How Do Executive Recruiting Firms Work?

Your company is in need of a world-class leader—but your job ad is only attracting duds. What can you do?

If you need to hire for a management or executive role, don’t try to do the recruiting yourself. Instead, work with executive recruiting firms to find your perfect hire.

What are executive recruiting firms? These are recruitment firms that only source experienced candidates for high-level corporate roles.

Keep reading to learn all about how they work and why they can benefit your business.

Meet With Client to Understand Their Needs

First, executive headhunters will have detailed meetings with their client—their client being the company that’s in need of a new executive.

They’ll take their time to get to know the company, their values, and the sort of person they’re looking to hire. Recruiting executives is a very specialized skillset, so it’s important that they understand the company. This makes it easier to find the right person for the role.

Create a Shortlist of Candidates

Next, the recruiter will start to make a shortlist of candidates who might be a good fit. Recruiters have databases of potential hires, so they might review their records and make a few phone calls, checking to see if the individuals they’re thinking of might want to interview for the role.

This process also takes time, as the recruiter wants to find a candidate who will thrive in the new leadership role—not someone who will resign a few months down the line.

Make Recommendations to the Client

Once the recruiter has 4-5 candidates ready, they’ll share their resumes with their client and make some recommendations. Based on their resumes and the recruiter’s recommendations, they’ll decide which candidates to interview.

Hopefully, this will lead to a clear winner and the client can make a job offer.

How Do Executive Search Firms Recruit?

Recruiters have extensive personal networks of candidates that they’ve built over the years. To be an executive recruiter, you need to be a people person and form strong relationships.

If you’re looking for an executive role and want to get noticed by a recruiter, it helps to keep your Linkedin profile up to date. Add testimonials, upload your career history, and demonstrate enthusiasm for your line of work.

Find Your Next Leader With the Help of Executive Recruiting Firms

If your company has an open executive role and you’re struggling to hire someone, look for local executive recruiting firms in your area. Ideally, find someone who specializes in your industry.

Yes, companies pay a fee to work with recruiters. But, it’s completely worth the cost, as you get access to expert knowledge and a pre-vetted pool of candidates, which saves you plenty of time.

Get started today and you’re sure to find the executive leader that can take your company to the next level!

Was this article helpful? If so, please read on to find out more.