Executive Search Firms near you

The position specification is written first and agreed by everyone who has a vote. It states what the role must accomplish in the first year or two, the decisions it owns, who it works with, and the experience that would make someone credible. Searches that stall almost always stall because this document was vague or because the people who signed it did not actually agree.

Research produces a market map: the companies where this capability exists, the people in those roles, and who has moved recently. Approaches are then made individually and confidentially, which is a slow, human process that cannot be automated without becoming something else.

Assessment is structured interviewing against the specification, often with written candidate reports, sometimes with formal assessment instruments. References come late and should be done by the firm with people the candidate did not exclusively nominate. The firm then manages the offer, the resignation and the counteroffer, and good ones stay involved through the first months, because a senior hire who leaves in the first year costs far more than the fee did.

A retained fee is typically a percentage of the hire's expected first-year total compensation, invoiced in phases: an amount at engagement, an amount at shortlist, and the balance on acceptance or start. Because the earlier phases are payable regardless of outcome, the firm's incentive is to complete the process properly rather than to submit fast.

Ask how the fee behaves if the role is filled internally, if you cancel, or if the compensation ends up materially above or below the estimate. Ask whether research expenses, travel and assessment instruments are included or billed on top. And ask about the off-limits position on your own organization, meaning how long the firm agrees not to recruit from you after the assignment, because a firm that has just mapped your leadership team is unusually well placed to poach from it.

Where a third-party background report is used, the Fair Credit Reporting Act imposes steps the FTC sets out plainly for employers. Before obtaining the report, tell the applicant in writing, in a standalone document, that background information may be used for employment decisions, get their written permission, and certify to the reporting company that you notified the person, obtained permission, complied with the requirements and will not discriminate.

If you intend to reject someone because of what the report says, the FTC's guidance requires a notice before you act that includes a copy of the report you relied on and a copy of the summary of rights under the Act, so the person can review it and explain anything negative. After acting, you must tell them the decision was based on information in the report, give the reporting company's name, address and telephone number, state that the reporting company did not make the decision and cannot give reasons for it, and explain their right to dispute the report's accuracy and to get a free additional copy within sixty days.

This trips up employers who assume the search firm handles it. Establish in writing who obtains the report, who issues the notices and who keeps the records, before the first candidate reaches that stage.