I would say this is one of the most frequently asked questions about Executive Searches. The major difference is the amount of time and effort put into the project. An executive search requires understanding the needs of the agency for the specific position and from there, the time it takes to reach out to potential candidates. During a usual recruitment the agency will advertise and wait for the candidates to apply, with an executive search, efforts are made to find potential candidates that may not otherwise be looking for a position.

An executive search begins with a meeting of all the stakeholders to understand the position and the true needs of the agency to find the right type of candidates. Then networking is done to get the word out about the position to those who may know great candidates or those who can spread the word to the right type of candidates. It is a much more aggressive approach to finding the right candidate, not hoping they will find you.

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The main reason most Executive Searches are conducted by outside resources is TIME. Often there is not enough time or staff within the existing agency to provide the thoroughness of meeting with stakeholders and making all the contacts to reach out to potential candidates. In addition, many times the position is difficult to fill which requires more time than staff has available, especially if they tried and did not get enough candidates.

The outside agency provides a professional unbiased opinion about the qualifications of the candidates. This helps when there are inside candidates along with outside ones so all are evaluated with the same professional standards. An outside agency also has access to a greater pool of qualified candidates.

An Executive Search Firm has conducted many of these types of recruitments and can assist the agency with outlining the true needs of the position and the appropriate places to find the right candidates.

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Unlike a Google search, an Executive Search begins with a Request for Proposal (RFP) Most communities/agencies develop a RFP and invite firms to submit a proposal to conduct the executive search. The RFP will describe the agency and some information about the positions and the steps required to complete the executive search. Once proposals are submitted the top proposals with the most reasonable costs are interviewed.

The critical aspects of choosing the right firm include…

• The Interview – make sure the firm has
  • experience with similar agencies
  • experience with similar positions
  • a past success rate
• The Offer – be sure to compare apples to apples
  • how will they help you to further define the position/person you’re looking for?
  • how will they find the best candidates?

As mentioned in the first post in this series, a successful executive search begins with a meeting of all the stakeholders to understand the position and candidate in addition to how much access the firm has to finding the right person. Many times it comes down to the chemistry of the firm and the agency key players. Be sure to check references of the firms just as reference checks are done on candidates.

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In the first blog post of this series, we briefly touched on this topic but I would like to go into more detail at this point. The first step of an Executive Search is to gather information from all the appropriate stakeholders about the agency and the position. This is done by obtaining budget/finance information, population served, services provided and current staffing of the agency.

To learn more about the agency’s needs, meetings are set up with the key stakeholders such as management staff, working staff, customers/public/clients, associated organizations that work with the agency. For example if we are conducting a Town Manager Search we will speak with all the department heads, union or employee representatives, boards and commissions, appointing authority (Town Council), business groups in the community, colleges in the community, etc. We will also gather information about the community from sources such as the budget, economic development pieces, chamber of commerce sales information, web sites, charters and organizational charts.

This process can be used for any position. Once the information is gathered a color profile is put together with pictures and information about the agency and position which include:

• Job Description
• Organizational Chart
• Staffing and Budget Information
• Highlights and History of Agency
• Characteristics of the Ideal Candidate
• Qualifications and Challenges and Opportunities Facing the Candidate

See samples of profiles developed by Randi Frank Consulting, LLC

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Defining what’s included in the recruitment effort is critical when determining which firm/consultant to choose. To start, decisions need to be made about where to advertise and how much. We recommend that advertisement be focused on the professional associations related to the position. For example you want to advertise a Human Resource Manager (HR) position with the 3 major HR professional associations – Society of Human Resource Managers (SHRM); International Personnel Management Association (IPMA-HR); National Public Employers Labor Relations Association (NPELRA).

Once the advertisement is in place then the outreach efforts start by contacting professionals in the field. This can be done via phone and by email take a look at the site here. Reaching out to professionals who work in similar organizations with similar types of issues/budgets is a good place to start. In addition, we contact professionals who are officers of various professional associations since they will know who is looking for a new position or who may fit for your specific opportunity. For example, we had a Town Manager position for a location with a large college as its main economic driver. We contacted other Managers who worked in similar communities with large or even small colleges that were key stakeholders in the community.

For more details about our recruitment efforts, Contact Us and we can answer any questions you may have.

This is another frequently asked question. After all, now that you have a stack of resumes, why do you need an Executive Search professional? The answer is time. An executive search firm has the flexibility to speak with the potential candidates during various points in the recruitment process. Most HR departments do not want to give an unfair advantage to any one candidate so all communication is in writing such as thanking them for the resume, letting them know if they have been selected for a testing process or interview, etc.

The Executive Search firm will take the time to talk with the most qualified candidates or even those that may not have all the qualifications to learn as much as possible about the candidate to see if they are a good fit and to learn more details than a resume can provide. One method we use to learn more about candidates in addition to many telephone interviews includes a questionnaire to top candidates. It allows us to determine their real interest and their specific experience related to the specific position.

For example: when recruiting for an Economic Development Director we may ask about the details of their largest and smallest economic development project they completed. This process also allows us to evaluate their writing style. This process ensures that the agency has all the information they need to choose the right candidate.

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Now that we’ve gone through all the resumes, conducted telephone interviews and asked candidates to complete a questionnaire we present a semi-finalist list to the client. This is prepared as a report which includes a list of the top candidates with their resume, cover letter, questionnaire and any other information we have gathered about the candidates. Sometimes the candidates are rated as A & B candidates to offer the client our thoughts and other times they are not ranked. The level of input regarding ranking would be determined prior to the report. Some agencies prefer this while others want to rank the candidates themselves.

We also provide an excel sheet with a summary of each of the top candidates pointing out degrees, past position titles, expertise in specific areas related to the position, etc. Some clients also request that we show them all the candidate names and why they were not included in the top semi-finalist list. This allows the client to hear our report, review the materials and decide which candidates fit their organizational culture. Once the selection is made we will start the reference and background work on each of the candidates.

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Since most executive searches are conducted for high level management positions with fiscal responsibilities we will do a credit check through a certified firm with all the appropriate waivers and offers to allow the candidate to view the credit check. We also conduct a driver’s history check, criminal and civil court check and verification of their education. We conduct a google check and ask candidates about what we find.

We let candidates know that we will be doing these types of checks and ask if there is anything we need to know upfront. Many candidates let us know in advance that they have a cousin with the same name who may have some problems with a google check. Then of course we do reference checks.

As you know, some businesses have the practice that they will not provide any information other than dates of employment and title of position. We let the references know that names will not be attached to their comments but combined with the other references so there is less of a concern about liability related to references. We summarize all this information for the client in the final report with the list of the finalist candidates to be interviewed by the client.

Some clients ask that we meet with the candidates at their current position to get a better idea of the work they do and their interpersonal relations with their co-workers. We conduct these face-to-face interviews if requested and prepare a report. Depending on the candidate, we may do the following…

• conduct tours of their workplace and watch for the reaction of their co-workers
• conduct a two hour interview over lunch or dinner
• meet with some of their co-workers to learn more about the candidate

In some cases the people we meet know why we are there and in others they just think we are colleagues or an outside consultant trying to learn more about their operations for our client or organization. Some clients prefer to conduct these site visits of the top candidates themselves.

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Once finalists have been chosen, the interview process begins. If there is an appointing authority or board of directors we usually have a full interview with the board/council so they can observe candidates in normal meeting settings.

Some of the other methods include the following…

• One-on-one interviews of each candidate with each board member.
• Candidates meet with stakeholders in private or public meetings or interviews.
• Meet and greet types of meetings that are very casual and allow the stakeholders to meet each of the candidates in a social atmosphere.
• Candidates meet privately with employee groups and department head groups so there is an exchange of ideas and input from various stakeholders.

In the public sector it is not uncommon for candidates to be in a public hearing of citizens who have the opportunity to ask questions of the candidates. Tours of the agency or community also allow another group of people to observe the candidates. Sometimes these types of interview formats are done with all the candidates at one time in the same room or as individual sessions. It is important to see executive leaders in various situations that are a part of their everyday life as a manager.

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This is another step in the Executive Search process that needs to be defined prior to choosing a firm as it can vary. With our firm, once the client or appointing authority has made a selection of a candidate, we as the Executive Search firm serve as the liaison between the candidate and the client to assist them with negotiating a contract or terms of employment. Details discussed include salary and benefits, starting date, etc. Of course it sometimes happens that the selected candidate declines the position or has received another offer that they accepted. In these cases, we need to know if the appointing authority is comfortable with candidate number two.

We continue to keep all parties informed at the end of the process and offer to assist with any concerns during the first year of employment. We will conduct another search if the candidate selected through our efforts leaves before a full year of service for no additional fee, just expenses. We also offer the services of goal setting with the new candidate and the appointing authority to establish performance measurements for the first year of employment. For more information on goal setting tips or anything else mentioned in this series of posts, please Contact Us.