The 4 Questions You Must Ask Your Next Executive Search Firm

There’s no shortage of articles about how to choose an executive search firm. Many contain the same pithy and cliched advice about requesting references, making sure you understand the difference between contingent and retained agreements, and asking about guarantees of results. These are all important topics, but this post isn’t about any of that.

Instead of rehashing what’s already out there, we’d like to focus on four questions that really matter, and how to evaluate the answers you’re given. For each question, we tell you what to listen for and what you want to hear in those answers.

Question 1

Ask this: What experience do you have, and what results have you delivered directly related to our industry?

Listen for this: You want to work with a firm that understands your industry, vertical, and sector — a firm whose brand is aligned with yours and is invested in your industry. Such a firm will be able to open more doors, get more calls answered, and connect with the right candidates. You need an executive search partner who can accurately promote your company and brand with respect to the vertical or industry in which it operates, and who knows how to engage with the exact types of executives you want working for your company.

What you want to hear: You want to hear that the firm is actively engaged in your industry/sector — in this case, that it has outdoor industry, active lifestyle, and sporting goods sector experience. You also want to hear:

• That they’ve successfully completed searches within the industry/sector both recently and historically.
• That they understand the current state of the industry beyond just reading articles about what’s going on in the here and now.
• That they’re students of what’s occurring in the sector.
• You want to hear that they, for example, regularly engage with their clients — even when they’re not conducting a search.
• They want to understand what’s driving their clients’ business, or getting in the way, and be able to present opportunities for growth.

Finally, you want to hear that the firm’s brand is aligned with yours — that they’re the right fit to promote your brand, values, and lifestyle. You want some assurance that the individual representing you aligns with your business and brand — that their brand complements yours.

Question 2

Ask this: What is your sourcing process and timeline?

Listen for this: When you invest your resources in an executive search firm, you are expecting higher-caliber candidates than you have been able to find thus far. The sourcing process is the tested and proven approach the firm uses to deliver the desired results. The timeline tells you what to expect in the coming weeks — the next two, four, and six weeks and beyond. Listen for the following:

• Whether the firm has a process or promises to “call you when they’ve found someone.” The absence of a process suggests that the firm takes a shotgun approach (in contrast to a targeted search).
• Whether you will get to see and approve any marketing materials before they’re used in the search.
• A timeline that describes what you can expect at each stage in the process.

What you want to hear: A quality firm has an approach that serves as the basis for what they do — a proven process for delivering the desired results in a specific timeframe/timeline. Here at Highline Outdoor Group, we’ve written about our process that has been proven time and again over nearly 20 years (for example, see “Spinning Your Tires with Executive Hires? Get A Proven Process” here on the Highline blog).

Question 3

Ask this: What is your go-to-market strategy with our opportunity?

Listen for this: You need to know how your executive search firm will present your company specifically for the purpose of attracting top-level talent. At the 30,000-foot view, this relates to process, as discussed in the previous section. At the 1,000-foot view, it relates to the tactics the firm will use to conduct the search.

What you want to hear: A top-notch executive search firm starts with a step-by-step process but then breaks down each step into specific, actionable items. For example, we employ several tactics to “Identify qualified candidates inside and outside the industry” (Step 4 in our structured executive search process above). These tactics include the following:

• Research companies and categories to identify those that have the skillsets and qualifications relevant to your organization and your current opening.
• Supplement our research with our extensive knowledge of and relationships with senior executives across the outdoor, sporting goods, active lifestyle, and consumer package goods (CPG) sectors.
• Identify and qualify prospect referrals through trusted third-party contacts.
• Deliver a list of highly qualified prospects, giving your organization a targeted selection of viable candidates.

Every executive search firm has its own process and tactics. We’re not suggesting that ours is the only effective approach. We’re only advising you to be sure that the firm you hire has a structured, step-by-step process in place. Each step in the process must be broken down into tactics, and the process and associated tactics must have a proven track record of consistently delivering positive results.

Question 4

Ask this: Who will conduct our search?

Listen for this: When asking the question “Who will conduct our search?” you’re listening for two things: First, you want to know whether the person you’re talking to is the one who will be conducting the executive search. Second, you want to know whether the person conducting the search has the knowledge, skills, and experience to effectively recruit the talent you’re looking to add to your organization.

What you want to hear: First, be sure you’re talking to the person who will be recruiting candidates on your behalf, not with a Client Executive who’s merely going to pass your information to a project manager, who then passes it to junior recruiters. That type of workflow — the telephone gameapproach — will not work in your favor.

Second, be sure that the person conducting the search can talk the talk with candidates. The person conducting the search must truly understand the target persona and what motivates, challenges, and influences the ideal candidate. Beyond just knowing that, the person conducting the search must be able to effectively articulate and address those items with the candidate. When you stop to consider the experience level of the person you’re searching for, it’s not unreasonable to think you need someone at a comparable level to conduct the search.

You also want to hear that the person conducting the search is someone who respects your company and brand to the point at which they consider themselves a trusted partner and not just someone who’s out for themselves. A trusted partner sells your company as much as the position they’re recruiting to fill.

For addition guidance, read 3 More Questions You Must Ask Your Next Executive Search Firm, here on the Highline Blog.