10 Steps of Professional Working of Executive Search Firm

Step 1. Hiring an Executive Search firm

Following the finalization of contract, executives search firms work to hiring consultant for both external and internal candidates.

Step 2. Holding Launch Meetings

Recruitment staff get together to discuss the requirements for the role. In this meeting, stakeholders, board members and senior executive team members take part, generally. The basic purpose of the meeting is to extract useful information about the role and requirements of senior level executives in the management and work culture of the company.

Step 3. Job Description Creation

Following the previous meeting outputs, in this role executive recruiters finalize the job description for the position. In this step, consultants finalize roles, responsibilities, preferred experience and core competencies for the ideal candidate. As per the client approval, the document is used to create Position and Candidate Specification.

Step 4. Selecting the Research Strategy

The search team consultants sort out target companies to yield a successful candidate. In this step, ‘no hiring’ companies are also declared due to sensitive client relationship. Moreover, executive hiring consultants also consider office location, added benefits and corporate culture in this step.

Step 5. Conducting Research

Mapping of appropriate research online and offline mediums is an important part. In this step, executive manpower consultant research candidate database at various resources to yield prospective candidates.

Step 6. Scheduling Interviews for Top Prospects

The search consultant set up interviews to evaluate the top prospective candidates. During this step, executive hiring consultant take a deep drill into the experience and career of the candidate. Along with it, without jeopardizing candidate’ confidentiality search executive verifies the past performances and other essential career skills.

Step 7. Writing Candidate Profile

Following the interviews, search firm creates candidate profiles for the selected candidates. This report briefs the achievements, education and soft skills like values of the candidate to prove, why he or she may prove a good fit.

Step 8. Final interviews with Client

The search firm presents the strong contenders to the client for final call of interview. Those who are eliminated on any ground of the previous steps are closed out.

Step 9. Reference and Background Check

An executive search team member verifies the candidate’s references in this step. Most often, third-party conducts the background verification of the candidate.

Step 10. Extending the Offer and Closing Candidate Search

Executive search consultant work as mediator between client and candidate to finalize to the package that is agreeable for both. Following the acceptance of offer, the search team wind ups the open position.

Given the complex and long process, the executive recruitment is a time consuming process. Further, the involvement of senior level management staff from the corporate is crucial too. That’s why executive search firms can only succeed when they work professionally. As one of the top executive search firm, GlobalHunt strongly believes in working with a streamlined professional approach.

Qualities Of A Great Executive Search Firm

An executive search firm is often referred to as a professional service provider company that has specialization in recruitment of executives and other senior professionals for its client companies under some form of agreement. There are many companies now days who are seeking service from such firms in order to fill in the positions in a time and cost effective manner with perfection. While it is a very effective approach to gear up for recruitment needs, there are certain factors that need to be kept in mind for the selection of such firms.

• The first thing to look out for is the industry experience. It is better to look for executive search firms which have already worked in the similar segment for a better knowledge base. The best way to find this information is through company website. If the industry in which the firm has worked is not mentioned, it is better to go through the list of clients for which the firm has worked for. This also helps in gaining insight regarding the same.
• Every business has its own sell-ability quotient and business development objectives. This criterion holds true for executive search firms as well. An insight regarding their business model and structure they follow to provide their service is essential to be noted. This will determine whether the business process is suitable for the client company or not.
• The success of a firm lies in the number of tasks completed by the company rather than number or projects it roped in. So, one should visit online forums wherein organizations and individuals give feedback about the recruitment projects actually completed successfully by such firms. This determines the actual performance of the firm.
• Flexibility is a key to such firms. The better a firm can mold the business process in accordance with the client company, the more effective service provider it becomes. Hence adaptability of the service provider in accordance with client company structure and work culture is an added advantage.
• Recruitment process is a continuous process. The companies are usually in need for professionals all-round the year for various functionalities and building up as well as maintaining a stable workforce. Hence, if one can enter in to long term partnership with such a firm, then it becomes a cost and time effective approach of handling the recruitment needs to the business.

The executive search firm should have a strong database of candidate profiles which is updated on a regular basis. This helps in looking in to the fresh profiles that are most updated and relevant at the same time. The networking channels of such a firm should be strong and well connected to source the candidates effectively. In addition to this, it should also have access to passive candidates. Such candidates are not easily available as they are not actively looking for jobs and mostly are working with competitors. The executive search firm should be able to convince such candidates for the opportunity and the selection process.