BUILDING THE FOUNDATION

Process is the cornerstone of any quality search and the cornerstone of our firm's approach to the business. It is imperative that we be in complete agreement with our clients regarding process from the outset of a search in order to pave the way to the most optimal result possible. While we have a suggested approach to process, which is outlined below, we believe it is important to act as true partners with our clients and have often refined pieces of our process and timing to suit the context of particular situations.

Our essential first step is to develop a thorough understanding of our clients' organizations. We aim to speak with as many of the relevant stakeholders in a search as possible, allowing us to gain deep insight into the organization and the requirements of the position in question. Armed with this information, we build a Position Specification outlining the required experience, skills and attributes of the successful candidate. Position Specifications are submitted to clients for approval and distributed to prospective candidates and sources.

"Building the foundation" is important for the "buy side" (assessment of candidates) of a search project. A solid understanding of a client's organization allows us to effectively "look into the eyes" of candidates and gauge their true fit with the client team. This foundation is also crucial to the "sell side" (promoting the opportunity) of the project. We must have a clear, solid message to deliver to the marketplace before any call program commences. Interviewing relevant stakeholders at the outset of an assignment helps us to perfect this message as a team.

RESEARCH STRATEGY

To begin the research phase of a project, it is essential to create a thoughtful, realistic Preliminary Research Strategy in partnership with our clients. A Preliminary Research Strategy typically includes categories of agreed upon target industries.

Once we have agreed on a Preliminary Research Strategy with very clear categories and criteria and a list of actual company targets, our team compiles a Detailed Research Strategy. The Detailed Research Strategy fleshes out and identifies each and every relevant prospect and source within the universe defined in the Preliminary Research Strategy. This information is then compiled in a Prospect/Source list that complements our extensive network and database.

Our firm does not typically place ads to invite applications for positions with our clients’ organizations. We have found that the most effective manner to conduct a search is through a defined research strategy, which targets ideal prospects in a focused manner. However, we are not averse to complimenting our process with an ad strategy.

CALL PROGRAM

Armed with an agreed upon strategy and a list of identified candidates and sources, we begin to contact each and every relevant candidate and source so that “no stone is left unturned”. We do not stop our process once a handful of candidates have been identified; rather, we cover the marketplace in its entirety to ensure the recruitment of the very best talent available. Throughout the course of the call program, we provide clients with status reports, which include honest feedback from the marketplace and any interesting or relevant “value-add” issues we discover while speaking with candidates and sources.

INTERVIEWS

We conduct in-depth interviews with all relevant and interested parties who we screen over the telephone in the course of the call program. The interviews are conducted through the filter of key requirements that we develop with our clients in the Position Specification.

BENCHMARKING

Benchmarking is another piece of due-diligence we often use during the interview process that allows us to ensure we are “on the right track”. To elaborate, if during the early phase of our call program (first three to four weeks) we identify a candidate(s) who is intriguing, we might introduce that person to our client early in the process, allowing the client to give us feedback on how that individual compares to her/his vision of the perfect candidate. We could then fine-tune our interview process based on this feedback as we head to the short-list stage. We encourage benchmarking whenever possible.

PROFILING

Candidate Profiles provide our clients with our assessment of each presented candidate against the backdrop of skills and experience agreed upon in the Position Specification. We also provide a personality and motivational assessment, an outline of work history and general comments on each candidate.

SHORT-LIST

We typically present to our clients a short-list of the three to five candidates who most closely match the Position Specification. We offer a Candidate Comparison Matrix at the completion of this stage of the process, which allows our clients to quantitatively compare candidates against the agreed-upon requirements. We also offer our advice and views regarding the short-list to help our clients reach their final decision.

REFERENCES

We are extremely thorough in our approach to references. We typically ask finalist candidates for references, where applicable, from at least one superior, one peer, one subordinate, and one client from each of their historic workplaces. The objective is to ensure an appropriate level of insight into the candidates’ performance throughout their careers and across teams. We have a list of general questions we ask of these referees, and we also ask them specific questions related to the Position Specification. Additionally, we solicit our clients’ input on any specific questions that they would like to have answered. All of the feedback we receive from referees is compiled in a Reference Report.

OFFER

We have much experience facilitating the negotiation of highly complex executive employment agreements. We will offer as much time and effort as our clients require at this phase of the process.

POST-PLACEMENT

Our policy is not to “walk away” from an assignment once a placement is complete. We believe we have an ongoing obligation to our clients to follow-up with both our candidates and our clients at least every three months to ensure the candidate’s integration into the new organization is as seamless as possible.