Here is an interesting article from Marcia Basichis of Brentwood Search and Steinbrun Hughes. Well worth reading for those looking to hire on the senior executive letter. Enjoy.
In this extraordinarily difficult economic climate, we are often asked, “Why should I pay for a retained search, when I am looking to save money.” A very common misconception is that there are so many unemployed candidates in the marketplace, it should be like shooting fish in a barrel. We hear this all the time when a hiring manager is getting ready to fill a role. While it is true that there are many, many unemployed people on the street looking for work, it is important to ask oneself, “Why was this person let go, while another kept their position.”
The answer often is that companies do not easily lay off their top performers, the best of the best. Layoffs can often be a winnowing process to “clean house.” If the role you are filling truly requires a “financial athlete,” a high performer who can lead and progress through your organization, there is a good possibility that that person will still be happily employed. Often this person is deeply embedded within an organization, and as an inactive candidate they can be hard to identify.
Companies will often take their search out to contingency firms, spreading the net wide and paying commission only when a firm successfully places a candidate. You can get lucky this way. However the biggest pitfalls are two fold. A contingency recruiter will often go after the low hanging fruit. He or she will show resumes of active candidates that have come their way, throwing the resume against the wall and hoping it will stick. Minimal effort required. As discussed above, active candidates, those with resumes in the marketplace, are often not the candidate that is the high-flier.
When you hire a retained search firm, you are paying for extra effort and personalized service. More often than not the retained recruiter will have a deep specialty and can more fully assess a candidates’ strengths or weaknesses. They will have a well developed network of relationships that can help uncover the “embedded” candidate. And they will have the skills to “pry a candidate loose.” At Brentwood Search it is common to recruit high performing candidates who are both happy and successful in their current companies, and who have never even considered looking, let alone been active in the marketplace.
Because a retained firm is working on fewer engagements at any given point in time the recruiters at that firm will aggressively be on the telephone, calling and networking to identify and convince a top candidate to look at an opportunity.
Is this sort of recruiting somewhat more expensive? Yes. But the results speak for themselves. If you are placing a candidate into a mission critical role, a mistake can be ruinous to your company. Or at least can be costly in terms of replacement, hours lost, business lost to name just a few. A retained firm will give you in depth referencing, sometimes referencing even the referencer. They will insist on background screening, in all instances, but particularly in instances where the executive has fiduciary responsibility or access to proprietary information. At Brentwood Search, we use Corra Group to do our background screening, and find that the level of personalized service that company provides is in keeping with our own philosophy of quality service.
A company is only as good as the team that is assembled. It is our mission to provide our clients with personalized and in depth service, guaranteeing the best available candidates match the specifics of the positions they are hired to fill.
The question we ask our clients is: “How important is this role to the success of your company and to you?” If the answer is very, then retained search is clearly your best option. You will save or make money in the long run.
