We came across this article by Richard Wajs at www.globeandmail.com that really hit home with us. It begins by reminding companies how Executive Search Firms can enhance their clients’ brands. Then segues into how an Executive Search Firm can harm a clients’ brands.
When we act as ambassadors for our clients, we are enhancing their brand with every candidate we touch. When our clients have armed us with candid and complete information about why a role is available, what the challenges are and well-defined selection criteria, we’re able to target appropriately qualified candidates and introduce them to our client, its products & markets, its history and future plans and just how the Search Project fits into the puzzle. With clients who’ve toured us around their facilities, introduced us to multiple representatives of leadership, we’re better able convey their brands.
Effectively armed, even as we hire only the candidate the client measures as best, we’re able to ensure that the other solid candidates we’ve processed have had a positive experience that’s polished the client’s brand as well as our own. And in the narrow circles we recruit in, enhancing our clients’ brands is critically important. In order to set the stage for the next time we represent them and work with those candidates
We can’t count the amount of times we’ve come back to candidates and invited them to re-engage with clients for a different position than they originally applied for. A positive experience the first time sets the stage perfectly for the second time.
Unfortunately, we aren’t always optimally well-armed. We may not be supplied with all the information about a position and its challenges. Or we may not get clear selection criteria. We may not get to tour the client’s facility and meet people. We may not get responsive feedback to share with candidates to keep their interest high. There are companies that Search Firms refer to as “black holes of feedback” and extended periods of silence can negatively affect candidates’ view of our clients’ brands – and, of course, ours.
Still, the vast majority of our client experiences are positive and the vast majority of our clients recognize the value we bring beyond recruiting the best candidates – the value of also enhancing their brands within select candidate circles that can be industry or technology-specific. We can satisfy the list of qualities Mr. Wajs recommends you should expect from a Search Firm especially when we are well-served by clients.
We Hope You Enjoy the Article! ~ Jim Fairfax
Executive Search Firms Can Impact Employer Branding – For Better or Worse
Richard Wajs, The Globe and Mail
