Executive Search, a case study

Résumé du document

Executive Search or Headhunting is defined as an activity provided by specialized human resource advisors which aims to find the best suited candidate for a senior job vacancy in a company. The executive search firms are looking specifically for high-skilled employees to attract staff to change their company. In order to achieve their goals, executive search firms need to have a profound knowledge of the sector they are recruiting from. Besides that, it is essential that an executive recruiter has a reliable network of contacts in the field as well as psychological knowledge of individual motivations or career interests of the candidates. Executive search had its origins in the United States in the 1940s as an offshoot of the large management consultancies Booz Allen & Hamilton and McKinsey & Co. Based on their strategic analysis, the key issues of staffing and implementation became an important opportunity area for these firms and the executive search industry was born. But it should not be until the early 1960s that an American executive search firm opened its first branch office in London. The first European executive search firm was founded in 1964 by Egon Zehnder in Zurich.

Extraits

[...] At an initial meeting the board member in charge of the expansion, the human resource manager of the bank, and the consulter negotiated the price. They agreed on a fixed payment in line with the industry amounting to one third of the yearly income of the future manager and the conditions were one-third payable at the onset of the search, on-third payable after 30 days and the final third payable after 60 days. Then the first step towards finding the most appropriate candidate was taken by the consultant. [...]

[...] Garrison, Jenn, N p Executive Search A Case Study companies had their European branch offices located there. Throughout the following decades executive search in Europe became an important part of the recruiting industry. After the fall of the iron curtain the industry spread to Centraland Eastern Europe as the demand for executive search services increased in that region. Today the most developed executive search markets in Europe are in the United Kingdom and Germany followed by France4. Recruitment A company should consider the services of a head hunter in case that the company has to fill an important key position, if they already failed to recruit an appropriate candidate or if they lack special market knowledge in order to hire the best qualified candidate. [...]

[...] Garrison Jenn 6f Executive Search A Case Study for a second time and their references are being checked. If the right person is being found, negotiations take place. Another important task of the head hunter is the follow-up, in which the head hunter follows the candidate for the first 100 days in his new position to make sure that the move is a success There are two different modes of payment, executive search and contingency search. In the first case a part of the payment is made in advance and has also to be made even if no suitable candidate can be found. [...]

[...] History Executive search had its origins in the United States in the 1940s as an offshoot of the large management consultancies Booz Allen & Hamilton and McKinsey & Co. Based on their strategic analysis, the key issues of staffing and implementation became an important opportunity area for these firms and the executive search industry was born. But it should not be until the early 60s that an American executive search firm (Spencer Stuart) opened its first branch office in London. The first European executive search firm was founded in 1964 by Egon Zehnder in Zurich. [...]

[...] But before that could happen, one of these remaining candidates suddenly decided to reject. He stated that he reconsidered his choice because he didn't want to change his and his family's environment by moving to and working in Bucharest. Due to that problem, the executive search firm decided to discuss this problem with the HR-manager of the recruiting bank in decide on the next step that should be taken. Instead of blaming the executive search firm and restarting the search process with another executive search firm, the HR-manager decided that all three remaining candidates from the shortlist should be presented to the board. [...]