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Home » Opinion » Book review
Choosing right headhunter for your firm
By Wu Jiayin |
April 25, 2009, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
MANY companies need at times to look outside their own enterprises for new leadership talent.
In such cases, the executive research consultants that the companies hire deeply influence the changes in top management, argues Joseph Daniel McCool in "Deciding Who Leads."
"Deciding who leads is ... shared by executive search consultants and their client organizations, but deciding who gets a chance to contend for a top corporate job rests mostly in the hands of the searchers,'' says McCool.
The importance of executive search consultants is discussed in detail in the book.
Besides offering useful information about search consultants, McCool also gives practical advice to companies on how to better cooperate with their consultants to find the best talent.
Some argue that a company can and should build a leadership pipeline within the company, thus avoiding going outside to recruit executives.
Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch once said that if the company properly did its job of building executive talent and planning for succession, it would never need executive search consultants.
Recruiting internally is, of course, ideal. But often, this alone cannot fill all the vacancies for executives.
In fact, GE, like many other firms, still turns to consultants to fill its upper-level positions.
And it is not a good idea for a company to depend solely on itself to find top executive talent.
The reason is simple: an executive research firm has a much larger talent pool than a company.
This is especially so if a company is to recruit globally or aims to diversify its management team with more women or under-represented minorities.
As McCool points out, when an executive plans to leave an organization or aspires to join it, the executive recruiters are often the first to know.
Therefore, in his view, "executive search is often the only way hiring companies can attract and recruit ... senior management talent.''
To ensure a successful search and hiring process, choosing the right consultant and cooperating well with him or her are of great importance - the risks of a bad hire can be high.
And the cost of a bad hire of a high-ranking executive is far more than the sum of the wasted salary and the executive search fee.
There are the opportunity costs of lost business, lost customers, lost employees and lost time, plus the expense of nursing the company back to health, not to mention paying for another search and hiring process.
To avoid bad hires, a company should investigate the qualifications and references of any prospective search firm and seek a consultant who understands company needs and has access to appropriate talent, suggests McCool.
It's important that there be a strategic partnership between company and consultant.
Companies should communicate precisely what kind of candidates it wants and actively involve the consultant in the organizational vision.
Besides, the HR of the company should work hand in hand with the consultant to identify and recruit the best talent.
As McCool observes, when you develop a working relationship with an executive search firm, its consultants may offer great prospects when you aren't searching, especially if they know you value talent, and can hire and develop top people even if you don't have an immediate position.
The benefits of a strategic partnership with executive search consultants go beyond that.
A skilled executive search consultant can help a company design the compensation package for its CEO by balancing the interests of both the shareholders and the CEO.
It might also market your top people elsewhere, but, as McCool reiterates, if you try to protect yourself by forbidding the search firm from hiring or recruiting from your own executive ranks, you also may not have access to top people on your consultants' list.
In such cases, the executive research consultants that the companies hire deeply influence the changes in top management, argues Joseph Daniel McCool in "Deciding Who Leads."
"Deciding who leads is ... shared by executive search consultants and their client organizations, but deciding who gets a chance to contend for a top corporate job rests mostly in the hands of the searchers,'' says McCool.
The importance of executive search consultants is discussed in detail in the book.
Besides offering useful information about search consultants, McCool also gives practical advice to companies on how to better cooperate with their consultants to find the best talent.
Some argue that a company can and should build a leadership pipeline within the company, thus avoiding going outside to recruit executives.
Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch once said that if the company properly did its job of building executive talent and planning for succession, it would never need executive search consultants.
Recruiting internally is, of course, ideal. But often, this alone cannot fill all the vacancies for executives.
In fact, GE, like many other firms, still turns to consultants to fill its upper-level positions.
And it is not a good idea for a company to depend solely on itself to find top executive talent.
The reason is simple: an executive research firm has a much larger talent pool than a company.
This is especially so if a company is to recruit globally or aims to diversify its management team with more women or under-represented minorities.
As McCool points out, when an executive plans to leave an organization or aspires to join it, the executive recruiters are often the first to know.
Therefore, in his view, "executive search is often the only way hiring companies can attract and recruit ... senior management talent.''
To ensure a successful search and hiring process, choosing the right consultant and cooperating well with him or her are of great importance - the risks of a bad hire can be high.
And the cost of a bad hire of a high-ranking executive is far more than the sum of the wasted salary and the executive search fee.
There are the opportunity costs of lost business, lost customers, lost employees and lost time, plus the expense of nursing the company back to health, not to mention paying for another search and hiring process.
To avoid bad hires, a company should investigate the qualifications and references of any prospective search firm and seek a consultant who understands company needs and has access to appropriate talent, suggests McCool.
It's important that there be a strategic partnership between company and consultant.
Companies should communicate precisely what kind of candidates it wants and actively involve the consultant in the organizational vision.
Besides, the HR of the company should work hand in hand with the consultant to identify and recruit the best talent.
As McCool observes, when you develop a working relationship with an executive search firm, its consultants may offer great prospects when you aren't searching, especially if they know you value talent, and can hire and develop top people even if you don't have an immediate position.
The benefits of a strategic partnership with executive search consultants go beyond that.
A skilled executive search consultant can help a company design the compensation package for its CEO by balancing the interests of both the shareholders and the CEO.
It might also market your top people elsewhere, but, as McCool reiterates, if you try to protect yourself by forbidding the search firm from hiring or recruiting from your own executive ranks, you also may not have access to top people on your consultants' list.
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