The Rewards of a Retained Search

When you seek advice online for what it takes to make a business succeed, hiring the best possible people to join your team is always at or near the top of the list. There are several good reasons for this:

• Their contributions will help you stay competitive in your field by helping to improve your products, services, and processes.?
• Because they possess the special skills needed to hit the ground running, they’ll save you time and money you’d otherwise need to spend on prolonged training.
• They have a track record of reliability and dedication, so they’ll stick around to help your company grow as they advance their careers. This eliminates the revolving door of constantly needing to replace departing employees — another drain on your time and resources.
• Because they’re a great fit for your corporate culture as well as the duties of their specific role, they’ll be inspiring figures who sincerely promote your goals and values both within the company and when representing it to your customers and the public at large.
• Hiring the best employees is an investment in the future of your business. Their efforts will be key to building brand loyalty, garnering 5-star reviews, and keeping the company culture vibrant. When you retire, some of them will be there to carry on, providing ongoing continuity and stability.

Retained Search: More Than Recruitment

When you need to fill a position, you can do it with contingency recruitment or a retained search, also known as headhunting. Each of these methods can be appropriate for different situations.

Contingency recruitment is probably a safe bet for filling an entry-level role as long as you bear in mind that an agent hungry for a commission may cut corners to fill your position, among many others, the fastest way rather than the best.

Replacing a C-level executive is an entirely different matter because an ideal fit is crucial to the leadership of your company. The recruiter who conducts your retained search becomes your partner in the quest to match the best possible candidate to the role. Unlike an agent working on contingency, a headhunter typically receives one-third of their fee at the start, one-third at an agreed-upon midpoint in the search, and the final third when the candidate you choose accepts your offer.

They will thoroughly vet potential candidates, including both active job seekers and passive ones who might not think of leaving their current position until they hear what you have to offer. After performing background checks, evaluating individuals’ skills and personalities, and doing preliminary interviews, they will present you with a few exceptionally well-qualified candidates. This takes longer than a contingency search, but the results are well worth it for the health of your business.

At O’Brien Associates, we begin our retained search by helping you identify your executive team’s weakest link. Replacing this person with a stellar performer can have a tremendous impact on your company’s ability to thrive and grow.

Beyond Recruitment: Your PR Partner in the Market

When you retain O’Brien Associates, we bring more to the table than your standard headhunters. We become your public relations partner in the market, our role extending beyond just finding you your perfect candidate. We will work passionately to enhance your company’s image within the industry through many different methods:

• We highlight your strengths and values as a company, attracting top-tier talent by leveraging our network and industry experience. We depict your company as the employer of choice — a depiction that resonates with candidates and shareholders alike.

• We ensure that your company is represented accurately and positively throughout all of our interactions. As we advocate for your brand, we make sure to include your company’s most important aspects to guarantee any prospective executives align with your needs.

• Our team will tailor a communication strategy specifically for you to ensure no information is lost or misunderstood during the search, and this extends to any industry influencers we involve to generate positive attention towards the company.

• In the event that an issue arises during the search process, we immediately provide crisis management support to protect your company’s reputation and maintain the integrity of your brand.

• We facilitate engagement with all stakeholders involved in the search to ensure a cohesive process throughout. This includes any board members, investors, and existing executives, confirming that every step aligns with your end goals.

Identifying the Weakest Link: The Theory of Constraints

What’s that? Did you say your company is doing just fine, never better, and all its links are strong? The late Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt would beg to differ. In his 1984 business novel, “The Goal,” this Israeli management guru presented his theory of constraints. It states that every business has a weakest link that is constraining it from reaching its full potential. (This is true for even the most successful corporation since no company has ever achieved unlimited productivity or infinite profits.) Identifying and dealing with the weakest link — such as an executive who’s a bad fit for your leadership team — is usually the quickest way to strengthen your company’s overall performance and bottom line.?

The weakest link isn’t always incompetent. Sometimes they just bring others down by being unreliable, lacking enthusiasm, or having values or priorities that fail to align with your established company culture or the one you are trying to build. If you need help to identify the weakest link, we can provide it, even serving as an interim executive if necessary. Once you’ve determined who is holding you back and are certain that replacing this person is the right move, you’ll be ready to bring us in for a retained search.

From Weak Links to a Winning Team

Before we start “hunting heads,” we’ll meet with you and any other stakeholders to understand the position to be filled and the skill set and other qualifications it requires. We’ll also learn about the vision, mission, values, ethics, and sense of community that contribute to your company culture so that we’ll have a good idea of the type of executive who would be an ideal match. We’ll then define the scope and timeline of the search and outline our mutual expectations for it.

When you partner with us, you can be confident that we’ll give your search all the attention it needs because, unlike agents who work on contingency, we undertake these searches for only 2 or 3 clients at a time. You can also rest assured that our professional and personal values align with yours; otherwise, we wouldn’t be undertaking this task on your behalf.

Here’s an overview of our retained search process:

• We conduct extensive research to compile a list of potential candidates, using our wide-ranging network to identify outstanding individuals within both your industry and related fields.?

• We evaluate these potential candidates to see how well their skills and personalities match your requirements.

• We do a reference check, speaking with leaders they reported to in former positions so as not to jeopardize their current role.

• We conduct interviews with however many candidates we believe have the qualifications you’re looking for.?

• We narrow the field to 3–5 candidates to present to you. Throughout our interactions with these individuals, we ask them what salary and benefits they would need to accept the position and what compensation would truly make them happy. That way, we can tell you what it would take to add your ideal executive to your team and know they’d be pleased with the offer.

• Congratulations! You’ve made the hire, and it looks like a terrific match. But we’re not ready to say goodbye quite yet. We stay in the picture to support you and your new executive during the onboarding phase.?

• Finally, we conduct post-placement follow-up calls to tweak the onboarding process and provide feedback to both sides. If all is not well, we’re ready to intervene to help everyone involved get back on the same page.

Effective Headhunters Benefit Company Culture, Too

Here’s one more reason to consider entrusting your executive search to a well-regarded headhunter. A great retained search has a ripple effect that goes far beyond the impact of adding one prestigious individual to your leadership team. Headhunting can be a great way to enhance your company culture as well.

Jake Jorgovan, a young serial entrepreneur, consultant, and B2B podcast expert, has identified five ways in which this can happen:

1. Introducing new leadership styles and perspectives
2. Enhancing diversity and inclusion
3. Clarifying and aligning with strategic goals
4. Promoting external best practices
5. Influencing organizational change management

To learn specific ways that our retained search process can benefit your company, get in touch with us at O’Brien Associates today.