Do you have an open senior executive role that you need to fill at your company?
Whether your vacant role is the result of an internal move or someone exiting the business, your task is to recruit an executive with equal (if not better) skills than the incumbent – someone who can help take your business to the next level.
However, the job of recruiting an executive-level candidate is not to be taken lightly. The cost of a bad C-Suite hire can be exorbitant. Not only will it cost you financially, but you will also lose out on time, resources, productivity, and employee morale.
In fact, the U.S. Department of Labor estimates the average cost for each bad hire to equal 30% or more of the individual’s annual earnings. If you do the math on your senior executive leader’s salary, you can easily see the cost of turnover can be quite significant for any company.
In addition to the high stakes of hiring the wrong candidate, you also need to take into consideration how much time and effort goes into recruiting. Make no mistake -recruiting is a full-time job.
Your time is probably spent in meetings, strategic planning, governance of the business, delivering on your role, managing your client partnership, and of course, managing your department and direct reports.
Can you really afford to add another major task to your to-do list?
If you answered no, then your next questions need to be where do you start and why should you use an executive search partner?
Let’s start by considering your options.
Option 1: Does your internal recruitment team have the capacity for an executive search?
There are several things to be aware of or to investigate if you choose to search for a senior-level candidate via your internal recruitment team:
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How many people are in your internal recruiting team, and how many roles are they actively working on across all departments? I’ve known some groups working on 30+ active roles at one time – will your vacant role get the attention it needs?
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How frequently have they recruited this type of executive position? Finding the right C-Suite candidates is a special skill and the opportunity to search for these roles for an internal recruiting team doesn’t come up very often.
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Are you sure about the brief, or would now be an excellent time to have your thinking stretched a little differently – maybe bring in some transferable, more creative, or technology/digital skills?
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How many candidates with these skill sets have your team spoken to in the past three months?
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Are they regularly in touch with any passive candidates? Now, a nudge might be all they need to talk to you, but the market is short on candidates now and anyone who is available and is serious about looking for a new role may already have multiple options on the table.
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Do they know your competitors, or have they placed someone like this before and have an established network?
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Can they deprioritize the other roles to fully commit to filling your position and connect online and face to face with these potential senior executives?
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Can they offer you a service that means you agree to the deadlines and are you confident your shortlist will be delivered at this time?
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Do they have a research methodology with a support mechanism, or are they using the company website and LinkedIn as their go-to database? Is this casting the net wide enough?
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Would they be the very best people to negotiate a sometimes-tricky, complex remuneration, and exit package, not to mention the counter-offer scenario?
Even though you know your role may not get the full attention or expertise a search business would give it, you’ll be tempted by this option – there’s no fee, after all.
But there is always a cost, and that cost might be reduced commitment or partnership from your internal team – and in the end no hire or possibly the wrong hire.
This isn’t a slight on internal recruiters. Far from it, they usually are stretched to capacity, working around the clock and hiring great people into your business.
However, at an executive level, there is a requirement for real specialism and expertise. On top of this, you need a research methodology, time, influence, and active management of the process.
It’s a candidate’s market right now, and competition to bring the best talent on board is fierce.
Option 2: Choose an experienced executive search partner
Yes, we’re biased. Of course, we are. But we’re also executive search experts with a depth of experience in senior-level recruitment that internal teams simply can’t have.
That’s why we know what the benefits are of using an executive search partner for this type of search.
5 Benefits of partnering with an executive search firm
1. Honest Assessment of the Market
An executive search partner offers consultative experience and goes beyond just trying to get the role filled. They will provide guidance on the external market and your competition – and an honest assessment of the challenges and opportunities for you when recruiting for this role.
Throughout the entire search process, an executive search firm will give you real-time updates on any changes they’re seeing in the market, candidate feedback, and advise you on possible changes you need to make based on what they’re seeing in the market.
2. A research methodology with clear timeframes
Providing a research methodology with agreed-upon deliverables is our full-time job, not yours. The average research time for a role at Hanover is anything between 30-60 hours. Then we have the engagement, screening, interviewing, presentation of position, management of the process, and so on.
Working with an executive search partner will ensure that you receive feedback throughout the entire recruitment process and that there’s open communication to make sure you get the exact candidate you’re looking to hire.
It takes years of experience to build up the specialist knowledge needed to identify, engage, screen and influence at a senior level. When researching top executive search firms, it’s important to partner with one that has years of company experience as well as an individual experience.
A partner who, if chosen correctly, can emulate your values, your employer brand and act as a clear ambassador who can manage the entire process and ensure fluid communication throughout.
5. Perspective and Expertise
A partner can bring a new perspective to this hire, with enthusiasm, passion, and commitment to the delivery – not to mention a contract to fulfill.
You need to give yourself the very best opportunity to fill vital senior executive roles, within timescales that don’t damage your role, team, or deliverables. That means understanding what’s influencing decisions, talent, expectations, and who is offering what type of experience and packages to ensure you compete for the most appropriate candidates.
4 Reasons to partner with an executive search firm
Far too often, we speak to a client who chooses option one, and then following an unsuccessful period, decides to go externally and use an executive search partner.
Why? Mainly for these four reasons:
1. Many firms have brought in and developed brilliant talent teams to reduce the considerable cost of recruitment to the business.
2. Your internal HR team can continue to focus on engagement, candidate experience, wellbeing, and retention of people.
3. Never have there been so many HR tech solutions available to us, but the truth is that technology is progressing faster than the uptake – lots of corporates are slow adopters.
4. We have LinkedIn at our disposal, making it straightforward to identify who might be right for your role. However, while it may be accessible to identify and make your wish list, turning this into the reality of an engaged candidate and a key hire is something that search partners are experts at.
When you need to hire an executive search partner
If you have an open senior executive position and want to save yourself time, undue pressure, and stress, opt for option two, an executive search solution.
If you would like to talk to us about how we can assist you with any of our service offerings, please get in touch.
