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"In Search of...Executive Search: Choosing the Right Search Partner"©
by Frank Moscow, President
The Brentwood Group, Ltd.
featured in the High Tech Advisor
The term "headhunters" or, as our brethren like to be called, "executive search consultants" could easily be substituted in all those great lawyer jokes. Some search folks are good and some are not, and most CEOs, board members, and company officers have a story or two about a search firm under performing on a search.
We can all learn from those war stories and the school of hard knocks and avoid making the same mistakes. These experiences can be summarized in five rules that will help guide you in selecting a firm or individuals to assist you in your mission critical executive search requirements.
Rule No. 1: Meet and qualify all the people who will do work on your search.
The landscape is littered with failed searches of clients who retained a search firm based on the wonderful presentation of a senior partner. Only after the search was in trouble or failing completely did the client learn that research associates and junior members of the search team, many of whom had little relevant industry knowledge, had done most of the work on the search.
Rule No. 2: Check search firm's references both from the client and candidate perspectives.
On the client side, talk to at least three references for whom the search firm or the individual has concluded multiple searches. Ask questions to determine the quality of candidates presented, level and insightfulness of screening, quality/frequency of search status reporting, and quality and thoroughness of referencing, etc. Of equal importance is finding out whether the search consultant is responsive and easy to do business with and whether he or she will be retained again on future projects.
On the candidate side, Steve Arnold, general partner of Polaris Ventures in Seattle, recommends that his portfolio CEOs call the people who have been successfully placed by the firm. "In addition to typical reference check questions, also ask about (1) the details of the 'first contact' by the recruiter and how much that contact impacted the final decision and (2) the details of the final negotiation and how much the recruiter contributed to its success."
Rule No. 3: Select firms and individuals with verifiable success in filling the type of position you are seeking.
Ensure that the firm you choose meets most or all of the following three important specifications:
One of the Pacific Northwest's hottest Internet commerce companies did a VP-level search. We were not selected to do the search because the company's criteria required an executive who had significant traditional media experience. We had the level (VP) and the functional area (marketing), but we did not have the industry segment (media) experience. The client found a search firm that had all three. The search was successfully concluded in a short time. The other firm had the best experience, knowledge, and contact base and was the correct choice.
Gerry Langeler, general partner at OVP Ventures in Oregon, remarked, "You don't have time for them [recruiting firm] to build a new Rolodex. People used to talking to individual contributors don't convince CEOs well. While our executive search experiences have not always been good when these criteria were met, they have always been bad when one or more was missing." Alan Dishlip, general partner at Union Ventures, said, "We recently recruited a VP Business Development for an Internet-related company. The search firm had done several similar searches recently. This enabled the recruiter to complete the candidate identification stage in a compressed time frame."
Rule No. 4: The search firm you choose is your legally authorized representative in the market. Anything it does on your search, good or bad, directly reflects on you and your company.
Alex Knight, general partner at Arch Venture Partners in Seattle, says, "Credibility is key - the search firm represents you. Make sure they will do it well." Understand how the search firm will communicate your opportunity to potential candidates and sources. The nature of documentation, the market knowledge of your search professional(s), and how your opportunity is presented to the market will greatly affect the caliber of the candidate pool.
Rule No. 5: Ask questions to determine a search consultant's workload and travel schedule. You need to know how many other searches he or she is working on and how much attention your project will receive.
We were recently awarded and successfully concluded a CEO search in Seattle after a very prominent, highly respected international search firm failed to perform. The other firm had a great reputation, and the senior partner in charge was a successful industry veteran. Unfortunately, he was involved in too many searches and had a grueling travel schedule that precluded him from giving the client his best. Had our client known about his workload, it would have made another choice, saving seven months' time and a significant amount of money.
These rules aren't foolproof. Based on 18 years of executive search experience, however, I am convinced that a high percentage of failures could have been avoided if the customer had applied these five rules more aggressively.