Gain a Competitive Edge by Hiring an Executive Search Firm

Business is booming in most sectors. Talent is scarce. In this market, great talent is elusive.  Working with an executive search firm gives you the best opportunity to hire the talent you need to grow your company and prosper. Because executive search teams have a greater outreach to potential candidates, they’re positioned to help your organization define the position you need to fill and to attract the most qualified applicants. Partnering with specialized executive search firms gives you a definite competitive advantage. Here are some of the benefits.

The Benefits of Hiring an Executive Search Firm

Executive search firms have the expertise to conduct in depth research, conduct talent mapping, and identify and recruit top executives and professionals, including specialists and other hard-to-fill roles. They also handle the negotiations with discretion and experience. Other advantages of working with an executive recruiting firm include the following.

Avoiding Bad Hires

Many businesses shrug it off when they make a bad executive hire, attributing it to the cost of doing business. But that cost can be very high indeed. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates the cost of a bad hire to be at least 30% of the executive’s first-year salary. Can you afford to toss away that kind of money? Working with an executive search firm helps you avoid these losses and dead ends. Executive search firms have a robust and well defined evaluation process that include competency based or behavioral based interviewing, profile and leadership assessments, and in depth reference checking.

Outside Guidance

Your HR department is already swamped with all the tasks on their plate. When it comes to hiring executives, they may not fully understand the responsibilities and parameters of the job. If you’re seeking to fill a newly created position, the process becomes even more challenging. An executive search firm has the experience to understand what you need. They can help you define the right skills, experience and knowledge needed. They can evaluate cultural fit, help you set the right compensation structure, coach you on candidate motivation criteria and put strategies in place to help you choose the right person.

Confidentiality

Sometimes you don’t want the word to get out about the position you’re trying to fill in your organization. Perhaps you’re trying to replace someone who’s still employed by your company. Or maybe you don’t want your competitors to know about the new direction you’re pursuing. Yes, you can ask everyone involved to keep quiet — but you know it’s only a matter of time before people start talking. An executive search firm has the discretion and confidentiality you need to reach out to all the potential candidates without starting the gossip mill.

Saving Time and Money

Hiring an executive can be expensive and time-consuming, when you consider what is involved – sourcing, research, recruiting, resume evaluation, interviewing, assessments, and reference checking. If your HR department isn’t used to filling top slots, the process may end up draining their energy that could be better used elsewhere. The chances of hiring the wrong person increase when you don’t bring expertise to the task, so you could end up wasting a lot of time and money by the end. Working with an executive search firm with highly experienced search professionals in the sectors and/or functions you seek, lets you take advantage of expertise without derailing your own people’s productivity. 

If you work globally across borders, choose an executive search firm that has experience recruiting executives in your target country. For example, if you need help hiring a bilingual executive in Mexico, make sure you hire an executive recruiting firm that has a successful track record recruiting in that country and will also interview your candidate in both English and Spanish to evaluate the language proficiency.

Access to Highly Skilled Executive Candidates Choices

Finding the right person for a high-impact executive or a highly specialized job can be complex and difficult. Just finding a qualified candidate pool might be outside the wheelhouse of your in-house team. When you bring an executive search firm into the mix, you widen your access, since most executive recruiting firms already have the wide reach and deep contact list you need. They also have experience researching and finding passive top performers. They are highly skilled at getting their attention and selling a career opportunity with greater success. You also save yourself the hassle of responding to the potentially hundreds of unqualified applicants who may swoop in the moment you post a vacancy. When someone else is handling the legwork, you can focus your attention on the very best of the candidate pool, saving time and upping your chances of making a great hire.

Protects Relationships With Competitors 

Chances are, you’re not the only organization looking to hire top-notch executives. Your competitors may be doing the same, even going after the same people. There’s no need to create bad blood over your job search. Your executive search firm will be discreet and help you protect the professional relationships you have in your field.

Working with an executive search firm, like Barbachano International, helps you reach the best executives and make the right hiring choices to lead your organization. When you avoid wasting time and making bad hires, your company is poised to take advantage of a bright future.