Smart Search: Talent Advisors

Executive talent advisors are resilience experts. As executive functioning traits go, they have developed a strong emotional and cognitive presence; and are adept strategists consistently operating on a razor thin edge of available information and confidentiality; adeptly facilitating a nimble process enabling leadership teams to make decisions that touch both brands and bottom lines.?

They pull from an arsenal, not of magic, but of information and intuition born from years of experience as market agents and client activists.

Here are some things every search professional will tell you at some point:?

It’s OK to slow down.?

During high growth, sacrificing time is unimaginably costly. But increasing speed leads to a higher risk of costly errors.?

The margin where talent advisors operate is listening intently to the business’ need for speed, but watching out for the gates in the process. Building in brakes is a valid strategy - it allows delays to be met with grace, as well as course correct for unforeseen obstacles.?

Switching from head to heart, and from science to art, is an exercise in itself. Holding space to be both conscience and financial steward is a high stakes game that takes a lot of courage. The process requires a constant survey of every voice (cost, timing, and quality are always in play) and voices at odds (quality first, then cost, timing or any combination and near relative). Moving people through the gates, without derailing the process, is a strategy worth heeding.?

Experience really matters.?

What executive talent advisors do is narrow and widen the scope of a search based on data and input, extrapolating the most critical business needs for today while considering the needs for the future, and deftly switching between engagement and assessment of potential candidates for the environment they will be asked to excel in.?

The actual search part is surely a big part of the job, but if run through the filter of the process laid out, finding talent can be the quickest gate to pass through. Spending ample time, upfront, understanding your talent market, investing in your value proposition, aligning key stakeholders and holding people accountable, is the real grind.?

People are as visible as they have ever been. But if you have found that talent - others know where to find them too. So navigating them through the process is more essential than ever.?

Forget pipeline. Think funnel.?

Search is meticulously building a reservoir of contacts over a career, yes, but also, interpreting the hidden signals of why, and critically, when, people are apt to make life changing and career defining decisions.?

The commitment to take the first call, the first and final interview - are as important as the commitment to take the job. There are often emotional questions to be answered, despite work being the place where our most rational brains are expected to show up.

Executive talent advisors are tracking every milestone, including the moment when sparks fly in an interview, to the disappointment of an interview being rescheduled- and learn to pivot based on real human emotion, delicately balancing fiduciary responsibilities, shifting org designs, and inevitable change. The funnel isn’t meant to be constantly replenished, nor is it meant to never be augmented, but replacing the word pipeline is an important verbal cue in reframing search methodology. Getting to the end is a feat - but it shouldn’t be left to chance. Paying attention to the funnel takes the mystery out of the process and puts strategy back at the center.

Slowing down in executive search isn't about procrastination; it's about making deliberate, informed choices that lead to lasting, impactful hires. It's about recognizing that the right fit isn't always the fastest fit. And when you do find someone who aligns with your vision for your company’s future, remember that human connection is as important today as it ever was.