I’ve always loved the celebration of Halloween.
When I was a kid, I’d spend hours combing the neighborhood for as much candy as I could possibly collect. It was a challenge to fill my pillow case with so much candy that it would become hard to carry. As soon as I got home, I’d spill it all out on our living room floor and I’d cherry-pick my favorite treats, before anyone else could claim them.
And while I always shouted the phrase “trick or treat!” it’s true meaning never really occurred to me at the time. That is, if a treat wasn’t provided, there was the implied threat–usually idle–that some form of mischief might be perpetrated upon the homeowners’ property.
With Halloween now upon us, it got me thinking that when you partner with an executive search firm, it should be just like the Holiday Inn slogan from the 1970s: “The Best Surprise is No Surprise.” A firm should do what they say they are going to do and follow through on their promises. They should add real value to all of your talent efforts.
Some Helpful Guidelines
With that in mind, I’ve assembled some basic guidelines to follow and questions to ask in helping you choose your ideal executive search partner. If followed, these suggestions should eliminate the surprise “tricks” and instead ensure that your next search is “a treat” that your organization can benefit from for many years to come.
- Is the firm and its account team conducting multiple searches at one time? Does that allow for a high-touch, personalized experience?
- Are you getting the attention of the partners and senior management team? You deserve it!
- Are you receiving regularly-scheduled updates on the search results and progress? That should be the case.
- Do they have recent and relevant search experience in your industry and for the position you’re trying to fill? That’s essential.
- Do they possess exceptional listening skills and the ability to truly understand your organization’s structure and culture? Can they understand what success looks like for the role being filled? Without these building blocks, no search will be truly successful.
- Do their core values closely align with your organization? You need to ask about that.
- Do they have a proven and repeatable process that guides the search in an effective and timely manner? If not, things are left to chance.
- Do they have the ability to probe beyond a candidate’s functional experience and clearly understand his or her soft skills and cultural fit? Because soft skills and cultural fit are the keys to retaining game-changing talent.
- Do they stand behind the search with an unconditional guarantee? This should be a given.
Ultimately, you should try to find a firm that will be a true partner before, during and after the search. One that will invest the time to learn about your organization, its people and culture. A firm that will be an extension of your company—one that will add value by keeping your organization’s best interests at heart, and will provide knowledge and expertise to make recommendations and guide you every step of the way.
When you find this firm, the search experience should truly be a treat!
By Stuart Glassman
Stuart Glassman is a Senior Vice President and Practice Leader at Torch Group. As a member of the Torch Group leadership team, Stuart leads the Manufacturing and Building Products Practice Group, heads up all the firm’s marketing initiatives and oversees Torch Group client development. Leveraging a 25+ year career of marketing and brand building for Fortune 500 companies for both B2C and B2B industry leaders across a wide array of industries, Stuart shares his views on things he loves including business, executive search, marketing, sports, exercise, dogs and an occasional great cigar.