Getting the most from your executive search partner

Contents

1. Choosing the right firm – when to use global brands and when to use boutiques
2. Interviewing and selecting the right teams for the right search
3. Overview of the process and how it should work
4. Briefing – how to deliver the best brief
5. Search firm reporting.  How to spot the different between reality and myth
6. Long list discussion, how to chose the right candidates
7. Interviewing the candidates – who/when/how
8. Closing the candidate and how to stay close
9. Referencing, what to ask, expect, what to read into the unspoken

Choosing the right firm (take client references whichever route you take)
Advantages of a global brand: 

• Global brand recognition may get higher rates of call back.
• Bar to entry should be a quality control re the consultant and researcher population.
• Richness of database should allow for good sourcing.
• Experience of having run searches previously which are similar and could provide good access to a known candidate pool, particularly internationally.
• The global brands tend to have a range of additional services, such as executive assessment.
• Process is usually fairly slick

Disadvantages of a global brand:

• Off-limits challenges (always ask for a list of off limits, by country)
• The search partner you meet in most instances will not be the one delivering the assignment.  The researcher and consultant are the people at the coal face.  (You must ask to meet the full team, they may not be as impressive as the person you feel you are buying)
• Co-ordination across geographies is not seamless and is hampered by personal billing targets and an unwillingness to share fees.
• Sometimes a less than open view of capability in other countries. (they may have e.g. an HR Specialist recruiter in Dallas but only a generalist in Bogata)
• Less flexible regarding fees/payment terms or ways of working
• Have been known to cut corners by recycling known candidates rather than doing fresh research.

Advantages of a boutique (small, independently owned business, sometimes with affiliate partners in other countries)

• A flexible and adaptable approach to the assignment, the process and the fee structure
• The partner you meet will probably be the one running the assignment (check)
• Fewer off-limits
• More research capability available for specific functions/markets because of the large outsourced research pool that can be tapped into
• More fresh research undertaken, less reliance on known networks
• Greater personal touch, more time invested.  You may be a more important client to them
• Fewer assignments, often at higher levels of quality

• Lack of brand recognition may limit call back (particularly if the company is not a known brand)
• Less ‘collateral’ in terms of previous searches
• Fewer international contacts
• Fewer specialists (sector or functional)
• Process can be rather ‘patchy’

Interviewing the consultant team

• Clarify the roles of the members of the team.  Who is doing the identification, sourcing, approaching?  Who is interviewing the candidates and managing the client interaction?
• Ensure that you have emotional engagement from the team who are approaching and interviewing – can they capture the interest of candidates.  Would you stop and listen if you were called by that individual?  This is more important than their previous track record.
• This team is representing your business and is an extension of your brand.  You have to feel totally comfortable with them in that capacity. 
• The knowledge of the sector/role is valuable, but instincts regarding leadership capability, emotional intelligence and good judgement will provide a better result (unless the role is heavily technical in nature).
• Geographical coverage and knowledge of cultural differences is hugely important.  Roles that are country specific (i.e., CEO in Poland), and where the candidate is to be found in that country, should be run by someone extremely familiar with the region.   A consultant in a different geography is less likely to be successful.  If your team is managing the Polish search partner, that partner needs to be interviewed and evaluated.  Otherwise you have no real view of the capability.
• International searches can be run from one office, i.e. a Global Marketing Director for a company headquartered in Switzerland can be done very successfully from one base.  Trying to co-ordinate search work across multiple geographies is not normally easy.  Research can be conducted across different regions, but only one partner should interview the final candidates in order to produce a high quality and consistent shortlist.  Be wary of the approach which says that candidates can be found and interviewed locally by different offices.  (Who are not all motivated because the fee is split too many ways).

Briefing

• When working with a new headhunter, a full briefing to enable him/her to start should take around two hours.  To include:
• Full company overview and history.
• Market challenges, competitive overview.
• Organisational chart with clear role definitions.
• Strategy, operational issues, culture, processes.
• Key tasks, candidate experience and personal profile.
• All key stakeholders need to input.  The peer group (board or executive committee) should also be included if appropriate.  The search firm should visit the premises and be given a view of the surroundings if a relocation is involved.
• At the end of the process, the search firm should be able to put together a job specification which is real, (not a shopping list of Perfect 10s), where the role is clear, the accountabilities are defined and where the experience match for the role is realistic. Remember, this is also a selling document.
• The key competencies critical for success should be defined and the search partner will agree to interview and write candidate reports against them.  
• Take advice, support and challenge from your search partner; this is what you are paying for.
• A target list of companies where the individual is likely to be found should be produced by the search firm once the job specification has been agreed.
• The job specification is a contract between the search firm and the client – an understanding that this is the agreed profile.  So often, the client changes his/her view and the role ends up a different one to the one initially agreed.  This often happens during the first interview process when the client starts to recalibrate.
• The search firm/client should ensure that there is alignment.  If changes in direction are made, there should be clarity around the changes and the job spec will need to be changed and agreed.  Too often changes are discussed, but no agreement is reached, expectations are not managed and the candidates presented don’t fit the ‘new’ profile.
• Ensure you have given a comprehensive breakdown of (and flexibility in) the package, with everything taken into consideration, including relocation costs, (deals can fall down if the candidate suddenly finds that international schooling is not included), equity, bonus plan structure.  A general ‘in the region of’ isn’t sufficient for candidates who are tied in elsewhere.

Search firm reporting

• Request either on-line access to the database, or if not available, weekly or bi-weekly reporting.  This gives transparency to the process and enables you to view actual conversations.  Beware the ‘in discussion’.  Could mean only that telephone messages have been left.  Ask what it means; has the candidate indicated interest?   Anticipate that in the first two weeks there will be more identification than real conversations.
• Check the target list against the list of candidates being approached.  Are there any gaps?  If there are gaps and the search firm doesn’t know people in one of your target organisations and can’t identify anyone because of off-limits, work with them to help find alternative ways to source into those companies.  You or one of your team will know someone in one of those firms.   Let the HR Director in your portfolio company advise whether any of their staff have come from one of the target companies.  There is no need to create barriers, the closer you work with the search firm, the better the result will be.
• Set realistic deadlines. Beware the promise of too much too soon.  Search is a courtship and in order to do the best job, it can take some time to entice the best candidates to come to the table.  All search firms want to impress and may promise a shortlist in too short a time and end up recycling candidates (common practice).
• Ask for market feedback, this will help you gauge whether or not the search firm is having rich conversations with candidates and whether the right questions are being asked.
• Be responsive to the search firm requests for information.  This will help maintain the momentum.

Long List

• At the end of four or five weeks, you should have a long list to discuss with the search firm, from which you will jointly select a shortlist.  They will be keen on putting good people on the list, but may not have really evaluated whether or not candidates will leave their current organisation, whether the package is attractive enough or whether relocation is really feasible.  Ask the questions.  If they have not probed deeply enough, you may get your favourite candidate through the process, but then get a turn-down at the end.  Prioritise the more committed candidates.
• It is not unknown for long list information to be full of assumptions and sweeping statements.  The accuracy of information is not always current.
• Make sure you are given full candidate package details so that a deal doesn’t fall down on poor expectation management.  It has been known for search firms only to ask for basic salary and bonus details and not include the bonus sacrifice or cost to the candidate of a move.  This makes it difficult to close.  Checking early on allows you to rule out anyone who is out of reach before wasting time on interview.
• Keep an open mind on ‘lateral’ candidates.  If you’ve reached a relationship of trust with the search firm, see those candidates who are not on spec, but who the search partner believes to be exceptional.

Interviewing the Candidates

• You should receive a full interview report from the search firm, generally a mix of biographical and competency based interviewing, against the specification agreed.  You should be seeing examples of competencies that you have agreed with the search firm which are essential for success.  The interview report should include areas for development – there is no perfect candidate.
• Do allow your search partner access to diaries or to the person who controls them.  At the beginning of the assignment you should allocate timeslots for interview.  That way the process will be much smoother and complete more easily.   One of the biggest barriers to an effective search process is the availability of interviewers.  This can lengthen the process by months.
• The first interview should be with a senior person who is best able to present the opportunity.  This interview enables an initial evaluation, but is mostly about selling the role/company to the candidate.  You should have received from the search firm the ‘hot buttons’ that will be important to the candidate.  Ensure that you cover these in the interview.  Address reservations – don’t shy away.
• Co-ordinate between interviews to ensure some different ground is covered each time. Make sure you demonstrate ‘joined-up thinking’.
• The second/third interview should be more about assessing capability, cultural fit with the organisation and the team and about motivation.  Don’t forget the latter, because the deal may fall down without really understanding the drivers for the candidate – and his/her personal situation.
• Every member of the interviewing team should continue to sell the organisation at every stage.
• Provide comprehensive and constructive feedback within 24 hours to keep the candidate motivated and keen and with the belief that you are committed as well.  Even if the jury is out, the candidate needs to stay motivated to continue.  The search firm should be chasing you for this if you don’t provide it.  This is an intense part of the process.

Closing the candidate of choice

• When you have made your decision, do not close off any second running candidate until the number one is closed.  Always keep your number two, live.  The search firm should manage this for you, but don’t allow timing to slip so that there is a two week gap as the second placed candidate will realise and may withdraw.
• Give the search firm all the fine details of the package so there is nothing the candidate needs to come back on.  They should, by this stage, know what the candidate will accept.  If they don’t then they are not doing their job properly.    Allow them full rein to negotiate for you, they should by now have a strong relationship of trust with the candidate.  There should be no surprises at this stage.  The partner/spouse will have been spoken to about the move; schools will have been checked out, etc.
• As soon as the candidate has said yes, the hiring executive should immediately be in touch with the candidate to organise a dinner or suchlike to cement the decisions.  Stay close to the candidate through the notice period.  Get him/her involved in decisions, meet the team, ensure that even if they are being persuaded to stay, that you provide an emotional commitment to keep them on track.

Referencing

• The search firm should provide you with reference information throughout the process, but with formal references at the point of offer.
• They should take them up and discuss the agreed competencies and experience with the referee.  Calibrate against the areas for development already identified.
• References that are ‘vanilla’ or don’t give much depth need to be questioned.  It may be the quality of the questions or it may be a lack of willingness to probe because of fear of what might be uncovered.  If only one from four or five is bland, it is less of a concern.  A number of generic references should be questioned.
• Different organisations will have a policy on referencing, some will not attribute because of the potential for litigation.   You should expect at least four references, one from each of the past few roles - line manager, perhaps also from a peer, a customer, or team member.
• If one poor reference is found, another two or three have to be taken to ensure that it is an anomaly.
• The reference report should highlight areas of future development or need that should be addressed in the candidates first few months.

As you work with your headhunter you should gain a sense that they are ‘tuning into’ your company, ways of working and likes and dislikes.

Hopefully your partnership will be successful but a real test is when a search isn’t smooth. Do they give up, or regroup and drive forward with renewed energy?

When it goes well, a few words of praise or thanks are always gratefully received and ensure ongoing commitment and dedication.