SRA Update Topics

January, 1999

Are You Working Wisely with Your Search Firm?

ONE HALLMARK OF GREAT COMPANIES is their willingness to challenge existing practices and seek a better way of doing things.

Over the past decade, for example, Ford Motor Company has quietly forged a new, constructive relationship with the United Auto Workers union that has led to manufacturing improvements that Ford’s largest competitor can only dream about.

Last year, after several marketing initiatives fizzled, McDonald’s Corp. replaced its highly centralized decision-making apparatus with a regional structure – designed to get the company closer to store owners and their customers.

And last fall, concerned about a lack of creativity in its advertising, consumer goods colossus Procter & Gamble blamed not its advertising agencies but itself – resulting in a streamlined review and approval process that helped keep good ideas from being killed by committee.

No organization, of course, sets out to create mediocre advertising, annoy its constituents or do battle with its workers. But sometimes bad practices seem to creep through the back door and become institutionalized before anyone knows they’re there.

The search for top executive, managerial and professional talent is no exception. Bad practices sometimes multiply in even the best of companies, leading to less than satisfactory end results from the search firms they engage. And few results are more evident than the quality of new employees – and how long it took to find them.

The Search Firm Relationship

Executive search consultants have two principal things to offer clients: their time and their expertise.

Time is of the essence to the recruiter because he or she is paid for performance, not for hours worked. (Try offering this billing method to your company’s law firm sometime.) Time should be equally important to the employer, who presumably wants to fill a critical position with all due speed.

Likewise, expertise is important to both parties because the search consultant knows how to identify and attract top people that the client can’t – given an equivalent expenditure of effort and time.

This sounds good in theory, but in practice employers sometimes impose restrictions that limit the ability of their search firms to produce superior results in a timely fashion.

Typical Mistakes That Companies Make

Companies can thwart the effectiveness of their search consultants in several different ways.

Recruiting by the Numbers. Some employers subscribe to the "more-the-merrier" school of thought, believing that the more hounds are in the pack, the faster the fox will be found. In actuality, the indiscriminate use of multiple search firms produces the opposite end result: slipshod performance.

Reputable firms either refuse these kind of searches or assign them low priority – for example, limiting them to a database search or working on them as other, more important searches permit. Even though the employer may end up viewing a substantial number of resumes, there is little or no attempt on the part of its recruiters to find the best candidate.

Another danger to the employer from this approach is loss of control. Firms of varying capabilities, and with various degrees of understanding about the employer and its opening, are representing the company in numerous, unknown ways. More than once have candidates told search consultants, "Oh, I was called about that position yesterday by another recruiter. It doesn’t sound like a good place to work."

And that leads to yet another problem: loss of confidentiality. The search becomes a public project as opposed to confidential company business.

Loose Lips Sink Ships. Other companies may strive to establish more exclusive relationships with one or several firms – but operate under that military doctrine called "need to know." In wartime, this meant that a soldier knew only his particular assignment and, if captured, could not reveal the overall plan of battle to the enemy. In a search for the best possible candidate, however, "need to know" can be disastrous.

It is important for the search consultant to have a full understanding not just of the job description – but also of other important elements such as corporate culture, the personalities or "operating style" of those key individuals with whom the new employee will interact, the immediate supervisor’s analysis of critical factors for success on the job, etc.

As an example, the job description for an important line manager might emphasize the need for a hard-charger to take the organization to new heights, when in actuality the most important – but unspecified – need is for a compassionate leader who can restore morale to a department badly damaged by the former manager’s abrasive style. This kind of knowledge can best be obtained through an open-door policy that provides the search consultant access to almost anyone in the organization.

But What Does It Cost per Pound? Still other companies attempt to select a search firm on the basis of price, apparently in the belief that all firms are alike – and, hey, it’s a commodity business, isn’t it? In search, as in other professional services businesses, buyers generally get what they pay for. The firm that discounts its fees is either desperate for work or plans to provide limited services, as opposed to conducting a custom search. It’s a fact of life that the job-seeker who faxes or E-mails a resume to every recruiter in the universe is generally a less desirable candidate than the successfully employed individual who doesn’t want his or her name in play. Discount recruiters cannot afford to devote the resources or spend the time to find that needle in a haystack.

There’s no harm, of course, in testing a firm’s commitment to obtaining its quoted fee. If the firm quickly begins to bid against itself, the smart employer will have an early warning that the firm lacks a stable client base that regularly pays its fees.

What Search Firms Expect of You

Sanford Rose Associates call it the "Three C’s" – candor, cooperation and commitment.

Simply stated, candor means the willingness of the client company to tell the recruiter everything about the search as it currently exists or may exist in the future. Strategic requirements change, budgets are revised, marketplace conditions improve (or worsen): all of these can affect a search. Recruiters need to know such things, just as they need to know if the organization is exploring other means of filling the search. Honesty pays.

Cooperation means everything from returning telephone calls (professional search consultants will not call you needlessly) to allowing the search firm to use its time and expertise to best effect. In order to identify better candidates faster, Sanford Rose Associates uses a proprietary process called Dimensional Search that requires significant, up-front information gathering. The employer who cannot afford to spend the time may want a less than professional effort.

Last but not least, commitment means a client’s demonstrated desire to help the search consultant fill the position in the fastest practical manner with the best possible candidate. The committed client schedules prompt interviews, provides equally prompt and complete feedback, works with the recruiter to overcome obstacles and – once the finalist is selected – extends a timely, competitive offer of employment. Aware of the many conflicting demands on today’s managers, an effective search consultant will work diligently to make sure the search is getting the employer’s urgent attention.

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Some clients are a search consultant’s dream, while others are closer to a nightmare. The wise organization will take a clue from such companies as Ford, McDonald’s and Procter & Gamble – searching for that better way of doing things. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. On the other hand, if you are getting less than superior hiring results, take corrective action now.

If you work in a large, multi-unit organization, others – including the corporate Human Resources and MIS Departments – might appreciate copies of this issue. These can be ordered from your Sanford Rose Associates search consultant.