What on earth is Executive Search???

There are so many buzz words associated with my profession, which, in all honesty result in a lot of confusion around what it is I actually do for a living;

Executive Recruiter, Executive Search Professional (ESP), People Partner, and my favourite; Head-hunter... The look of complete disbelief on people’s faces who aren’t familiar with the term; “this 5ft3 young woman is a killer?” Not quite...

With the lack of transparency and understanding in the market, I thought it might be a useful exercise to explain what Executive Search is and to highlight the differences relative to contingent recruitment.

First things first, what is contingent or contingency recruitment?

According to the Cornerstone Group; “A contingency recruiter earns a fee only when the organization hires someone.” This solution is provided by most recruitment firms whereby a Company, has a need for a resource/hire and will make use of a firm/firms to find potential candidates in the market in a short period of time, i.e. a week or two after the briefing process. Generally, recruitment consultants working in this space are working a number of different roles at any given time and will tend to send at a max 6 profiles for each role. As mentioned in the above definition, the payment structure around this solution is a fixed percentage of the successfully hired candidates annual salary, only payed as and when said candidate is hired.                                                       

Executive Search

... is a completely different business solution which I have broken down below:

• These services tend to be made use of when Companies need to make a confidential hire, when they have a very specific skill set they are in search of or when their teams do not have the capacity to source for the role at a management or executive level.
• The solution includes a complete market map which tends to take between 2 and 4 weeks depending on timelines, whereby all the market data is presented to the company and becomes “their data.”
• A shortlist of at least the top 4 - 8 profiles, inclusive of an in-depth analysis and overview of their profile and skills is presented post completion of the market map, for the Client's review. At this point it is seriously highlighted that I as the ESP have two clients in any search process, the client by whom I have been retained and then the Client Candidates whom I represent.

One's ability as an ESP to understand and present the best interests of both parties is paramount and requires and acute mix of EQ and IQ.

• Post the stage of profile presentation the Client will generally choose to interview 1 or more of the Candidates and then potentially request that we complete personality testing (preference based) on their behalf unless they have a preferred supplier, as well as the completion of the credit and qualification checks.
• A complete slate of 3 or more reference checks are provided and then a key part of the process begins where we serve as the non-bias offer negotiation party, which is often the most precarious part of the process. By this stage we have a well-established bond with the Candidate/s in process and thus the level of trust between Client and ESP and candidate is tangible. One’s ability to negotiate and remain impartial is integral to the success of the process.

Let's talk fees...

Of course every Clients budget and requirements are unique but in general Executive Search fees are divided into thirds. One third upon agreeing to use the ESP, one third upon choosing to interview the Candidates presented by the ESP and then the final third upon the placement of the successful candidate. In many instances Clients who are unsure as to whether they want to proceed with an internal candidate will make use of an ESP to collect the market data, interview candidates in the market and assess it against the in house candidate accordingly, without proceeding to the third and final stage of the search.

Final thoughts

The recruitment industry in general, is heavily saturated, irrespective of this fact, there are most certainly ways to stand out. Success as an ESP is obviously defined by a number of attributes; your demeanor, your intelligence, the way you present yourself, and in my experience the core to ones success as an ESP is one’s administrative and connecting ability. My ability to coordinate whilst connecting as a “human” are essential to my success. This always begins with an open and honest CONVERSATION with both Clients and Candidates alike. Should you be in the need of a new team member and are open to the potential of working with an Agency but are unsure in what direction to take the hiring strategy, the best thing to do is have a conversation. Feel free to make an outreach to me and we can quickly establish where your need, pain points and cultural fits lie and then work on creating a hiring strategy to suit this need accordingly.

In the words of Paulo Coelho, one of my favourite authors;

“The most important thing in all human relationships is conversation, but people don’t talk anymore, they don’t sit down to talk and listen. They go to the cinema, watch television, listen to the radio, read books, update their status on the internet, but they almost never talk. If we want to change the world, we have to go back to a time where warriors would gather around a fire and tell stories.”

Let’s get talking!