What is Executive Search?

How do you recruit and hire the best executives for your business? The right leaders will build, shape, and define your business for years to come. CEOs prioritize building a strong leadership team, knowing it will be reflected in quarterly and annual reports. Unfortunately, too many businesses struggle with executive recruiting, whether it’s the time involved, the cost, or simply finding the right candidate.

This is where executive search becomes a potent tool. Executive search firms, such as AMS, work alongside your HR and recruiting teams to fill these high-stakes roles. An executive search can speed up the recruiting process, reduce costs, and help you find the ideal candidate.

What is executive search?

Executive search is a recruitment service used to find, recruit, and hire executive talent for leadership roles in various sectors. Executive search is a specialized recruitment solution that can complement standard recruitment processes such as contingent workforce recruitment or recruitment process outsourcing (RPO).

Finding the right executive can be challenging. Executive search firms bring a wealth of experience and expertise to this process. Firms such as AMS often work as extensions of the recruiting and HR teams to assist in this search. While an executive search firm helps outsource and offload the work required to find top candidates, by adopting a consultative approach, these firms can produce high-quality, tailored results.

How does executive search work?

An executive search is a strategic process run through multiple stages, each with specific objectives and milestones. Here's an example of the step-by-step process for an executive search:

• Gathering requirements
• Developing strategy
• Identifying candidates
• Evaluating and shortlisting candidates
• Client interviews and selection
• Negotiating offers
• Follow-up and onboarding

Gathering requirements

This stage begins with an in-depth discussion between the executive search firm and the client company to outline the leadership role requirements. This includes defining the role, expectations, company culture, and the organization’s overall goals. From here, the search firm works closely with the client to develop a detailed job description and candidate profile, specifying the skills, experience, and ideal personality traits for the role.

Developing strategy

The executive search firm conducts market research to identify where suitable candidates are currently working and develops a strategy on how to approach them. This involves targeting industries, companies, and specific individuals. The firm uses a talent map that outlines where candidates are employed, often on a global scale, to ensure a comprehensive search.

Identifying candidates

The firm identifies potential candidates through a combination of proprietary databases, professional networks, and direct outreach. This may include active job seekers or passive candidates who are not currently looking but could be persuaded by the right offer. Typically, at this stage, the firm performs a preliminary assessment through discreet discussions or an informal interview.

Evaluating and shortlisting candidates

Candidates who express interest and meet the initial criteria will then undergo a more thorough evaluation, which includes interviews with the search firm. The goal here is to assess qualifications, motivation, and cultural fit. The top candidates from this step are shortlisted, and the client begins reviewing the candidate list.

Client interviews and selection

The search firm plays a key role in facilitating interviews between the candidate and the client by scheduling interviews and gathering feedback from both parties after each session. The search firm and client work closely together to discuss each candidate’s strengths and decide which candidate to advance in the process.

Negotiating offers

Once the candidate is chosen, the search firm assists in negotiating employment terms to ensure a satisfactory agreement for both parties. The firm often presents the offer and assists with any final negotiations or concerns.

Follow-up and onboarding

The search firm remains engaged with the candidate and client to ensure a smooth onboarding experience. After the placement is complete, the search firm checks in with both the client and candidate to address any issues that may arise.

Why executive search is critical for modern businesses

In today’s competitive recruiting environment, finding the right executive candidate can be challenging. Executive search firms aim to shorten the time to fill roles, reduce the cost of finding candidates, and help organizations stay competitive in a global marketplace.

The drawback of the “do-it-yourself” approach is that organizations often lack the specialized skills and resources required to find top-tier candidates. An executive search firm boasts a deep bench of experienced, seasoned recruiters who specialize in finding executives for leadership roles. This means firms often have access to a global network of candidates, bring a wealth of experience in your industry, and are in tune with current market trends.

Many organizations are concerned about outsourcing an important process such as executive recruiting, but this concern is often misplaced. With a trusted executive search firm such as AMS, organizations gain a partner who is embedded within the team and acts as an extension of the organization.

What are the benefits of executive search?

Engaging with a firm for your executive search offers many benefits:

• Access to top talent
• Strategic alignment
• Confidentiality
• Speed and efficiency
• Market insights and expertise
• Risk mitigation
• Long-term partnership

Access to top talent

Executive search firms can leverage their vast networks and global reach to access a global talent pool. This access is crucial because it pairs with the experience needed to understand industry-specific requirements and find talent who may be a great fit but are not actively seeking a new position.

Strategic alignment

A recruiting firm such as AMS acts as an extension of the organization’s recruiting and HR team, ensuring strategic alignment with the company’s objectives and culture. A strategic executive search partner aligns with the company’s vision and ensures long-term success in recruiting for leadership roles.

Confidentiality

Sometimes executive search processes must be highly confidential. In these cases, an executive search firm is an ideal partner, as it can perform its duties without requiring close supervision or extensive interaction with the core team.

Speed and efficiency

One of the most important metrics to monitor for an executive search is time-to-hire. Executive search firms like AMS are able to reduce this time by 44% or more, ensuring that organizations find top talent quickly and cost-effectively.

Market insights and expertise

While it may seem hyperbolic to say the industry is evolving quickly, it is indeed true. An executive search firm must stay current with market trends, salary benchmarks, and the overall job landscape. This enables organizations to leverage the vast expertise of the recruiting provider while accessing the most up-to-date information.

Risk mitigation

Executive search firms have a thorough process for assessing and vetting candidates, meaning organizations are much less likely to make a costly mistake with a bad hire. Not only does a bad hire necessitate restarting the executive search process, but it can also damage an organization’s morale and performance.

Long-term partnership

Firms like AMS offer ongoing support beyond the initial placement – this means getting support with onboarding to ensure long-term success.

When to work with an executive search partner

The decision to work with an executive search firm is an important one. Partnering with a firm such as AMS provides your team with strategic support in finding the right executives to staff your leadership team. The need for support from a firm often coincides with a desire to not only fulfill the job description but also to find someone who can drive the strategic vision forward.

Your own internal HR and recruiting team may lack the specialization required to find top executive talent in a global market. Working with an executive search firm provides access to a global talent pool and network that the firm has cultivated over many years of successful service. Firms can help set up customized searches to find that proverbial needle in the haystack.

There may also be factors that necessitate working with an executive search firm, such as cost considerations, managing efforts during a critical transition period like a merger or acquisition, or in high-risk situations. Even without those factors, partnering with a firm can offer long-term support and specialized expertise that helps you build the best possible executive team.

Partnering with AMS for long-term success

Choosing the right executive search firm can significantly impact the success of your recruiting efforts. At AMS, we provide a customized approach, tailored to our clients, to deliver the best results possible. Our team of executive search analysts uses proprietary market research to help you understand current conditions, benchmarks, and expectations.

Our team employs advanced strategies such as talent pooling and market mapping to reduce hiring times and improve the quality of candidate matches. We utilize the top tools, analytics software, and AI-assisted tools to deliver industry-leading search results.

AMS is known for establishing long-term partnerships focused on continuous leadership development and organizational success, rather than one-off placements. We are committed to your long-term success.

Want to learn more? Get in touch today!