Executive search and your career
What is retained executive search?
When companies seek to hire management and professional talent from outside their organization, they have several options. They can decide to manage the process themselves; they can employ contingency recruiters; or they can contract with a retained executive search consultant. Retained executive search consulting is appropriate for hiring senior-level executives (when the salary level of the position is usually above $100,000) and when it is critical to hire not just any qualified person, but the most qualified and appropriate person to meet the challenges of the position in question.
Retained executive search consultants work under an exclusive contract with the client organization. They will often try to help candidates, but their priority is identifying the best candidate for a particular job and making the best client/candidate match. The majority of executives identified in a search are not actively seeking a new job, but are identified through research as the most viable candidates. In addition, a retained consultant will never present a candidate to more than one client at a time, and will not accept fees from individuals for the purpose of helping them find a job.
About the AESC
The Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC) is the worldwide professional organization for retained executive search firms. Retained search firms that are members of the AESC are bound by a Code of Ethics and Professional Practice Guidelines, and range from the largest most recognized search firms to the smallest boutique, or specialist, firms around the world.
Getting on the Radar Screen
At any level in your career, it is important to network and make contact with executive search consultants so that you will be "on the radar screen" if a suitable opportunity arises. But if you are a senior-level executive, how do you make yourself known to quality retained search firms in your own and other countries? One way is to register at www.BlueSteps.com, a service of the AESC. Doing so will raise your visibility with the leading search firms, around the world, in an efficient, economical and confidential manner. It will also ensure that any search firms who contact you from the BlueSteps global database subscribe to the highest ethics and standards as put forth by the AESC.
Networking is all about building and sustaining mutually beneficial relationships. However, it always pays to begin building relationships long before you think you will need them. This is particularly true when networking with executive search. If you wait until you are actually in transition and looking for a job before you approach search consultants, you may not get the reception you want.
Working with Search Firms
Although contractual obligations exist only between the search firm and client, search consultants also build professional and ethical relationships with candidates, whom they may remain in contact with over a period of years. But the executive search process is not a one-way street. Although you have a right to expect courteous, professional treatment from the search consultant and the hiring organization, there are a number of things you can do to facilitate the process and advance your standing: Be honest; be flexible; educate yourself; have realistic expectations; and negotiate in good faith.
Above all, do not think you have a "done deal" just because you develop a close relationship with the search consultant. Remember that the consultant's job is to present several qualified candidates to the client, and it is the client who makes the ultimate decision.
The more you know about the executive search process, the better you can position yourself should you become an executive search candidate. In the meantime, remember that the most successful executive searches involve those where you, the search consultant and the client know your rights and obligations within the search process and adhere to the highest standards of professional and ethical conduct. The Candidate's Bill of Rights, produced by AESC, provides information on what you can expect when you work with a professional executive search firm.
Reprinted by permission of the AESC.
