You Need to Know These Reasons to Work with an Executive Search Firm
Hiring and recruiting the right talent for your company is essential. You simply can’t succeed in the long run if you don’t have good employees, and this is even more true at the executive level.
However, identifying and attracting the best candidates for executive positions can be difficult. That’s why many organizations engage with executive search firms when filling important roles. Executive search firms have the resources, expertise, and contacts to ensure important positions are filled by the person who represents the best fit for the role.
To better understand why some companies go this route, and why you may choose to do the same, consider the following reasons:
Finding Passive Candidates
The best person for an executive role at your company might not be actively seeking a new position, especially if they’re relatively content with their current role. The top executives aren’t searching online job boards or even asking for referrals.
However, that isn’t to say they are completely satisfied in their current role, or that you couldn’t convince them to leave if you made a compelling argument. You just have to take the initiative to identify and reach out to these passive candidates, and win them over.
This is one major reason companies work with executive search firms. These firms have deep networks of contacts and exclusive access to passive candidates you likely would not be able to reach on your own. Top executive search firms not only identify the right candidate for a position — they also know what motivates these candidates and how to convince them to leave their current position for your company.
Addressing Lack of Experience
Strong leadership is particularly crucial at startups and small companies — and more so when the founders lack executive experience. While these organizations may have potential, they can only realize that potential with a skilled C-suite.
Founders usually appreciate this. The problem is, if they haven’t taken a business to scale in the past, they might not understand what they should look for when evaluating candidates for executive positions.
This is another instance when coordinating with executive search firms is a smart decision. Taking advantage of their expertise and contacts is important if you’re an inexperienced founder.
Confidentiality
For most companies, confidentiality is extremely important when filling executive positions. That’s because an empty executive position can make a company vulnerable, and a public candidate search can cause employees, stockholders, and business partners to become worried about the company’s health. A public search can also alert competitors to a business restructuring or new product launch and attract unwanted press.
In contrast, an executive search firm can help your company find the leaders it needs while maintaining the strictest confidentiality. Reputable search firms protect your privacy and that of the candidates they work with. The result is a smoother hiring process, with less disruption to your organization.
Optimizing Time
Time is money when you’re running a company. When it comes to hiring and recruiting, this is true in a literal sense. Hiring an executive is already more time consuming than hiring for any other position — it could take months.
That’s why it’s important to save as much time as possible by only meeting with the best candidates. You don’t want to waste your time interviewing people who clearly aren’t a good fit.
When you work with an executive recruiting firm, their expertise and contacts save you time. The best executive search firms work to understand their clients’ needs in depth and only connect them with the strongest candidates.
Filling New Roles
Benchmarks are helpful when you’re filling any position at your company. For example, when you’re hiring a manager, you can look at past employees and determine what qualities or experiences correlate with success in the role. Using this data, you can build a profile to inform your candidate search.
However, you may not be able to do this with executive positions. You won’t be able to reference the past if a role is new. The circumstances may have changed as well — your previous CHRO may have served you well when your company was small, but if you’ve expanded, you may want someone with a different skillset.
Once again, this is an instance when an executive search firm can provide guidance. Keep that in mind as your organization expands. While you may not be able to use past benchmarks to assess candidates all the time, an executive search firm will be able to help you determine exactly what kind of leader you need.
In sum, organizations work with search firms for a variety of reasons, whether it’s to save time, tap into networks of passive candidates, maintain confidentiality during a search, or any of the other reasons mentioned here. An executive sets the tone for an entire organization, so it’s crucial to make the right hire. If you have an executive role to fill, look to a search firm to guide you through the process.
