Here’s how a search agency can help you recruit top talent...
It’s not easy to locate great talent for your company. Now multiply that with the stress that comes with having to find C-level candidates and you may have a real challenge on your hands. Why not utilize a professional, efficient, and proven solution? A professional search agency (AKA recruiters or so-called head hunters) can save you time, money, and headaches.
When you use a search agency, you partner with a company that has professionals who know the industry, and who spend the time to understand your needs, criteria, culture, and, ultimately, what constitutes a great candidate for your specific business.
1. What’s in a Resume?
Attitude, Aptitude, Ability, and Desire are the most important factors that you should consider when interviewing and hiring talent. It’s easy to be dazzled by their on-paper accomplishments. An experienced Search Consultant knows that the resume is just the start, and that making a solid selection will take more digging.
2. Remember: “Fit” Is Subjective
Before you launch into the hiring process for C-level talent, make sure you articulate the metrics of the position. A Search Consultant will help you define these benchmarks that will help them source and screen candidates during the process. With the employer and search agent “on the same page” from the start, the search can be more effective from day one.
3. Check Those References!
Researching a candidate’s references is an important step that is sometimes either overlooked or rushed through, without truly probing. Your search agency will do this work for you and provide you with an easy-to-understand report. While some employers feel more comfortable doing this themselves, sharing the details with your Search Consultant can help you gain a better understanding of what the results could mean for your company.
4. Help Us Help You
Your professional Search Consultant can do a lot on their own, and that is why you pay them. That said, they will do a much better job for you if they’re doing it with you. The motto is, ”Help us, help you!” The Search Consultant is on your side—they want to see you hire the right fit and have that person there for years. If you work with them, and provide them some time and feedback throughout the process, the outcome is guaranteed to be swifter and better for you, your company, and the candidates.
5. Don’t Stop At Job Titles
A [insert job title here] at one company may not do nearly as much as a [insert job title here] at another company . Sometimes smaller companies can become enamored with candidates with big company experience. When an employer needs better systems and processes, it’s easy to believe that this high-level executive will bring that level of sophistication with them to your company. That may be true, but it’s important to have a clear and realistic understanding of what a new hire can and/ or is willing to do. It’s entirely possible that they’ve had other people doing work for them for years. For example, if you expect your new VP of Sales to call on customers, make presentations, “carry a bag,” and/ or “pick up the phone,” make sure that you find the right executive is ready do just that. Not only must they be able to do it, they must WANT to do it, if they are truly going to fit your company, be successful, and return the ROI that you’re expecting. 
