Leaders in any organization understand how important their people are to their company’s success. From front line workers to senior leaders, a company’s talent can create a culture critical to the future of the organization. The best way to ensure hiring the right people is by connecting with experts to meet the organization’s hiring goals. But how do you do that in a market now filled with recruiters – is there meaning to finding an executive search firm that is aligned with your business strategy?
Finding a qualified executive search firm may be a challenge, however, once found, can bring many benefits. However, it’s essential to first describe the dynamics of using an executive search firm and the process.
What to look for in Search Firms
While companies may initially choose to begin their search in-house, there are benefits to outsourcing your recruiting needs, and knowing how they align with your needs is the way to start. Companies evaluate their recruitment needs and whether to outsource within four main areas—confidentiality, expertise, objectivity, and means/methods.
- Confidentiality: This is where search firms shine. Discretion may be necessary for certain roles, and as a company, having a search firm will bring less worry since they will maintain that confidentiality.
- Expertise: Recruiters and search consultants dedicate a large part of their time finding, engaging and closing on talent for their clients. Experienced and knowledgeable in the space, recruiters, and search consultants are experts at building a candidate’s interest, as they know compensation structures within markets and have information that is otherwise unavailable.
- Objectivity: Using a retained search firm may be a better fit if you’re looking to ensure a successful outcome. When a fee is contingent upon hire, a search firm may be more motivated to get a candidate hired quickly, compromising the quality of the search. Retained firms will most likely have a systematic approach with recruiting, delivering a thorough data driven evaluation. This is to ensure the best and available talent in your market and role.
Retained search firms are best to hire when looking to recruit middle management to senior executive roles and appropriate when:
- Confidentiality is a must.
- There is a need for a dedicated and focused effort.
- Finding the most qualified candidate available is critical to the company’s competitive advantage.
- The organization requires candidates to be thoroughly screened and vetted.
- Internal and external candidates are to be compared.
- The company requires a third party to persuade a desired candidate to leave their current role.
- Value-added data is needed by the organization such as behavioral assessments, talent maps or targeted intelligence on competitors
Means and Methods help when Choosing a Search Firm
Since the pandemic, recruiting has skyrocketed, but there are still ways of deciding the best partnership. Mainly, a company must decide whether they want a partnership with a larger or smaller firm. Here are the benefits of going with a smaller firm.
Smaller, or boutique firms offer a personalized experience to their clients. The firm’s survival, reputation and overall success is dependent on all their clients having satisfaction in their search and overall service.
As a client, you will also most likely get the recruiter assigned, someone you may have spoken with already. Opposed to larger firms, who may assign a junior recruiter, who may not be equipped to find the right candidate for the role. In smaller search firms, partners do the work themselves, usually a personal, and hands-on function. Confidentiality is kept, and you know who is conducting your search, especially with critical roles that require it.
Hiring a search firm can feel very similar to hiring a new candidate. It’s important to ask questions that highlight whether the firm is a good cultural fit, has the relevant experience, is able to discover any conflicts of interest, and reputation among others.
Why Partner with a Search Firm?
Hiring top talent can make or break the future of a business, and amidst the Great Resignation, finding top talent may be more of a challenge with so many companies hiring. Partnering with a search firm can help ensure hiring the best match for your organization. Partnering with a search consultant can save you time and ultimately money in using their skills and networks to find you top talent.
Properly evaluating and screening a potential search firm can offer amazing possibilities to your company. With over 100 years of combined experience, we are people experts, we decode the human. Not only do we have a network across industries from healthcare, non-profits and many more, we pair our search with behavioral assessments to ensure all decisions are data-driven. If you’re not sure and have questions, please reach out to us for a free consultation. Email us at info@newland-associates.com.
