Executive Search Companies

Wednesday, February 15th, 2012 - Executive Search, Executive Search Companies


Executive Search Companies

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When first entering the market of the Executive Jobs and Executive Appointments, after having created a great and effecitive Executive CV, is to come to terms with the various Executive Serach Companies and their approaches.

As I keep saying, its unreasonable for us as an employment industry to expect any Executive job seeker to understand what goes on, let alone how it happens, when they probably only engage in a job search once every three years at quickest. However, if there is a sting in the tail of the employment industry, its in the the terms Executive Search and Executive Search Companies.

Why? because to the customer who is paying for that service – the employer – simply:

  • Headhunting costs more than Executive Search
  • Executive Search costs more than Recruitment
  • And Recruitment is more expensive than the Job Centre!

So the problem for the Executive Job Seeker is not that they won’t get approached, its figuring out who is approaching them i the first place. Once you have understood that, then understanding where they are (the recruiter approaching them) in relationship to the employer is key, other wise you’ll end up spending a lot of time talking to people who can’t help you, quickly.

Only after that will you be able to decide which approaches are from Recruiters, and which are from Executive Search Companies that can help you.

The basics of Executive Search Companies

Payment and exclusivity is difference in Executive Search Companies
If you are trying to figure out if you are talking to a Top Executive Search Company or not, then the key issue is to figure out how they are getting paid. This sounds difficult, but actually its essential and quite easy.

The best Top Executive Search Companies get paid a percentage of their fee up front, most often between 35% and 50% of the total fee value. How much is the total fee value? Depends on what the job is paying and how long their standard terms and conditions are, but lets assume their fee is equal to the annual salary of that job. Hence some charge base salary times two, and some charge base plus bonus.

Time

The second differentiator of Top Executive Search Companies is their relationship to the client. If they were engaged by the board, the CEO or the MD, then the relationship is more likely to be exclusive. If engaged by the HR department, then its more likely that their fee is contingency based, as they are in competition with other recruitment companies.

Time

The last key issue is time. How long have they been engaged, and what is the search timescale for putting someone in position? A long engagement date and no due date on putting someone in place would sound more like a frustrated process. We engaged with an Executive CV client recently, and he wanted a specific job. Asking a few key questions of the MD of the Executive Search Company revealed an employer client who had played around with job description, brief, title and resultantly pay, and had ended up in a situation where “the right candidate would get the job” – what ever that was! So I got our client to layout what he was looking for, and did the job have that? He got employed at board level in two weeks, because he proved his professional expertise.

The second time problem is the brief filler. This is the one where the recruiter has taken a brief, an has to provide X number of CV’s to fulfill their brief, and hence get paid. So, towards the end of the agreed employer client timescale, the employer asks “where are the X CV’s” and the recruiter has to go and find some new ones that the employer client hasn’t seen. So a fair question if an Executive Search Company calls you, is to ask about placement timescales and how long that they have had the brief. Neither too long, or too short, are good answers.

Relationship to employer client

This is a two point area of questioning, but its all about relationship to client. You only want to speak to the person talking to the hiring director, so that’s what you are assessing for. Often many search companies will use researchers to initially source potential candidates, and then after some initial vetting will pass them right types of people onto the actual headhunter or recruiter handling that position.

Professional Executive Search Companies

There are many claimed Executive Search Companies, but most will be members of at least one of the leading industry organisations. These UK based organisations each have externally search able databases, to check current membership status:

Also, some International Executive Search Companies also have search able membership databases. If the organisation you are talking to is not a member of at least one of these leading groups, then what does that say about them?

Checklist of Executive Search Companies

So if you know what you are looking for, here is a simple checklist to make sure that you are actually talking to an Executive Search Company who could help you:

  1. If you don’t have 30mins to talk, are caught on your mobile, or are in the office, then take their name and number, an agree a time to talk at your convenience. If they are professional they won’t mind, and it gives you time to check them on the professional databases, plus the individual personally on LinkedIn/Doostang
  2. Have your Executice CV ready, plus your Personal Elevator Pitch. Be sat in a comfortable room away from the office, where you won’t get disturbed for at least 30 minutes
  3. The key currency here is your Executive CV – that’s what they want. So hang on to it for as log as possible, because once they have a promise from you that you will forward it, the conversation will then soon end. Secondly, you will need to be able to answer the key head hunters question: “Give me an example of when you solved the problem that my client is looking to solve/achieve.”
  4. When you next speak, after they have introduced themselves, ask how they found you and your contact details? Most executives are found through networking, so it would be nice to thank the person who introduced you
  5. Ask if they are the person handling the client relationship? If yes, when was the last time that they talked to the client? Then ask at which level they are talking. The required position to be filled will always be at least one step lower o the management line than the person who engaged them. If you are not convinced that you are talking to the person actually handling the client, ask to arrange to speak to them.the recruitment companies CEO/MD
  6. Once talking to the person handling the client, repeat step5. Now asses the timeline. When did they engage, and what’s the placement timescale?
  7. Now ask about them, the head hunter or recruiter that you are talking to. Its all interesting information (what professional body are they a member of ), but it is really a tactic to give you time to think “Do I want to send my CV to this person/organisation?”
  8. If the answer to question 7 is NO, then don’t send it. Ask for time to think, and ask the to call you back in 48hrs+. If they push, then they are a contingency recruiter!

Finding and dealing with Executive Search Companies is easy if you now what they want from you, and simply takes a bit of focus, control, background research and knowledge. In other words, the same professional and leadership qualities they are seeking from the ideal Executive Job applicant.

Good Luck!

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