![]() ![]() Your search firm must utilize all resources and map the market for every search leaving no stone unturned. This sets apart a player from a champion. One can be the most well networked headhunter in the world, but may still know only a small segment of the entire market. ![]() In today’s open environment, relying solely on an internal database is not enough. Myth #3: “We have the BIGGEST DATABASE in the world!” Solution: Understand the internal competition for talent. How many similar searches is your executive search firm currently conducting? You are already competing in a fierce market for top talent. You should not have to compete against your search firm. Given their scale, a larger firm may be running dozens of similar searches concurrently. Most use this as a market differentiator. Not only does this firm have obvious off-limits issues, but even more importantly, the fierce internal competition amongst its consultants will further restrict your access to the top talent. Often when an executive is already a candidate on one search, that same executive is blocked from being considered for another search. Myth #2: “We know the talent better because we are doing, and have done dozens, of similar searches.” Solution: Make sure your search firm has access to the top talent in your industry. Spell out clearly the off limits: “Where and who can and can’t you target?” Build out a target list of companies and executives, and go one step further and make the target list a binding guarantee in the search contract. Large Executive Search Firm = More Clients = Fewer Candidates Large firms have shrinking talent pools due to their off-limits clause. When your search firm is blocked from recruiting from numerous client organizations, you are blocked from the top talent. Large firms tout that they have a higher response rate from executives because of their size and their prestige brand, but this is nonsense when they are blocked from calling an executive. Myth #1: “Our size and prestige give us access to the biggest talent pool in your industry.” Having worked at both the large firms and now the boutiques, we have personally confronted the many challenges the large firms have in delivering on searches. You are not “Playing It Safe.” When hiring an executive search firm, many companies “Play It Safe” and hire one of the large, bulge bracket search firms: “If the search fails, my Board, my boss, cannot get upset with me because we hired one of the largest search firms, and therefore one of the best.” Boasting about hundreds of partners worldwide and 50+ offices, the large firms often are perceived as the “Safe Bet.” But plugging their size as their most critical market differentiator will not fill your search. * Appreciation, kindness and openness being shown more often.MYTH: “The larger the executive search firm, the better the search.”įACT: “Smaller, boutique executive search firms typically outperform the large, bulge bracket firms with greater access to top talent, higher completion rates, and faster time-to-close rates.” * C-level hires are already being made via all virtual video interviewing with additional referencing & stringent background checks. * For executives on the move, companies with strong balance sheets / EBITDA positive extremely important factor regardless of size (no surprise - same in 09). * Most active technology-related verticals: Cloud / Data / Cybersecurity, Fintech, Telehealth / Healthcare IT, Logistics-Supply Chain, Gaming and eCommerce tied to basic necessities. concerned about going to new company with LIFO risk). Quite a lot are open, some are hunkering down and more risk-averse (i.e. Numerous executives, we have spoken with over last two weeks, are still receiving several headhunter calls a day. * The leadership candidate pool hasn't shifted significantly yet (beyond travel, retail etc.). That said, a surprising number of our clients have actually accelerated their existing searches and/or new searches, especially for CEO, CTO, CRO and CMO roles right now. * As expected, certain searches put on hold until the storm has passed. A Few Observations, from a Silicon Valley Headhunter, on The C-Level in the COVID era: ![]()
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