May 15,
2013: Getting from job opening (point A) to hire (point C) is not all
the same process for all search firms!
I work
with a number of clients for whom executive, retained search is a first
time experience. I empathize that, at initial concept, it can seem
like money up front for uncertain returns. That uncertainty is
usually mitigated by hiring a dedicated resource like a search firm consultant
team (a retained firm should be
focusing on your opening non-stop, without employment tasks around payroll,
benefits or other less impactful positions being recruited for synonymously). Uncertainty should also be reduced by
carefully scrutinizing the process a search firm utilizes. I often hear
potential clients say "okay, so what's your process? You all have a
process." Well, the distinctions are important because - just like
location, location, location is everything when you're investing in property- candidate
vetting and the process, process, process is the difference in recruitment
firms.
It’s safe to
believe that the assumed recruitment process
is familiar to most people: there is a position open, a job
description comes together, sourcing begins, interviews with the recruiter
are completed, interviews with the client are done, and an offer.
So how could that process vary, really? Consider real estate or
buying a single family home where you have a need (business or number of
bedrooms), target location, offer, negotiation, an acceptance. What assures
the home will rent/resell or the business will flourish? It's all in the
process (aka due diligence).
The process at
my firm, Allen Austin Global Executive Search, is what made me leave my prior
firm. I met my CEO, Rob Andrews, with
significant resistance. I was working at a "Big 5" firm and
wanted to move up the ladder but was not getting the opportunity while I
watched new consultants come in one after another from places like McKinsey
(which was not on my resume). I knew I wanted to leave but had a “Big 5”
chip on my shoulder, convinced no place could possibly do executive recruitment
better. After my husband met Rob on the golf course and told me no less
than 20 times to send over my CV, I reluctantly agreed to a Saturday lunch -
with my husband and with his wife. I didn't take the meeting seriously at
all and even thought of bringing our 4 year old along; why not?
I met Rob that
day and found him interesting, full of war stories and acronyms but no
arrogance. He told me about his days at other firms and interviewing elsewhere
and finally starting his own firm to create the culture (servant leadership) he
couldn't find anywhere else. I was interested, enough to read his book
"High Performance Human Capital Leadership." That book,
essentially a how-to guide for doing executive search (either in house yourself
or through external consulting), proved to me that the process DOES HAVE
variance and that the difference is in both the work product we deliver to
clients and the diligence we conduct in vetting candidates.
QUESTION:
Do you receive candidate resumes identically formatted as a work product
from your consultancy?
Reformatted
resumes are my biggest pet peeve! In my experience, those resumes are a serious
"BS" deliverable to the client and take the admin staff (and
researchers) hours - HOURS - to either pull from the system (no sourcing
necessary) or retype from LinkIn or the source file. How is paying
for staff to retype resumes worth the big bucks a client pays in
retained search? Consider reformatted resumes a RED FLAG that you will
not be getting the best diligence on candidates. Moreover, if that resume
accompanies a quick summary of the candidate and that is all you get in advance
of a face-to-face, press the cancel button on that contract quickly.
So
what makes for a better retained search process with client deliverables being
more than candidate resumes? At minimum, see
the resume as it was submitted by the candidate. There is much to be
learned by listening to the source, not the interpreter. You should see
the resume and discuss it with the consultant only for course correction,
skills and sourcing purposes NOT as the primary document proposing someone for
an interview. Get as much information on the top 3-5 candidates, as
vetted by the consultant, in order to spend your time carefully interviewing
professionals that should go the distance. The old "quality over
quantity" idea. At my firm, the vetting and diligence after
resume includes:
- Work
History Report that defines the candidate's current and prior compensations,
reasons for leaving each employer, and the positions that reported into
their role. This is all the stuff
not overtly stated (or at all) on the resume. The rest of the story.
- Candidate
Self-Assessment that is significant, in length, and asks for contextual
responses describing the candidate's professional history to provide color
on their character, commitment to making an employment change,
contribution they see themselves capable of making at the recruiting
company, and culture they value and see themselves performing.
- Executive
Summary of our (we usually have two Partners working each search and both
always meet the finalist candidates) assessment of a candidate's fit with
the organization, presentation of their skills and capacity to perform
within the go forward strategy that we have learned. Though outside
the scope of candidate vetting, our process of discovery about the client
company, their go forward strategy and organization is another essential
variable in the larger retained search process!
- Psychometric
Assessment results. These are optional, and we utilize Profiles XT
for its ease of interpretation.
- 360
Degree Reference Audit, which is not an afterthought at the time of offer. We talk to two superiors, two peers and
two subordinates. The operative word here is talk. This is not an on-line form emailed to references
with a hyperlink questionnaire; we actually speak live and report the
responses nearly verbatim as an aggregate of the references though not
directly attributable to the reference.
I get that the reformatted
resume and a brief summary gets candidates in front of the client quickly, but
how much more expensive is a search when you factor in the hours of several
busy executives' time meeting with go nowhere candidates? That cost is in
addition to the length of time a search drags out when it goes past several
months attempting to find a shoe that fits.
Getting from point A (job opening) to point C
(successful candidate hire) is really about process. While past searches completed by the retained
search firm is important to build trust and credibility, consider how that
volume was accomplished. How are candidates
are vetted and what information does the client see in order to determine who
is worth the expense of time and energy?
Finally, beware of the reformatted resume. It should be a sign
that you’re retainer dollars are being spent on admin typing . . . and 70 words
per minute doesn’t fill open positions
