When a senior management or executive role needs to be filled, there is an art to sourcing top-performing and qualified executives – and making a bad C-Suite hiring choice can spell disaster for an organisation.
An executive position must be filled with the right talent. Selected candidates need to possess the required experience, personality traits, skillsets and qualifications to effectively manage the role. However, if a C-Suite position is not filled in time or is filled with the wrong candidate, the consequences can quickly become disastrous.
This is why established businesses and organisations outsource this task to search firms that provide executive headhunters in Melbourne. But first, what is an executive search firm?
Professionals in executive search
Executive search firms specialise in identifying, sourcing and assessing high-quality and top-performing talent for executive, C-Suite and senior-level positions. As opposed to contingency search firms, executive ‘retained’ search firms will work exclusively with their client.
Their researchers and headhunters take time to understand their client’s organisation in terms of the company culture, the requirements of the role and the needs/goals of the business. This research enables their executive headhunters to source and assess talent with a strategic approach, ensuring that the chosen candidate is the right fit for the organisation, is dedicated for the long-term and brings value to the business.
How do headhunters identify executive talent?
As mentioned before, executive headhunters don’t just place a job advertisement and simply hope for the best. They implement various techniques in identifying the best-suited senior talent. Some of these tactics and techniques include:
● Accessing existing contacts
Sourcing senior, C-Suite and executive-level talent requires candidates that headhunters can trust. A technique that headhunters use to make this task less time-consuming is to reach out to potential candidates from their already existing pool of contacts. Because the headhunters will already have an existing relationship with these contacts, they have more access to exclusive candidates who may not even be actively looking for a new position – but can be persuaded.
● In-depth candidate research
Established executive search firms have access to in-house research departments that conduct in-depth research on what the ideal candidate should look like by creating candidate ‘personas’. This data enables headhunters to know exactly what to look for such as what industry experience a candidate needs to have, what qualifications they require, and what skillsets and personality traits they need for the role.
● Developing lasting relationships
Executive headhunters understand the powerful impact of developing a lasting relationship with their candidates. By taking the time to connect and learn about each candidate, it helps the headhunter to gain their trust and build interest towards the vacant position. If the candidate turns out to not be the best match for the role or isn’t interested, the established relationship could lead to filling another executive role down the track.
What are the benefits of working with headhunters?
As mentioned before, finding the right executive talent to fill a vacant senior-level position is not only time-consuming but can also be disastrous if a bad hiring choice is made. Here are some of the main benefits of outsourcing to executive headhunters in Melbourne instead:
→ Vast industry and sector experience
Using your own in-house HR (Human Resource) department for filling executive and C-Suite roles can run the risk of searching for a candidate without knowing exactly what to be looking for. Will your HR team possess enough of an understanding of the exact personality traits, skillsets and previous experience the ideal candidate needs to have?
Executive hunters will have a wealth of industry and sector experience due to closely working with numerous clients. They will understand your industry in terms of what specific qualifications the best-suited candidate needs to possess, personality traits that will make them the right fit for the role and company culture, required skillsets and more.
→ Save time and stress
Managing your own executive search process can be a very expensive, stressful and time-consuming process. Depending on the size of your organisation, you may have to divert resources and staff to handle and manage the hiring process. In the event that a bad hiring choice is made, a large amount of your resources and time would have been wasted – also resulting in the entire hiring process needing to be restarted.
By outsourcing the hiring process to an executive search firm, their headhunters get straight to work identifying and sourcing the ideal candidate that will be the best fit for the position. This allows you to focus your time and resources on the more important aspects of running your business.
→ Long-term commitment
Apart from sourcing and assessing relevant talent that possess the right skillsets, experience and qualifications, executive headhunters will also work closely with you. They will exactly understand what your organisation is trying to achieve, the current challenges you face, the company values and future goals.
This means headhunters will ensure that each candidate presented is in-line with the values of the organisation, is the right fit for the company culture and is dedicated for the long-term, rather than just advancing their own career.
In summary
As you can see, outsourcing your hiring process to an executive search firm in Melbourne provides much more than just top-performing executive talent for C-Suite and senior-level positions. Search online for an executive search firm and discover how your organisation or business can benefit today.
