Every week, a different professional from the field writes a blog on our website. This week that professional is Lieke Severijns, Managing Director Babbage Company.
September 2016 we attended the World Executive Search Congress, held at the Tower of London. Over 150 delegates from 26 countries. I am eager to share some insights with you.
Special point of interest for us Babbage Company, is that an increasing amount (61%) of the big corporate client companies prefer to deal with small boutique search firms. Since they know the needs/reality of the local markets and/or specific expertise and their potential candidates. This speeds up the procedure, guarantees better results and lowers the research costs! According to Nancy Garrison Jenn, the global authority on Headhunters, retained fees over 30% will not be paid anymore in the near future.
Simon Mullins from ESIX presented us his research on partnering in-house and external search departments and firms. Client companies are constantly under pressure to respond to forces that many of them did not foresee even a year ago. Collaborating together with external search firms is necessary in order to make change. ESIX’s research learns that 40% of the executive searches fail due to lack of clarity of need/reality of market, understanding of search timing and communication with the hiring manager. If properly managed the searches success rates can go up to 81%. This will not only save costs in the end. A mutual investment when starting search assignments will pay back in shared learnings, in quality of search, it will improve the onboarding process and the one who gets the job will be more loyal to your company and stay much longer. 
Some of the remedies and critical success factors are:
- Meet the hiring manager and have him or her support the search;
- Systemize interviewing and onboarding;
- Identify (top 4!) competencies & hire the one that matches;
- Be honest about what is really going on in the company/culture;
- Consensus about the profile and the procedure;
- The right search consultant is engaged on both sides;
- Talent is available at projected compensation level;
- Everyone involved in the procedure understands their roles;
- “Right” people involved in final hiring decision.
Don’t we all recognize items from the above? Hiring managers who don’t want to meet us for a briefing or who are hardly available for questions and feedback? Lists of endless competencies (and finally hiring the one that fits the least)? Frustrated candidates after onboarding due to lack of honesty and transparency during the procedure? Too many managers and employees involved in the hiring procedure and all impressions weigh equally.
Please dear client, can we agree on working together as partners in order to achieve better? Will you help us to organize effective kick-off meeting? Can you ensure that no internal candidates will “pop up” during the procedure (after we invested loads of money, time and effort)? And if they do so -please decide in advance and share if and how you want to evaluate/compare them to externals. Will you share who you already considered so we don’t bother them again? Can all involved in the hiring procedure rank the candidate according to the same tools and independently from the other and can we agree that some are more important than others?
Just a few insights.. We’ll be more than happy to work together, we’ll invest lots of time and effort in the search and guarantee we will succeed and provide you with the best outcome possible!
Lieke Severijns