If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that leadership matters.
You need qualified and good leaders to support continued success and growth for your company or to help redefine your strategy in the face of change.
As you would expect, the hiring process is more complex for these executive-level personnel.
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The tight competition in recruitment also has companies scrambling for innovative ways to land executive-level talents. This brings us to executive search firms. You need an executive search firm that can connect you with leading-edge talent.
Executive search firms with their expertise, technology, and industry knowledge are now becoming a go-to solution for many companies looking to hire, especially for the C-Suite.
In 2013, 5.9% of companies’ external hires were recruited by search firms.
That is almost twice the 2012 percentage and also reported to be the highest number in more than a decade.
With the increased need for executive search firms, there’s a need to continue discussing this topic in the hope of providing the necessary information to the HR professionals who might still be unfamiliar with the inner workings of executive search firms.
In our previous articles, we already touched on how executive search firms work, the different types of executive search firms, and some of the advantages of using executive search firms.
This time around we’re going to look at how to identify the best executive search firm to work for you.
Whether you’re a company looking to hire your next executive, or a talent seeking for challenging positions, you can use this article as a guide to learn more about executive search and how to identify the best executive search firm.
The best executive search firms strive to gain a deeper understanding of your business, your culture, and the gaps you are looking to fill and through their excellent understanding of the market and their vast database, they deliver a slate of candidates with the right mix of knowledge, skills, and experience.
The first question you need to ask when it comes to selecting an executive search firm is…
1. What does a good executive search firm look like?
Executive search is not just about filling an immediate need.
An executive search firm should be like a partner, a strategic advisor with a relationship built and invested in over years.
A good executive search partner will strive to gain a deeper understanding of your business, your culture, the gaps you are looking to fill, and provoke new thinking.
Your search partner should know your company inside out; how your business operates, your goals, your values, and your people. This will help them to find the most suitable candidates to help your company grow and evolve.
Functional expertise
A good executive search partner will have an excellent understanding of the market, rather than just one industry or market segment.
They will have deep, functional expertise in their area that they can bring to every assignment.
To be successful in today’s marketplace, organizations increasingly need a blend of qualified people in their top team.
A diverse top management team will have a vast pool of experience and points of view to draw from, meaning they can help you find new solutions to problems and generate new ideas that could catapult your business forward.
A good search partner will be able to use their knowledge to encourage organizations to think differently and present you with candidates who can arrive with new ways of thinking needed for your organization’s continued growth.
Executive search firms also conduct thorough research and background checks on candidates to ensure that you do not end up staffing ‘bad’ hires.
Additionally, such checks ensure that your company is prevented from liability issues.
A well-structured and thorough interview process
Although building a solid foundation of research is a critical part of a successful executive search initiative, it should be regarded as just that – a foundation.
It’s the interview process that will truly determine whether a candidate is a good match for a company, so a quality placement firm should take this stage very seriously.
The best search consultants use sophisticated approaches such as behavior-based interview techniques and psychometric evaluations to get as much insight into prospects as they can.
Professional service
Your search partner will represent your company to candidates, so they must know you well enough to promote your company in a positive, accurate, and honest light so that candidates want to work with you.
As the right candidate may not be actively looking for a new position, your search partner needs to give the very best impression of your company.
This also means providing a well-managed, efficient, and professional search process, as this will add to your credibility as an employer and help build your employer’s brand in the market.
The capacity to communicate clearly and on time
The process of hiring especially executive managers is a lengthy one.
According to a LinkedIn study in 2017, the process could take anywhere between 4 to 6 months on average.
Recruiting firms are supposed to make the hiring process easier for the companies they work with.
This means communicating clearly and promptly, pushing processes forward rather than holding them up.
So, now that we have identified what a good executive search firm looks like, now let’s ask some more questions…
2. What industry knowledge and expertise do they have?
To find a qualified leader for your company, you need an executive search team with expertise specific to your industry.
Top search firms have a deep understanding of the market in question. However, some firms have specialized in specific industries.
Whatever your preference is, make sure you get a sense of their experience and technical know-how of the industry in question.
They should also have deep knowledge of your key leadership positions, the responsibilities of these roles, and the attributes that define qualified executive talent.
Most importantly, they should have their fingers on the pulse of your industry, staying on top of news and trends, identifying key opinion leaders and influencers, and continuously expanding their network of relationships.
3. What credibility and connections are they known to have acquired?
To find the executive talent that everyone in your industry is talking about—the thought leaders, the trailblazers, the individuals currently heading the companies you aspire to be—your executive search team must have the credibility to engage them.
Confidentiality is also a key consideration when conducting an executive search, particularly when you are replacing an incumbent leader.
Your executive search firm should have a proven track record of representing companies with professionalism and discretion.
Don’t be afraid to ask for references to assess the firm’s reputation among clients and business communities.
4. Do they have a well-defined executive search strategy?
A successful executive search requires a well-defined strategy.
The search process can be challenging and complex, requiring the identification and assessment of a wide range of individuals to select the very few who meet your specific needs.
They should have the ability to find and recruit the best people in the market, not just the best people in their network.
This is the key difference between securing a “good” versus a “great” pool of executive talent.
Leveraging a robust research function, a superior search firm will assess the market to identify candidates who match your criteria and desired location.
They will provide candidates who check all your boxes concerning your current needs but also possess the skills necessary to carry your company three-to-five years into the future.
Remember, you’re looking for experts, so analyze whether the search executive firm goes beyond providing you with candidates but further into looking at the growth of your company through the leadership of the said candidate.
5. Do they demonstrate proven commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion?
There’s growing recognition of the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) when it comes to executive leadership teams.
The McKinsey 2020 Diversity Wins report revealed how companies with more diverse executive teams (gender, culture, and ethnic diversity) are “now more likely than ever to outperform less diverse peers on profitability.”
While many are “jumping on the DEI bandwagon” because they view it as a trend, ensure your chosen executive search firm understands its importance to the success of your business and has a proven strategy to help you build a diverse, high-performance leadership team.
6. Are they fully transparent with regard to the talent search process?
With a top-tier executive search firm, your search process shouldn’t be kept a secret from you. Select a firm with a transparent approach, where they openly share information at each stage of the process.
They should be willing to tell you exactly how many prospects they have reached out to and how many are interested and engaged.
When assessing a firm, ask the following questions upfront:
- What is your average number of days from reaching out to closing?
- When a search begins, how many candidates do you typically screen in a month?
- Do you have numbers for candidate response and engagement rates?
- Approximately how many candidates will you screen and how many will we review?
The answers to these questions will help you gauge a firm’s success rate in finding the right talent.
7. Does the executive search firm have the capability to grow with you?
You want an executive search partner who can grow with you.
While your priority right now may be to find that perfect Chief Operating Officer, in a few months you may find yourself needing to hire a variety of positions at once, or even deciding to completely outsource your recruiting function.
If you are investing time and resources into an executive search firm so they can develop a deep understanding of your organization, customers, and culture, make the most of that investment.
Find a firm that can support your company as it grows throughout its entire lifecycle.
An executive search firm that understands your industry and market and has worked with organizations on a trajectory similar to yours should understand the required personas to support your growth.
The team should have connections with these individuals through its network and connections—and the know-how to find them.
A partner like this will be well equipped to present you with candidates who are more likely to thrive within your particular environment and play a key role in your success because they intimately know your business.
Final thoughts
Choosing the best search executive partner can be challenging but once you do, you’re off to a good start.
An executive search firm acts as an extension of your business, helping you to secure highly skilled senior management talent who can help your company to grow and evolve.
Therefore, it is paramount that you partner with the best in the game.
Because the last thing you want is to reach the end of an extensive and costly search process with a pool of “good” candidates and be forced to choose one out of necessity.
When evaluating executive search firms, do your homework upfront, ask the right questions and see what others in your industry are saying about them.
Ask for references.
Make an informed decision before you bring them on board to partner with your organization. We hope this guide helps you in the search for the best executive firm.
Finally, your search for an executive firm doesn’t have to be challenging or time-consuming. That’s where we come in. Flexi Personnel is one of Africa’s best providers of HR management solutions, including the provision of senior executives.
Over the years, we have managed to compile a database and portfolio of highly skilled and qualified candidates to ensure we meet our clients’ leadership needs in line with their strategic direction.
Flexi Personnel has a track record of delivering results for corporations on a global scale.
Ready to receive access to the top senior-level talent in the industry?
