Selecting an Executive Search Company

The first step would be to get a few recommendations from people who have utilised the services of sector specific head-hunters who operate within the Manufacturing and Engineering market. Working with a recruiter that specialises in the placement of manufacturing and engineering jobs, who has a good understanding of the nuances within the sector is vital, otherwise how would they able to benchmark the abilities of a candidate? It is also worth considering speaking to people who have experienced manufacturing and engineering recruiters as a candidate, and asking questions such as: How professional was the company? What was the communication like? How did they represent their client? Did they demonstrate a thorough understanding of engineering and manufacturing? Would you class them as experts in manufacturing and engineering recruitment? Once a number of possible manufacturing and engineering recruitment companies have been identified, the next important step is to have initial conversations. Like any project, the compatibility of the project team is critical and by having a short discussion you should get a feel as to whether you could work with these businesses or not. Following these calls you now should have two or three potential recruiters who you should then meet face to face. Within these face to face meetings it would be advisable to give the recruiters an insight into your organisation and the role you are looking to fill before then asking the recruiters up front as to how they would run the assignment and fill the job. Typically in these meetings, organisations will often spend time discussing the technical aspects of the role, the desired skill sets, the desired knowledge base of prospective candidates and their qualifications. However, in order to get the best out of your recruiter, there is other important information that you will need to pass on.
Information to pass on during your meetings with executive recruiters
Firstly you should give the recruiter an overview of your organisation, tell them the company life story, where you have come from, where you are looking to achieve, what your business strategy is. Then you should look at how you are going to achieve this, through what means, what are your tactics. Then you should consider the objectives, when you are looking to hit certain milestones, when will you get there and how these milestones will be measured. Furthermore it is worth discussing your company’s succession plans, what are the limitations of the other people within your senior management team, what are the strengths. As part of the brief it is also important to highlight the development and training that will offered to the the successful candidate, what guidance and direction will they get, if this direction will be given by you, other internal resources or will this training be outsourced to third party providers. By spending time discussing the above, you will yourself develop the “recruitment policy” for this appointment. The recruitment policy which is typically made up of 3 key areas: Motivations/ Aspirations of the individual, the desired skills and desired qualifications are what the recruiter will need to be armed with in order to run the project successfully.
The key areas to cover in the brief
What your organisation does, its turnover, number of employees, hierarchical structure.
The history of the business.
An overview of your competitors.
Your organisation goals/ business strategy.
Your company’s business tactics i.e. how your organisation is to achieve the company goals.
The business objectives, when milestones will be reached, how they will be measured.
Your internal succession plan.
The job description.
The person specification
The timescales you have set for your recruitment, the candidate start date