Guide to Work with an Executive Search Firm

Hiring executive level talents sometimes requires the help from executive search firm. Here is the guide for working with professional executive search firm.

To recruit the right talent, you need to avoid the cost of bad hire. As it is, you might need a special type of search expert -- an executive search firm -- to assist in attracting, interviewing, and hiring mid- to senior-level employees.

Executive firms have long been used by big companies, but small and mid-sized firms are realizing firm can also benefit from paying the third-party recruiter's help to accurate and enticing job descriptions, source people of qualified candidates for top-level jobs, and speed up the hiring process.

Step One: Selecting the Right Firm

Once you have identified the type of firm you need, it's time to find the right firm for your business needs. There are a variety of criteria you should consider in selecting firms to consider, such as knowledge of your sector, personal references, and where they are located.

You should also use a firm has experience placing candidates in positions similar to your open position in your industries, look for industry experience, recruitment strategies, network and reach. In addition, find a firm that will represent you and your firm's culture in an ethical and honest way.

Step Two: Check References

After you find firms, it's important to check their references. 'Contact corporate clients to understand the quality of candidates presented, integrity, competency, timely feedback and representation that the recruiter provided to the market,' Augustine says. 'Contact a few candidates that were placed by the search firm to better understand the candidates' perception, how the opportunity was presented, the representation of the firm and offer, and the recruiter's business acumen and honesty.'

Step Three: Understand Efficiency Metrics

Recruitment firms use various metric for benchmarking purposes. Talent Spot's recruiter suggest some of the best recruiting metrics to use:

Days to first submittal

Days to fill a position

Submittal to interview efficiency ratio

Interview to offer efficiency ratio

Offer to close efficiency ratio

Diversity ratio

Retention percentage

Average salary of filled positions

Step Four: Make Sure Your Recruiter Understands The Position Needs

Ensure the recruiter clearly understands the position you are trying to fill. 'The recruiter must clearly understand the role, responsibilities, qualifications and appropriate experience needed for the position,' Augustine says. In demonstrating this, the recruiter should dedicate time to gather information about your company, and understand the key selling features of the employer, business culture, and employees. The recruiter should be willing to spend time discussing with you the problem that the company faces, the culture, and develop an understanding of the specific personality, skills, knowledge, and education desired in a potential candidate

When you engage with an executive firm, it is not a matter of just putting ad in the paper and seeing who the best person is that applies. At the senior executive level, it's very crucial to find the best person you can. The whole purpose of proactive recruitment is to bring into consideration candidates that might not be otherwise identifiable in the market. They may not respond to an advertisement. It opens up a whole range of candidates who might not have been aware of or shown interest in your appointment.