Why use Executive Search Consulting? B School Student Research Paper

I'm a student doing a
research paper on Executive Recruitment, and the pros of using
recruitment firms. I was wondering if you could answer three quick questions.

1) Sometimes it can be more expensive to hire a recruitment firm
instead of using internal recruitment or HR, but in your estimation,
what are the hidden costs associated with a bad executive hire?

The hidden costs are potentially enormous as I am sure your research
is showing. There are many examples of hiring decisions that could
have been improved with the right help from a professional executive
search consulting firm. Many companies don't know what they don't
know about the search and hiring process and that is where the trouble can start.

We work hard to help clients understand the value of the search process through our case
examples, blog and other info on our website. A real measurable is
the value that a right hire creates. Increases in revenue, # of new
clients or improvement in client satisfaction could be tracked as well as cost
reductions. Clearly though when the right hired candidate comes to a new
position things start happening for the better.

We like to detail the Key Performance Indicators (expected hired candidate deliverables by when) right in the position description. Candidates have commented that this
information is unique for them and very helpful. Once the candidate is hired track candidate performance against expectations----some of our
case studies --right on our website www.kulpercompany.com
---discuss this.

2) On average, how many job openings would you say a corporate
recruiter works on at one time?

A corporate recruiter ( working for the hiring company) often works on many---many job openings at once. This can be a very difficult task since there are so many moving parts involved with each hire. The corporate recruiter is able to leverage his/er efforts by using outside search consultants and employment agents.

I would say that it is tough for any search consultant to handle more than 3 or 4 search assignments at once; beyond that, managing the assignment
load becomes pretty difficult and puts the outcome at risk.

Some large search firms, or very busy ones, are criticized for their lack of
quality work when they split the work load up among a large staff---because the right hand sometimes is out of touch with what the left hand is doing! I think you get what I
mean....The more focused and involved the lead search consultant is
with each step of the search process the more likely the outcome will
be what the client needs and wants.

3) Do you feel that corporations have increased or decreased spending
on recruitment in the past few years? Do you think spending will
increase or decrease in the coming year?

Decreased spending 2008-2010........Spending on recruitment is increasing since Q4
2010. We expect to be very busy through the balance of 2011 and into 2012.

I hope you find these responses interesting and helpful. if you are considering use of executive search consulting services.

All the best,
Keith D Kulper
President
KULPER & COMPANY, LLC

Keith D. Kulper, President KULPER & COMPANY, LLC Executive Search: Job Transition Advice

Keith D. Kulper, President KULPER & COMPANY, LLC Executive Search: Job Transition Advice: "Here is what actually happens in our business. We are not job counselors here at KULPER & COMPANY --we are executive search consultants---bu..."

Job Transition Advice

Here is what actually happens in our business. We are not job counselors here at KULPER & COMPANY --we are executive search consultants---but we always try to be helpful to friends in job transition. We advise an intelligent approach to the challenge of job transition, but because of the challenges inherent in this task and lack of experience with job transition issues, particularly for senior level execs, it often becomes a challenging and emotionally draining experience. We are offering the below actual dialogue with a friend in transition to be helpful to anyone currently in transition or facing the prospects of it sometime, soon. We present this to the readers of our Blog purely for informational purposes; no names are mentioned in this dialogue and we make no claims that it is going to work for you.
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Person in Transition:
One of many reasons I enjoyed this morning's conversation was your candor and willingness to be open and forthright; including issues of sensitivity. That said, I have been asking myself if I had the right to take advantage of that quality. While I don't necessarily have a yes/no answer, I have decided to ask you a question that you may or may not want to address. If you are comfortable with the question and equally comfortable answering it, great. If not, I won't be upset. The question.....Was there anything that I said or didn't say this morning that you would recommend I handle differently should a second opportunity occur for me to sit down and talk with another search consultant?

KULPER & COMPANY Response
The main point I like to convey to people in transition is that the more aware they are about the job search process the more sophisticated they will appear in the eye of the hiring decision maker--or search consultant. Understanding that your role( as a candidate) is to be a solution provider ---makes that idea much easier to understand and embrace. By continually asking: “ How can I be helpful in this particular situation”? ----you are able to seize the day and pursue opportunities that makethe most sense to you. The more information you have about the problems the hiring exec needs to solve the more likely you will be able to present yourself as his or her solution provider.

Person in Transition
I recognize that it took a long time to build a career that I am proud of but, that, in and of itself, doesn't get me more than a cup of coffee. One of the take-aways from this morning was that my career, while wide in scope in that I moved from a large and well known organization to improving performances within a very diverse group of companies, may offer little value in today's market either due my age or the job search process itself. Is there something obvious to you that I should consider doing as I seek my next job?

KULPER & COMPANY Response
The key is to visualize yourself in the shoes of the hiring decision maker. You do this by possessing good information about the hiring need---and by staying as objective as you can in matching your experience and problem solving capabilities with the issues the hiring decision maker is facing.

Person in Transition
When I reflect upon my career and the shortage of solid experience that could drive us to levels not yet reached, I paid internationally known search firms a lot of money to continue looking for the right people. Unfortunately, I was never happy with the people they sent me.

KULPER & COMPANY Response:
To be very honest with you, when we are doing a good job for our clients only 50% of the candidates we present are judged “acceptable”---it is very hard to get inside the head of the client. I work very hard at throughout the search process. We call it 'calibrating the search' because we are carefully adjusting our understanding of the client's hiring hot buttons as we drill deeper into understanding what is going to get us to an offer for the RIGHT candidate. Even when the position spec is very well wrought we continue to learn more about the real hiring need as we go along. Perish the thought, but if the client is rejecting 80-90% of our candidates (thankfully that happens very infrequently) this is a big red flag. I then call a time out and we carefully review what is going on and why…..We work hard to present the right candidates---because that helps everyone-- and is the fundamental reason for the engagement.

Person in Transition:
I understand that the process isn't easy. As a practical matter what should I do as a first step, now?

KULPER & COMPANY Response:
I would suggest that you should be doing at least 3 informational interviews per week----face to face---where you are sitting with an exec level decision maker because you are sincerely interested in learning about his or her operation ---so, you can decide if you can make a difference by becoming involved in it somehow. Your approach to getting the meeting could be---“ Gerry, I have been doing some homework on your industry /business and I am very interested in the work you and your associates are doing right now because….( insert reason)----if you would have some time to discuss this with me I would appreciate visiting with you next week; could we set up a time to have coffee together?

This approach works because it is a non threatening neutral request----you are after information –not a job or anything else ( at this point). If the conversation happens to migrate towards where you are at the present time and there is interest in learning more about you….then you will have your opportunity. This process can take a few meetings as you learn more and he or she warms to the idea that you might be just the sort of solution provider he or she needs. Getting to “yes”—is an emotionally driven process—much more so than an analytic one. The decision maker needs to feel good in your presence and relaxed ---as he or she talks about a topic that is of importance to him or her (and what could be more important than their business?---or areas that interest them when they are not working so hard—family, hobbies, sports etc. ). By approaching the decision maker in this manner you are creating rapport that allows him or her to relax and maybe to even begin to visualize you as a solution provider for some issue or problem that has yet to be brought up to you!

I hope my responses are helpful to you----Good luck and keep in touch.

Likewise, I hope that this information proves helpful to you if you are in transition now and wondering how to best approach your next opportunity.

Warm regards
Keith

Keeping a search on track

We like to think that we have the client's best interests at heart in every assignment we accept. Clients need to hire the right candidate; our job is to help guide them towards that outcome. Our search process is proven, honed and and highly effective. Why is it still a challenge? In today's blog I will address one reason--in subsequent blogs I will address others:

"Spec Creep"---this happens when a client keeps changing what he or she thinks is necessary/acceptable in the way of required candidate experience. Compare this to client who keeps changing the architectural blueprint while the project is underway. A certain amount of give and take is normal but both the client and the search consultant know when the changes become excessive since none of the candidates meet muster despite their alignment with the position spec.

Our solution is to confront the problem directly and forcefully as soon as we see it happening. A client meeting is called and there is a review of the candidate inventory against the existing spec. If need be the spec gets revised. We believe in our clients and their need to hire the right candidate. We always work through the issues with the client and would never quit on them--unless we determine that their reason for rejection of qualified candidates is unlawful or discriminatory. We might ask for additional compensation though if the changes to the spec are so significant as to require retooling of the marketing/advertising program as well. Why does this happen? Clients are under pressure to complete many projects simultaneously. They are busy and often they fail to "measure twice" before they start, even when the consulting firm is taking them through a very deliberate spec development process. We always strive spend enough time with spec development before we launch the search because we want to spec to be "right" before we commence. So, when we see our client consistently rejecting candidates who clearly meet the stated spec ---we call a "time out" and do a complete review of what is going on. This is the right thing to do because it protects everyone involved with the search----the client, the candidates and of course our firm. Time is money for everyone and wasted time is just that---a waste. So a direct response to a client who is engaging in "SPEC Creep" is always the best course of action.

I hope this short piece proves helpful to you if you are a professional search consultant or a client currently engaged, about to engage, in a search assignment utilizing the assistance of a professional search consultant.

Best regards,
Keith

University Research Spending

In today's Chronicle of Higher Education there is an excellent chart reflecting research fund raising and spending. The universities shown on the list are showing their commitment to creating new knowledge; these schools bear our attention.
http://chronicle.com/article/Some-Universities-Increased/127437/#disqus_thread

Perhaps the idea of the chart was to show how self funded research did not necessarily increase the amount of outside funded research. However, the total funding/spending # is what is perhaps most relevant. It shows that the universities can be self reliant and not wholly dependent on state, federal and private sources of funding to drive their efforts to create new knowledge. Kudos to the schools who are producing great outcomes with the funding they are generating and attracting.

Keith Kulper

HIGH Tech Hiring Challenges/The Engineer Shortage

If you are a CEO of a high tech company that depends on hiring qualified engineers for key positions involved with product development, testing and roll out, I don't need to tell you about the hiring challenges you face. As the CEO of an early stage company recently commented when I expressed frustation over the current state of affairs involving the dearth of available /qualified engineering talent who possess permanent residency status or American citizenship---"welcome to my world, Keith"! Engineers translate product concepts and solutions into viable revenue producing products and services. Engineers create solutions that can be reproduced in a highly reliable, cost effective and profitable manner. Engineers learn the scientific method, understand immutable scientific laws and are able to effectively apply them in ways that create entirely new businesses: think Microsoft, Google, Amazon, FORD, Dow Corning, JP Morgan Bank ( yes, financial services needs engineers, too!)

Here are a few suggestions
1) Define the problem as it is exists today. If we have x # of engineering jobs in America how many American engineers do we need to get the job done?
2) Examine why the "engineer supply/demand equation" is out of balance.
3) Implement solutions that start producing and employing more American citizen engineers as soon as possible!

Why has the engineering shortage occured?
Is the "academic rigor" in top American universities somehow out of whack with the simple need of our society to produce more American citizen engineers?

Is the compensation of American engineers too low? is it too high?

Are academic institutions retaining --all the way to graduation---- a high enough percentate of students they accept into their engineering programs?

Do American companies think that it doesn't matter that their engineering team is not composed of American citizens?

We think that America is the well spring of innovation. Our culture is highly influential around the world and our standard of living as the leading developed country is what most developing nations aspire to achieve. Our greatest innovators are often entrepreneurs who leverage their creativity through the brilliance of engineers. If we don't have enough native trained talent might America lose its position as the leader of the free world?

What is your opinion? Please send along your comments.
All the best
Keith

PS "Happy Mother's Day" to all you women engineers out there who are Moms, too!

Search Committee Code of Conduct

Yesterday I commented on an interesting blog written by Allison Vaillancourt, PhD., VP HR at the University of Arizona----here is the link to her blog
http://chronicle.com/blogs/onhiring/is-it-time-for-a-search-committee-code-of-standards/28628#disqus_thread

Allison's blog received over 50 comments from various professionals at universities ( primarily) involved with the search process. Dr Vaillancourt's idea that it is perhaps time for a "Code of Conduct" for search committees to observe. This makes some real sense if for no other reason than to let committee chairs and members know that there are basic ground rules that will be productive for them to follow. Good rules, generally help everyone --- and, of course, in a civil society no matter how great it might seem to think that ultimate freedom = no laws---that notion went out sometime before Hammurabi.

For search committees the rules need to stem from the "Golden Rule"---treat others as you would have others treat you. Because search committees are composed largely of volunteers who are often selected by the administrative staff because they like and trust them, this should not be confused with the idea that despite their most often well-meaning intentions, the search committee chair and members, know how to handle the subtleties of the search process. This is not due to any lack of intelligence or willingness---it is almost always related to a lack of experience and knowledge about what constitutes a truly effective search process. At KULPER & COMPANY we have created guideline booklets for search committee teams that are used for both academic and corporate searches. The booklets help the committee members be better prepared for the interview process and touch on some basic ideas as: the inadvisability of "ad-hoc" back-channel reference checking, the best ways to conduct a candidate visit/interview and other fine points of the search process. We never assume that the guide books are read---but we are always pleased when they are, since it makes the guidance we provide to search committee members that much more easily accepted.

Like with good etiquette, a good search process is fair and considerate to everyone. And also like good etiquette when people are considerate of others, people become relaxed and are at their best. An interview is a very stressful experience for everyone involved. So, to the extent that a "Code of Conduct" for search committees can be adapted by accredited academic institutions, all the better---because it will make it that much more likely that the right hired candidate will get the job!
Nice work, Allison.

All the best,
Keith