What is executive search?
Executive search is the recruitment of senior leaders and executives through research and direct approach. The firm defines the role with the client, maps the people who could fill it, contacts them discreetly and assesses those who are interested.
Its informal name is headhunting, which describes the approach well and the research poorly. The international professional body of the sector, the AESC, sets standards for how member firms work with their clients.
What does an executive search involve?
Four stages, and the first matters most. Role definition: what the leader must achieve, for whom, and within what package. Market mapping: who holds comparable roles, where, and for how long. Approach: a direct, confidential conversation with people who did not apply. Assessment: of leadership, judgement and fit with the organisation, not only of experience.
On its Search & Selection page, Sparagus describes its executive search as a consultative, research-driven service for senior leaders and C-level executives, with discreet outreach to passive candidates, assessment of leadership and cultural fit, and advice on role definition and compensation. The detail is on the executive search service page.
How is executive search different from retained search?
One describes what is searched for, the other how it is paid. Executive search is defined by its target: senior roles. Retained search is defined by its fee: paid partly up front, in stages, to one firm working exclusively.
The two often go together, because senior searches need committed effort and confidentiality, and the AESC describes its members as working on a retained and exclusive basis. But they can come apart: a senior role can be filled on a contingency fee, and a retained fee can buy a search for a scarce specialist who is not an executive.
When does executive search make sense?
When the right person is not on the market. That describes most senior roles: the people who could do the job are employed, often well, and will only move for a specific reason that someone has to understand and present credibly.
It also makes sense when the search must stay confidential, for example when the current holder of the role does not know yet. Advertising is then not an option at all. The stakes justify the effort too: a senior leader shapes a team, a budget and often a strategy for years, so a wrong hire costs far more than the search. For roles below executive level, a broader search and selection process is usually faster and cheaper.
