The Level of Service and Basic Business Model of Retained Executive Search
Utilizing retained executive search is appropriate when it is critical to hire not just any qualified person, but the most qualified person available out of the top 15% in the marketplace.
You may be looking for a candidate that has extensive skill set in particular software such as Civil 3D or GEOPAK, OpenRoads, StormCAD or HEC-RAS. You may want a PE in Texas or other states, maybe even TxDOT Pre-Certification or PMP Certification. You could be looking for someone to coach and mentor younger employees, build a practice, manage client relations, or even get new business. All these desires become part of the custom Position Specification developed by the retained executive search firm such as White Hat Executive Search and are used to target that perfect high-performance candidate.
You want an executive search consultant who already has in excess of 95% of your potential candidates in their database and has already identified the top 15%.
As a client, you will also want an executive search consultant who will make a dedicated effort on your behalf to fill the position and guarantees their performance. Someone who is proactive and aggressively working on your behalf. Someone like White Hat who has never had a search fail to be filled. Above all, you want a search consultant that won’t quit or go dark on you.
You want an executive search consultant who will consider the nuances of your organization’s culture and other critical issues related to the job vacancy.
You would want an independent third party to thoroughly screen candidates and conduct comprehensive in-person interviews before finalists are presented.
Sometimes you may even want an evaluation of internal candidates against an external shortlist if you desire to compare internal talent with what’s available in the marketplace just to confirm that you have the right person identified for the role.
You want an intermediary to convince an executive to leave a current desirable position for your opportunity and to help negotiate the terms of that move.
You may want a high degree of confidentiality in the recruitment process, particularly if you’re replacing an existing underachieving person in the role, or you would rather that your competition isn’t aware of your search efforts.
After a successful candidate is onboarded, it would be desirable if the retained executive search consultant continued to stay in touch with the candidate for several months to make sure there are no transitional glitches. Maybe the candidate is surprised by something in his new position that concerns them. The retained search consultant can make management aware of this situation so that management can address the issue before it becomes a retention concern.
All this is part of the standard process employed by White Hat Executive Search.
In our next blog we will discuss the contingency recruiting process vs. the retained executive search process.