6 Key Questions to Ask Your Search Firm
A key executive retires, quits or is fired. You need a replacement, but how do you find that
exceptional leader who is the perfect fit for the job? There’s a lot riding on hiring the right
person, and getting it wrong costs your organization both time and money. To mitigate
these risks, boards of directors and executives pay recruiters a lot of money to identify
good candidates for high-level positions.
Unfortunately, hiring a recruiter does not always guarantee that your new executive will
stay in the job. In fact, some large, global search firms admit that their 18-month
retention rate can be as low as 60 percent. Why, after spending so much to find the
“right” person for the job, are businesses still firing their new hires or watching them
walk away so soon?
In many cases, it all goes back to the quality of the executive search firm’s work. If a
search firm is doing its job right, the odds of a new hire fulfilling expectations are much
higher. In this two-part series, I’ll address six important questions to help you hire a
search firm that will fill your open positions with successful, lasting candidates. As you
read, think about your organization’s processes and how you can adapt these questions
to your unique environment for optimal hiring results.
1. Does the search firm guarantee the tenure and performance of the
successful candidate?
Executives in the healthcare business are under constant financial pressure and know
that successfully adapting to change is critical. Organizations that recruit and retain the
best leaders stand the best chance of survival. That’s why it’s so important to find a
leader whose skills and experience match your organization’s challenges, whose
personality meshes with your organization’s culture and values, and who is going to
stick around and solve problems through good times and bad.
A great search firm makes sure that the people it recommends meet all of these criteria
and back up that promise by guaranteeing the tenure and performance of the individual
they recommend for a job. Healthcare organizations should accept nothing less than a
36-month placement guarantee for C-suite and executive assignments, and 24 months
for non-executive administrators.
© 2013 John Gregory Self
2. Does the search firm offer a client satisfaction guarantee?
Money is tight in the healthcare business. From the skyrocketing cost of
pharmaceuticals to increasing pressure from payers, executives are working with less
revenue and narrower margins than ever. Boards and healthcare executives are pushing
for more value and accountability from their consultants, including executive recruiters
– and rightly so.
Healthcare organizations deserve to get what they’re paying for, so executive search
firms should meet their expectations with a performance guarantee that includes a
commitment to deliver an acceptable panel of qualified and vetted candidates within a
specified timeline. The search firm should be willing to share the risk by offering a
meaningful financial incentive, such as reducing its fees by a specific percentage, if it
fails to do so.
3. Does the search firm use a proven methodology to screen candidates?
Quality candidate screening separates the “good enough” candidates from the “ideal”
ones. A candidate who looks good on paper and sounds great in a one-hour interview
could be hiding a time bomb that’s just waiting to explode, such as past career failures,
personal problems or negative personality traits that could interfere with job
performance down the line. Good executive search firms excel at unearthing these
potential hazards and protect their clients by weeding such candidates out of the
running. The best firms have consistent, proven methodologies to do it well, and
customize these methodologies to each organization’s specific culture and strategy.
Comprehensive, chronological, in-depth interviews with a detailed leadership
assessment are among the best leadership screening tools, according to research
conducted at General Electric Corp. For example, methodologies such as
Topgrading© include lengthy interviews - four to five hours for each candidate - and
consistently deliver exceptional results. Why do they work so well? Anyone can make
themselves look good in a one-hour interview, but a person can only hold up a façade
for so long. After three or four hours of questioning, their true nature will emerge, and
inconsistencies in their story may come to light.
© 2013 John Gregory Self
4. Will the executive search firm consultant I meet with actually be the one
doing the work?
When you’re evaluating search firms, you’ll probably meet with a senior partner or
principal to learn about each company’s search process. While these individuals may
have many contacts and lots of experience, they may or may not actually be the ones
working to fill your open position.
Many search firms delegate research work to junior search consultants. But the critical
task of assessing a candidate’s prior performance and ability to deliver exceptional
value for your organization requires a seasoned search executive with a proven track
record.
Especially for mission-critical C-level and management positions, it’s best to have at
least one senior-level person involved in actual candidate screening, interviewing and
decision-making. Unfortunately, that’s not the case at many executive search firms.
Here’s how the process works at most large firms:
a. The partner sells the deal, and he or she and an associate will do the site work at
your offices. The associate may, or may not, be the person who will do the
recruitment and initial screening.
b. A senior associate – the recruiter – does most of the sourcing and telephone
screening. He or she may use videoconferencing. He or she may meet the
candidates face-to-face, but not always.
c. The partner may keep tabs on the process to update the client, and may spend
“some time” with the candidates who will be presented to the client. This may be
a couple of hours or a lunch or dinner, and is not likely to be an in-depth
screening at the partner level.
d. Most big firms do not provide video interview summaries, and many do not do
in-depth background checks. Most conduct a news media public documents
check to see if anything negative surfaces, but rarely hire investigators or spend
time digging deeper.
e. Some of the big firms provide competency and personality testing, others do not.
Ask how involved the individual you meet with will be, and who will handle what part of
the process. If you feel that it’s not enough to have a senior-level partner just sell you
the engagement and take responsibility for the performance and results – you want
high-level experience at all phases of your search – find a firm where the partners or
owner are more hands-on.
© 2013 John Gregory Self
5. When the search firm presents job candidates, how much information will
I get?
It’s been said that hiring someone is like getting married after four or five dates. Few
successful marriages are based on such a short courtship, but in business, such
commitments are commonplace. In marriage as in executive hiring, a deep
understanding of the individual makes all the difference.
The consequences for a bad hiring decision can be staggering: When companies must
replace an executive, they lose up to 25 to 50 times the employee’s annual base salary,
according to several national surveys.
How can you protect your business and manage risk throughout the search process?
Demand comprehensive information, full disclosure and a thorough candidate
assessment from your executive search partner. From the information in the position
prospectus to the candidate dossiers you receive, the depth and quality of information
is critical.
At a minimum, clients should receive a candidate dossier that includes:





A resume
A candidate assessment profile
A 360-degree reference profile, including superiors, peers and subordinates
Verification of all credentials listed on the resume
A summary of civil and criminal background checks spanning the past 15
years
Before making an offer, the client should see the candidate’s final references, including
those not provided by the candidate. Other tools, such as a DVD with video summaries
of candidate interviews, and DiSC behavior and values profile reports, can also present
a more complete picture of a candidate before a hiring organization invests time in its
own interviews.
© 2013 John Gregory Self
6. How many former clients are on search firm’s “lockup” or “no contact”
list? How long do clients remain on this list?
Few healthcare organizations are aware that many search firms are prohibited from
contacting potential job candidates who are working for former clients. Each search
firm keeps a list of all clients with whom they’ve done business, and are restricted from
soliciting candidates from these organizations for a specific timeframe, usually 12 to 36
months.
While such restrictions protect client organizations from having their best people lured
away, an executive search firm with a long list of “no contact” clients has its hands tied.
On average, past clients remain on “lockup lists” for two years. There are a limited
number of healthcare organizations in the United States, and if a large search firm has
worked with dozens of them in the past two years, that firm’s future clients will not be
able to tap the talent available at any of those healthcare facilities. That’s a huge pool of
highly skilled individuals – possibly hundreds of talented executives – who will never
know about your job opening.
Even if a candidate from a protected organization hears about your open job and asks
your recruiter to keep him in mind, the recruiter must seek permission from that
candidate’s employer before they can discuss the opportunity. Few candidates are
willing to take that risk.
When choosing an executive search firm, ask for “no contact” lists, and find out how
long past clients stay on them. If a search firm sidesteps the question or doesn’t provide
a list, that’s a red flag: Any search firm that won’t share this information doesn’t want
you to know that it is severely limited in the range of candidates it can offer you.
Some companies have been known to hire two search firms, having compared their “no
contact” lists. While this approach may offer access to a larger pool of candidates, the
search ultimately costs twice as much.
Many healthcare organizations determine that going with a smaller search firm is their
best bet. Many small firms take on only a handful of searches each year, so their “no
contact” list will be much shorter than those of the larger search firms. Because their
reputation rides on client satisfaction rather than a well-known name, smaller firms
may also be more value-oriented and work harder for their clients.
This information can be valuable to any organization selecting its next search firm. While
these tips provide solid guidelines, what ultimately matters most is what will work best for
your organization. With that in mind, strive to truly understand your organization and
predict what it needs next, and then choose your search firm accordingly.
© 2013 John Gregory Self
About the Author
John G. Self is a leading expert in career brand management, organizational culture and
executive recruitment and retention and is highly regarded as a thought leader in the
healthcare industry. Drawing on his experiences from his 30-year career in healthcare,
journalism and marketing, John has timely messages and solutions that business,
academic and healthcare audiences can use to proactively attain success.
Website: www.johngself.com
Blog: www.johngself.com/self-perspective
Email: [email protected]
© 2013 John Gregory Self