses and other costs if any. Try to gauge their professionalism, character and personality. Is the search consultant ethical, professional and well experienced?

– Also, many executive search firms have off-limit organizations. If you have any target organizations in mind, make sure they are not on their off-limit list.

– Does the search firm demonstrate knowledge of your organization, its business units, products and services, corporate strategies and outlook. Do they know the competitive forces that you face and the type of talent that would give you a competitive advantage in the marketplace?

– Follow ups? How often can you expect progress reports (reports should be sent weekly)? How long will it be before you can expect be begin interviewing the first candidates?

– References and assessments/interviews are critical in the search process. Also important is the technical background check that confirms academic and work credentials. A search firm should have individuals who are professionally trained to evaluate talents. (Research on 181 jobs at 121 organizations worldwide showed that two out of three abilities vital for on-the-job success were emotional competencies — self-awareness, social awareness, adaptability and a talent for collaboration- Goleman, 2002)

– Another very important question is :Will the search firm be a credible ambassador for your organization? Bear in mind that the firm that you select will be a direct reflection of your company and brand. Get to know the Consultants, their level of professionalism and to the degree possible their reputation in the business community at large (your search should remain confidential in the market place). These issues will directly impact a search firm’s ability to gain access to high level professional and executive talent not to mention encouraging positive branding for your company (Follows ups, closing down candidates in a courteous manner etc).

– What happens if a new hire quits shortly after being hired? Most search firms offer a replacement guarantee if a new hire quits within a specified period of time following their employment. Also, how long does the search firm commit to work on a search?

– Ask for client references. A search firm should be able to give you strong professional client references related to the search relevant to your search.