Getting the Best Value from your Executive Search Firm
Recruiting key staff is always an important undertaking with serious cost, morale and performance implications for organisations. It requires careful preparation, briefing and articulation. Working with an appropriately skilled Executive Search firm can lead to a successful outcome, but the search firm will need your full participation and collaboration if they are to fulfil their role.
On this page, we offer some advice on how to choose the best search firm for your needs and to establish a positive and effective working relationship with them.
Selecting the search firm
- Focus on integrity, track record and ability to discuss and consult on your assignment. It is important that you are comfortable working together. A key factor is to establish an effective working relationship between the individual consultant conducting the research assignment and the manager/sponsor of the position we are filling.
- Understand who will conduct your search and ensure accountability.
- Be familiar with the overall capability of the firm to provide the necessary research resources and to identify the best possible candidates. Small specialist firms have often proved that they can successfully locate and recruit all levels of senior and specialist management.
- Retain the firm under contract and be prepared to treat them as a partner. We only work on assignments under exclusive contract with our clients. Once you decide to retain us, we assume that you have chosen to work only with Oxford HR.
Briefing the search firm
- Introduce them to key decision makers affected by the recruitment - both staff and Board member/Trustees;
- Involve them as early as possible in the process. They should be experts at drawing up job descriptions, person specifications and competencies, and should be able to advise on who may be available on the market, salary levels and how to frame your requirements;
- Provide them with as much information as possible. This will increase both their effectiveness and commitment. Do not hold anything back unless it is really necessary, and advise them regarding what must be kept confidential;
- Establish an agreed time line for the search and how progress will be reported, confirmed in writing;
- Refer internal candidates to them for independent evaluation. Don't compete with them - you are partners;
- Agree on Terms of Business for the search prepared by the search firm and signed by both parties.
During the search
- Respond quickly concerning your level of interest in presented candidates. An inefficient or strung-out selection process reflects badly on both you and your search consultants;
- Evaluate candidates against the agreed specifications - these are the cornerstone of the search - and be prepared to refine them if you find that something is not working;
- Remember that the short-listed candidates are busy people whom we have approached on your behalf. Treat them courteously, and respect their own tight schedules. They may have reservations about the job and your organisation - try not to confirm these reservations. Candidates kept waiting start off with a bad first impression. You are selling your job to the best candidates as much as they are selling themselves to you;
- Facilitate dialogue about candidates between search consultants and the hiring manager/decision-makers. You should work together with a deepening sense of partnership;
- Expect the search firm's evaluation reports to describe both the candidate's strengths and weaknesses. You are paying for consultancy, so demand it!
- Provide timely, meaningful and comprehensive feedback to the search firm so that they know how to respond;
- Treat the interviews like a client presentation - just as much, if not more, may be at stake;
- Balance "buying" and "selling". Use candidate interviews to initiate two-way conversations. Don't forget that both parties need to be happy for the fit to work. You may end up with a very unhappy candidate if s/he finds out that critical information was withheld during the interview;
- Agree upon who will check with referees and when. You may want to make an offer conditional on health checks, references, security checks, checks on qualifications, professional membership, driving status, or granting of a work permit. Make sure that you are careful in wording your offer at this stage.
Final stages
- Don't delay - time is of the essence in securing a favoured candidate. Don't let bureaucracy kill the deal;
- Once an offer is accepted, work closely with the search firm to ensure a smooth transition to the new position. Remember that there may be a few months' delay before the new person takes up the post and a further delay before they are fully effective. Agree upon a mutually beneficial schedule of follow up and feedback;
- The search firm can help with advice and support on inducting and settling your new staff member during what is often a crucial phase in ensuring a stable and happy senior manager in your organisation.
To see a comprehensive list of Oxford HR's services, please refer to the page "What we offer".