We’re no longer surprised at the way most search firms and recruitment agents try to trick their clients into thinking their fees are justifiable for finding or presenting candidates. And also shocked that smart businesses and executives keep buying from them.

A Quality Executive Recruitment & Selection Process

Great candidates are more accessible than ever thanks to ever-present social technology. But as an employer you need to stand out from the pack. A quality recruitment and selection process has to start with a detailed scoping strategy and employer branding focus. In basic terms, you need to answer the question ‘how is our company, and the opportunity with us, truly different in a way that matters to the A-Grade people we want to attract?’

Read More: Getting The Recruitment Process Right

If your recruitment agents are not building a detailed Information Memorandum (IM) and Performance Profile before they go to market, they’re really not presenting you in the most positive manner – and you’re effectively gambling on a result. The right scoping process will make it much easier to target relevant talent pools and candidates.

When building an IM, the philosophy is not too different to what corporate advisers would do when raising funds from investors. Remember, A grade people will choose where they want to spend their time and energy carefully, so it’s important to be on the front foot to respond to all the questions they are likely to ask. Nothing will scare off a good candidate more than you making things up on the fly – and nothing gives away your control of the process more than the old paradigm of ‘I’ll build the role around the right person’ – you’ll just look disorganised.

Key IM Elements For Recruitment

A quality IM will include the following elements:

Screening Technology For Executive Recruitment

Furthermore, you should expect your recruitment agents to provide transparent and consistent screening technology (digital platforms such as Hirevue) and quality interview, testing and checking advice to select the right people (tied back to a detailed performance profile).

Recruiting the wrong people, particularly at executive level, can literally cost you millions of dollars for just one bad call. Whilst the profit impact of recruiting the right person can be exceptional (for more information see this handy article here).

Recruitment is a critical business process, not a transaction – and you need advisers who truly understand business to challenge your thinking. The good news is that won’t cost you much more to get what you should expect, so there’s no need to settle for less.

Read More: Increase Your Recruitment Success Rate To 90%+