Why you should use executive search for your next hire

What is executive search?

Finding highly qualified and performing executives for your company is not an easy job. Apart from the time and effort involved, there’s a certain amount of skill and even art in the finding of talent.

Executive search recruiters do the groundwork for you by finding and liaising with potential candidates on your behalf. An executive search agency specialises in sourcing high quality individuals who might be suitable for executive roles in your company.

Unlike general talent recruiting agencies, an executive search firm will often work exclusively with you, as the client. This provides you with superior service as they spend the time and go the extra mile to understand what you do, who you are and who you are looking for.

There are a variety of tried and tested recruitment techniques used in such a talent search. Firms will often draw on their extensive networks and access exclusive databases to source the very best candidates for the role.

The Executive Search Process

1. Consultation

Your initial meeting with a top executive search firm will focus on discovery. They’ll want to know more about your business, your culture, and the role you’re recruiting for. This is your chance to set the tone for what sort of candidates you’re looking for and ensure that the agency understands the sort of executive you need.

2. Design

Once the discovery consultation is completed, professional executive recruiters will go away and ensure that the overall structure and design of the advertised role is correct. They’ll then develop a recruitment strategy and ensure your expectations are in line with what they are able to achieve.

3. Talent Search

Using a variety of search tools (digital and otherwise), networks and referrers the firm will carry out a comprehensive and far-reaching search for executive talent.

All candidates are subjected to rigorous and thorough screening processes, followed by interviews, relevant assessments, and background checks. Any other due diligence is conducted at this point.

4. Onboarding

Once the candidate has been vetted by the executive search firm and yourselves, you can begin the onboarding preparation.

Make sure you discuss replacement guarantees with your executive recruitment team as well to ensure that if a hire does not work out for any reason, you’ll be well taken care of.

Why should you use an executive search firm?

Extensive industry expertise

If you’re after the best candidates, you need a recruitment team with the best experience. Executive search firms specialise in high level recruitment, so you don’t have to.

Avoid damaging industry relationships

Often, the best executive candidates work at partner companies or at competitors in the same industry. Instead of potentially damaging relationships with other businesses, allowing a third party that’s independent and impartial to draw on the top talent in the industry for you offers the best of both worlds.

Credibility and connections

Professional executive search firms bring the credibility you need for assured talent recruitment. Armed with the knowledge and the right connections, they’re trained and experienced in finding executive candidates. And you can go back to focusing on what you do best as well.

Comprehensive search strategy

It’s not just the extensive network that makes professional recruiters so valuable. Their ability to put together a well-defined and focused strategy will ensure you avoid costly, time-consuming recruitment processes. A recruitment firm’s head-hunting ability is significantly rooted in the comprehensiveness and level of focus of the strategy itself.

Discretion is paramount

Whether you’re hiring a replacement for an executive that is still working for you or your recruitment is likely to make waves amongst competitors, executive search agencies can provide the much-needed discretion without compromising your integrity or transparency.

The right resources

Using executive search allows you to stretch your own internal resources further and with greater effect. If you don’t have the internal recruitment skills and experience, you may really struggle to properly assess incoming CVs, vet potential candidates, and conduct the required due diligence.

Capabilities to grow with your company

All businesses should prioritise employees who will perform and stick with them for the long-term. Using executive recruitment improves the likelihood that your new executives will contribute more to your company and for longer. Furthermore, as your partner, the recruitment firm will be able to grow with you by ensuring you have the labour and human resources to keep pace with the ongoing success of the business.

Return on investment

At the end of the day, executive positions are too integral to not invest in appropriately. Few businesses can afford bad managerial or C-suite hires. Sometimes a small investment today will ensure a high return tomorrow, and that’s exactly the case with executive search. Whether your priority is succession planning, minimising operational disruption, or general future proofing of your business, using executive recruiters is the smart way forward.

Let’s discuss what you’re looking for today

At Scotford Fennessy we take the time and make the effort to dig deeper beneath the surface of the talent pool to find the right executives for our clients. We focus on your business’s problems so that we can find the right candidate solution. With years of experience in the industry of executive recruitment behind us, it’s no wonder why we’ve built up a stellar reputation in the industry.

Would you like to have an informal discussion about your business and your own executive search goals? We’re here to listen. So, get in touch with us today.