Unfortunately, the executive search profession is often stuck in
the mindset of fetching resumes and seeking shortcuts. The days
of the unsubstantiated-candidates-shortlist-syndrome should be
long gone. Executive search firms should never provide clients with
only partial information because the deep research was bungled or,
in some cases, simply not done. In an ideal world, framing every
project by producing structured, exclusive reports on candidates
should be commonplace. After all, making poor hiring decisions
can have an incredibly negative impact on a company’s bottom line
– Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, famously admitted that poor hir-ing
decisions had cost the company as much as $100 million.
Gaining access to accurate and reliable information remains an
everlasting challenge. A century ago, there was limited access to
information. Today, it’s an overload of unfiltered and uncensored
data. Yet the following suggestion as to how the executive search
industry can be disrupted may be a surprise: it comes down to
doing things the old-fashioned way.
As professionals enter the next century of executive search,
there will still be a need to reconstruct organizational structures,
validate executive claims, interview for culture fit and interact with
numerous key sources throughout the hiring process. Executive
search professionals are on a fact-finding mission, after all. Once
in their hands, they must decipher this information and then dis-till
what has been learned into the specific business context and
needs of the client. When recruiting an executive, they are not just
adding a warm body to an existing organization; they are solving a
critical business issue.
What about a magical “artificial intelligence algorithm?”
Globally, in the world of senior executive search, this approach
has yet to yield real results. Authentic human interaction is still
a requirement in this industry and it’s what clients are truly pay-ing
for. An executive search should not be a mere scan of the web
to find appropriate candidate profiles using select keywords. This
approach only sends researchers down database rabbit holes,
resulting in dead-ends with disparate candidates.
Only when comprehensive and completed market research is
shared with a client should the appraisal of perfect-fit candidates
start. Valid and reliable information should be collected with a
scanned assessment of career development, achievements, leader-ship
style, aptitude for strategy and career motivation, all based
on validated, reliable facts. Psychometric assessments and compre-hensive
professional references should then be exhausted before
an offer is presented.
Maybe in the next century, artificial intelligence will cause obso-lescence
to human intervention in executive search. But as we
have observed the executive search industry evolve its mindset
from secret, backroom maneuvers and research shortcuts, perhaps
accuracy and transparency will develop into the new standard of
excellence. One that will lead to the better selection and integra-tion
of exceptional finalist candidates, reducing the risk associated
with bad hires. n
Richard Joly is a managing partner at Leaders International
Executive Search.
strategy
24 ❚ SEPTEMBER 2018 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL
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