If you’re looking to fill an executive role within your organisation, you may be familiar with the challenges that can come with recruiting to these highly specialised roles.
As such, you might be considering bringing an executive search consultant on board to support the process and identify top tier candidates.
But what is an executive search consultant? How are they different from a normal recruiter? And more importantly, are they really worth it?
In this article we explore all of these points to find out why you should choose an executive search consultant.
What is an Executive Search Consultant?
An executive search consultant is an expert recruiter, who specialises in finding and placing highly qualified, highly skilled professionals into leadership positions within organisations and businesses. Often, roles that need executive search consultancy input require a very specialised skill set, which can be very difficult to fill through normal recruitment processes.
Finding a candidate to fill the top roles in your business hierarchy is a far more rigorous and time-consuming endeavour than recruiting to other roles.
Where you might advertise and accept applications for other roles in your organisation, executive hires are hard to come by and very rarely come to you. Instead you will need to search out very specialised individuals with a very specific set of skills and experience.
An executive search consultancy firm will have a network of contacts across a range of industries, and will be experienced in utilising the right strategies and techniques to source executive level candidates to suit your organisation.
While this is the bread and butter of a search consultant, they can also offer support in the form of valuable advice and guidance. They can provide valuable input on how to attract new leaders, hire effectively and efficiently, and retain talent within the organisation.
With the cost of a bad hire being so high, the support an executive search consultant can offer is invaluable.
What are the benefits of using Executive Search Consultants?
If you’ve ever tried to recruit to executive or C-level positions before, you’ll know that it can be slim pickings to find the right candidate with the right attributes for your business.
As executive roles become more specialised, the level of skill and experience required becomes exponentially higher. As such, you may find that recruiting through normal methods of advertising and welcoming applications might not yield many results.
While it’s very likely you’ll get applicants, finding a candidate with the relevant level and breadth of experience is extremely difficult. And, at this level, you really can’t settle, and it becomes a case of you seeking them out rather than the other way around.
Enter an executive search consultant.
The main benefits of an executive search consultancy firm means you won’t have to settle on skill or experience. A good, reliable firm will utilise a wide array of nurtured contacts and carefully honed techniques to find a candidate that ticks all the boxes you need.
Along with peace of mind that you’ll be supported by experts, they can also take the stress out of the recruitment process, as they’ll take on the search elements, and will act as an intermediary between you and the potential candidates.
You’ll also be saving time in this instance, as the research-heavy elements of finding a good candidate will be taken off your plate, you’ll simply have the best options presented to you to assess.
How do executive search consultancy firms work?
As we’ve established, an executive search consultancy firm specialises in filling those top leadership positions within organisations.
At the risk of oversimplifying, they are essentially recruitment agencies which deal specifically with this top tier of candidates. While this describes the output of an executive search consultancy, it’s worth remembering that, as the candidates they’re working with are at the top of their field and are often very specialised, the methods and techniques used to build relationships and successfully place these individuals are very different to a normal recruitment agency.
Therefore, your average search consultant is also a very skilled individual, equipped with a wide network of potential candidates, specific skills to bring new clients on board and exceptional communication skills to facilitate all of this.
Furthermore, you can often expect a search consultant to offer specialist services to a specific industry, which is essential for this level of recruitment. This ensures they have contacts with individuals who are experienced within your industry, and gives you reassurance that the consultant you’re working alongside knows the requirements of your business very well.
This type of expertise in your consultant and their potential candidates provides you with greater chances of success and a very high quality selection of candidates. A specialised search consultant can be an extremely valuable commodity, and we highly recommend you look for one who knows your industry or business well.
Do you need an executive search consultant?
If you’re looking to fill top leadership positions in your organisation, an executive search consultant is an incredible resource.
They’ll find the most suitable candidates, support you in retaining talent in your organisation and can help you to avoid the risks and costs associated with a bad hire.
SPS International is an industry leader in executive search consultancy, offering specialised solutions to Agribusiness, Animal and Human Nutrition & Health, Industrial and Fashion & Retail sectors.
With decades of accumulated experience within our teams, strong relationships across a number of industries and a highly skilled workforce, we have the expertise to support you as a hiring manager to find exceptional executive candidates.
If you’d like to find out more about how SPS International can support you in finding the perfect executive candidate, visit our contact page and get in touch with one of our team today.