The Most Important Questions to Ask An Executive Search Firm
Hiring for your leadership team is always a high stakes process. Consequently, so is evaluating and choosing the right executive search firm. Below are the top questions you should be asking prospective firms in order to evaluate their potential to succeed.
WHAT AREAS DO YOU SPECIALIZE IN?
No firm can be an expert at everything. Typically, the wider a firm’s scope of expertise, the more shallow their depth of knowledge is in each area. If you’re looking for a firm that specializes in the role and industry you’re hiring for, it’s important that the firm has experience in your space and have hired their own staff with experience in those specialties.
During this phase of questioning, don’t stop at face value answers. Ask for specific examples of companies they’re worked with and roles they’ve hired for to see if they’ve successfully matched leaders for positions and industries similar to the one at hand. Go further and question how they keep in touch with your industry and how they are able critically assess the unique skill sets needed for your role.
WHAT RELEVANT EXPERIENCE DOES MY CONSULTANT HAVE?
As you evaluate an executive search firm’s capabilities and reputation, also investigate the relevant experience of the consultant that you will be working with directly. Your dedicated consultant(s) needs to understand the importance of the position you’re hiring for from a strategic, operational, and financial standpoint. They should have a strong, experience-backed grasp of your business, market, and role for hire.
Ask not only what their experience is, but how they’ll use their contact network and experience to identify top candidates and critical skill sets. You want them to have a different opinion outside of your own and inject valuable perspective. Ask them what their approach to finding the right person is and where they anticipate challenges and roadblocks.
HOW DO YOU INTEND TO LEARN ABOUT OUR ORGANIZATION, ITS CULTURE, ITS LONG- AND SHORT-TERM GOALS, AND ITS CURRENT INITIATIVES?
A great executive search firm doesn’t just find a solid candidate for the role. They ensure that the role you’re hiring for is the right role for your business based on your current human capital, skill gaps, and goals. They’ll learn about your culture - and even changes you’re hoping to bring to your culture - that will guide their search.
Ideally your consultants get to know your organization so intimately that they’re able to effectively filter through candidates themselves, without relying on high volumes of back-and-forth feedback from you. They’ll develop a diligently vetted list of leaders who bring the full gamut of qualifications and strategic foresight needed to lead your business into the future.
HOW DO YOU MATCH THE RIGHT CANDIDATE TO THE POSITION?
AND WHAT IS YOUR PROCESS FOR QUALIFYING CANDIDATES?
You want to know that they won’t be sending a flood of resumes, essentially passing off the screening to you and the existing leadership team. Your consultant should be filtering a large candidate pool down to a hyper-targeted shortlist of exceptional candidates. In order to do that, they need a thorough process that covers not just hard skills and experience, but important soft skills, culture, work behaviour, and motivations.
Every executive search process will have some common elements, regardless of the firm. When you’re asking about their process, don’t end the conversation at itemized activities. Have them explain their approach to each step. When they’re conducting an interview, what will they be looking for? Do they use matrices and what do those look like? Do they leverage any technology or specialized assessments? How do they evaluate different types of skills and competencies? How will they help you compare and select the right candidate?
HOW WOULD YOU MEASURE SUCCESS? WHAT IS YOUR SUCCESS RATE WITH CANDIDATES?
Success isn’t just placing a candidate. It comes down to how well that candidate performs in the role and how long they stay with the organization. Executives have the opportunity to be transformational for companies, and their impact goes far beyond the day-to-day role responsibilities. It’s measured by how their strategic and leadership capabilities future-proof the company, elevate teams and improve performance.
Ask them how they define success. Pay attention to the long-term qualifiers they use and how these indicators align with your business objectives. Also ask them how they intend to measure that success. Look for what types of post-hire follow ups they have planned and how they address any complications that arise post-hire. If they talk about measuring success based on future performance, but don’t have a plan to acquire and evaluate performance feedback, that’s a red flag.
HOW DO YOU MINIMIZE RISK OF A WRONG HIRE?
A bad hire can cost companies up to 5X an employee’s salary in addition to wasted time. As tempting as it is to hire quickly, the consequences of mishiring are much greater than the benefits of an early start.
Avoiding a mishire begins before you even look for candidates. It begins at the role itself. During the discovery phase, your highly qualified executive search firm will explain how they intend to help assess skill gaps, blind spots, and future needs to ensure that both the role - as well as the person filling it - match your objectives.
This question works best when you leave it open ended. Refrain from leading the firm to the answer you’re looking for. If they don’t already plan to conduct a role evaluation, the odds are that even if you get them to commit to one, they won’t be qualified to execute that level of consultation.
WHAT DO YOU DO TO ADDRESS DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION?
Research shows that diverse leaders foster more innovation than non-diverse leaders by building environments that encourage new ideas. These leaders are also more likely to hire with diversity in mind, meaning that if a company truly wants to create diversity in the organization - and not just frontline staff - it needs to start at the top.
Look for an executive search firm that has put in processes to attract diverse talent and mitigate unconscious bias during hiring. The firm you work with should ensure excellent candidates don’t get dismissed based on irrelevant criteria. Your ideal consultants will make sure the best candidate is selected based on their qualifications, fit, and ability to accelerate innovation.
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Look no further. Connect with us today and get our answers to each of these questions.
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