Engaging an executive recruiting consultant for your organization’s position search shouldn’t cause you anxiety. You hired a search consultant to ease your anxiety. So, take a look at my Four R’s to get some pointers on how to make the most of the relationship.
Reference
If you have gone to the trouble to hire a retained recruiter, you need to thoroughly investigate the recruiter and his or her qualifications – check references. Then, trust them! It will not benefit you to try to micromanage the recruiter and the recruitment process. You hired the recruiter to save you time better spent on duties and issues specific to your organization’s mission.
If you have specific requirements of the recruiter, such as call you once a week for a debrief, make sure that is discussed and agreed to up front. You have every right to request a weekly debrief, but you need to trust that the recruiter will work diligently on your search. If not, you will create much angst. So, hire a firm you have fully vetted and about which you have spoken to references.
Request
If you want information from the recruiter – ASK! The recruiter can’t read your mind. A recruiter wants you to ask questions and to give feedback. Often, clients feel that once they sign the contract and the initial internal scoping interviews are completed that they aren’t allowed to express any more ideas about the position. If you find you have ideas about to whom the recruiter may want to reach out, call the recruiter! The client-recruiter relationship should be a partnership. Recruiters at a good firm will not issue dictates about a search.
Respect
Mutual respect is as important in the client-recruiter relationship as it is in all human interaction. The recruiter needs to respect your time as you need to be respectful of the recruiter’s. The recruiter should defer to your schedule as much as possible, but clients must also understand that it is an unusual situation where the recruiter is working on only your search. If a recruiter pulls together a pool of candidates faster than you expected, don’t put off the interviews because you didn’t plan for the process to move so quickly. Try to adjust your plans by bringing candidates in over a period of time instead of all on one day (keeping in mind you also need to respect candidates’ time so as to maintain momentum and not alienate your best prospects).
Likewise, a recruiter needs to return your calls and report in to you even if the search isn’t going well. The recruiter always needs to be honest and up front with the client. A good recruiter will work to engage the client when speed bumps are hit along the way. Often, a frank discussion will result in moving the process forward.
AgReement
If you are the only one in your organization advocating the use of a search firm, this can create problems whether you are the chairman of the board, the president or the executive director. If the consensus is that there is no room in the organization’s budget to afford a recruiter or that there is an excellent internal candidate who can move seamlessly into the role, then don’t use a recruiter.
Another area requiring agreement is with regard to the position description itself. If there is no consensus on the position description, there are going to be problems. No good can come from senior staff and board members not signing off on the position profile. This will cause trouble and confusion when candidates start coming through the door. Can you imagine how foolish your process will look — and then poorly reflect on the organization — when interviews begin and candidates hear a different story about the position from everyone with whom they interview?
What experiences have you had with recruiters that resulted in better service? What was the most disturbing strategy, tactic or behavior a recruiter did when working with your organization? What was the most helpful?
Carmel Napolitano is a New York City based independent executive search consultant for the philanthropic, nonprofit, and public sectors. With over 20 years of experience, Carmel started her career in higher education fundraising, She has an exceptional track record of placing senior staff at local, regional, national, and global organizations. She can be reached at cgnexecsearch@gmail.com.
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Last updated on November 17th, 2010 at 07:34 am
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These are some very good points that Carmel has raised. For the right level of position, there is really is no replacement for a retained search solution. Once you find the right partner, it is a decision that you don’t regret. I rely heavily on my external search partners and consider them extensions of my internal HR/ Recruitment team. Doing your homework up front to find the right partner and ensure the search is properly scoped and understood is an investment of time up front that pays big dividends on the back end.