How to Effectively Partner with an Executive Search Firm

Bringing a new senior executive into your company implies change, and change, if managed well, creates opportunity. The attention you give to an executive search project, and the interaction you have with the search consultant and candidates, structure your ability to make the search a success. Simply stated, if you work at the search process, the likelihood of attracting the candidate you want increases dramatically. Even the best opportunities don't sell themselves automatically to the better candidates. People make the opportunity real and come alive. The task of the CEO is to make the best use of the points of contact that a company has with the recruiter and the candidates. Here are the keys which the CEO can employ to make a recruiting activity work.

1. Managing The Search - Basic Tenets for Success

• Be interested and involved. Actively manage and participate in the search. Make sure that your stamp of approval goes on the search. Communicate the importance of the search to your subordinate team. Then, make the search a priority on your agenda.
• Thoroughly articulate your goals for the new person to be brought on board. Involve the rest of your top management team. Let them know what you want the new executive to accomplish. Get their opinions and buy in.
• Aim high. Expect that the search will produce quality candidates.
• Be realistic in your expectations regarding the time required to find and screen appropriate candidates and compensation. (In turn, the search consultant should be realistic with you. If his/her promises on these topics are too glowing, be wary.)
• Be inquisitive. Question the search consultant on search strategy, status, problems, market feedback, and other elements of the search. Constantly monitor progress. Require that the search consultant report status every week to ten days.
• Take a serious look at a variety of candidates. Do not jump at what seems to be an attractive candidate without a basis of comparison.
• Thoroughly check out the finalist before an offer is extended. Contact some (or all) of the references yourself.
• Make your schedule available to the search consultant and candidates.

2. Relationship With The Search Consultant

• View the search consultant as an adjunct to your staff. Make the search effort a partnership. Communicate an attitude of trust and "we are all in this together."
• Openly communicate your company's situation, needs, problems and objectives.
• Let the search consultant know how you like to operate, and your expectations. The good ones are flexible and will work to conform to your style.
• Listen to the search consultant with an open mind. You may disagree with their advice, but their experience can save you a lot of time and trouble.
• Be accessible. Exchange home telephone numbers. Introduce your secretary. Let the search consultant know of major blocks of time when you will be unavailable.
• Openly discuss your selection biases, and the qualities which just do not work in your company.
• Question the search consultant on the "whys" behind his/her conclusions. Why are the people presented as candidates in the final group? How closely does each candidate meet the most important criteria? What has each candidate really accomplished? What does the search consultant see as potential problem areas with each candidate? What has the search consultant learned from references?
• Let the search consultant evaluate candidates identified through internal sources and internal candidates just as he/she would evaluate candidates found through their own sources.
• If you sense problems during the search, be open and candid with the search consultant. Create a problem solving environment. A "we are all in this together" attitude provides strong motivation for the search consultant. Finger-pointing kills incentive to work hard on your behalf.

3. Relationship With Candidates

• Be prepared for candidate interviews. Read and discuss with the search consultant the resume and background information provided. Reread the job specification prior to meeting each candidate.
• Discuss your interview approach with the search consultant prior to meeting candidates. Good interview skills don't just happen, they are acquired. Take the opportunity to learn about technique and process.
• When meeting candidates, send signals indicating that your company represents a positive opportunity for them. Openness and candor send powerful - and positive - signals about you and your company's environment.

- make interviews interactive;
- share your goals and needs with candidates;
- listen to what the candidates are saying and how they are saying it;
- look beyond physical appearance;
- look beyond first impressions;
- let candidates know how your company operates and why it is a good place to be.
• Be decisive and timely in moving forward with candidates and the search process.
• When you develop an interest in a candidate, work out with the consultant a strategy as to how to make the deal happen, and who should play what role in bringing about closure.

4. A Final Word Executive recruiting is as much "art" as it is a "science." Even the most successful searches are filled with problems along the way. It is only the rare search that goes from start to finish without encountering numerous hurdles. The active involvement of the CEO in the entire process usually spells the difference between making a recruiting effort effective or it ending in failure.