How did I get from the classroom to the boardroom? My career has taken many turns and has included a few high-risk entrepreneurial positions, but I have tried to maximize my experiences to enhance my skill set. Experiences that include business development, marketing and sales, writing business plans, writing SBIR grants, starting my own company (Medical Impact), and running a preventive medicine center have helped me prepare for a future to which I am committed and that I am passionate about executive search.
My transition was not a direct one. I found out about this industry first from people working for executive search firms who contacted me regarding opportunities that they had available. Pay attention if you receive such calls! They are directed to you because the recruiter has researched you as a possible candidate for a prospective job for which they are recruiting or as a source of recommendations.
I was curious about the executive search industry because it seemed like a business with great growth potential, and I started asking questions of the recruiters contacting me. Most search professionals are personable and polite on the telephone. My next step was to meet with someone who was successful in the industry so that I could learn about and better appreciate the day-to-day schedule of an executive recruiter. I was introduced to a highly successful recruiter who owned her own practice and who has made a name for herself in the recruitment of engineers. She was kind enough to give me a tremendous amount of information and support.
I was truly at a crossroads in my career at the time. While completing a 9-month consulting contract, I began to identify which career opportunity would best fit my skills and would best suit my long-term goals. I realized that I was most comfortable in a position where I could use my scientific training and my years of management experience. I determined that my strengths were my knowledge of the biomedical industries and of business development.
My preliminary discovery was that the recruiting industry matched my skills and interests. I did extensive due diligence on the industry, and found that there were few books or related articles on this industry. With effort, I obtained some career books including articles written years ago. The book, Career Makers, included brief biographical summaries of top national recruiters that gave tremendous insight into the qualities that made these folks so successful.
What I Do Now?
My current job at DHR International can be divided into two major responsibilities:
- To obtain a search contract with a company for the recruitment of senior management on a retained basis;
- To fulfill the contract and locate the individual who will best fit the position specification and corporate culture.
David Hoffman, nationally recognized as one of the country's top recruiters, established DHR International in January 1989. Since that time, DHR has grown significantly, with offices in 31 cities throughout the United States and with 16 international locations. DHR has been ranked the fastest growing executive search firm in the country, and is the largest firm in the nation in terms of office locations and geographical coverage. The principals of DHR are experienced professionals who have been engaged to conduct executive searches for many of the leading companies in the world. Our search philosophy and methodology are unique within the executive search industry and have earned our company an excellent reputation. The foundation and fabric of DHR is based upon personal service and dedication to quality, which is evident in DHR's thorough researching capability, the teamwork brought to bear on every assignment, and the timeliness with which we complete our assignments. DHR promises to present a completed list of qualified candidates to the client within 20 working days. This short turnaround is an important value-added dimension of our service.
Responsibilities and Attributes
The responsibility of an executive search consultant is to bring the most qualified candidate for a given position together with the client company. To do this, the headhunter must have a thorough understanding of the client company, its technology, its management structure, its vision, and most importantly, its corporate culture.
My responsibility as a retained executive search consultant can be divided into two distinctive and separate components: (1) business development-gaining new corporate clients for whom I will conduct a search; (2) completing the search assignment once I have secured the contract.
These two roles are very different. One is a marketing and sales component that includes presentations to potential clients and a need to develop a wide and varied contact base. The actual search entails project management skills, and a thorough understanding of the company. The following is a breakdown of the traits needed for both of these roles.
The characteristics needed for marketing/sales/business development include:
- An ability to convince others;
- An ability to identify strengths;
- An involvement in community and professional activities;
- A willingness and eagerness to meet new people;
- Flexibility regarding income stream.
- Knowledge of the industry and good contacts;
- An understanding of management's needs and desires;
- An interest in others;
- Being a self-starter;
- Being flexible with creative thinking;
- Being service-oriented;
- Being analytical and detail-oriented;
- An ability to interpret culture and values of the client organization;
- An ability to lead and direct researchers;
- Patience with changes that need to be made by the client;
- Knowledge of job specifications within your industry;
- Hands-on experience with the personal qualities that are important to success;
- An ability to prioritize and differentiate among highly qualified candidates;
- An ability to summarize search stages to a board of directors.
It is important to be a self-starter in most cases, nobody is going to call you with the candidates and you are going to have to be proactive in tracking them down. You need to have the interest and curiosity to learn about new technologies and new companies in the industry you serve. Otherwise, you won't be able to help your clients as thoroughly, because you won't really understand their business and the issues that drive that business.
You have to be proficient at project management and you have to be able to track and monitor multiple searches while meeting key deadlines. In most cases, you will be juggling several client projects simultaneously, and all of those clients will expect you to stay on top of their project. Every delay they face in bringing the best person on board impacts their company's ability to meet its own milestones. This means that you must be flexible in your work hours to accommodate clients and candidates on the East and West coasts, and the fact that often you can speak with candidates only outside of regular work hours.
It is also important to work with a "win-win" mindset, to be convinced that both the company and the candidate will be enhanced by their relationship.
Skills Needed:
- • The objective/analytical ability to evaluate needs of clients;
- You must be secure and comfortable in making presentations to upper management and boards of directors;
- You must be a quick learner with an ability to comprehend and communicate information about numerous companies;
- You must have an interest in meeting new people;
- An ability to write and summarize technical information in layman's terms;
- An ability to manage one's time as an independent contractor;
- An ability to juggle a multitude of projects that are at different stages of development;
- An interest and ability to communicate well in phone conversations;
- You must be very interested in providing service to the client;
- An ability to analyze the culture of a company in order to find candidates who are the best fit;
- You must be able to bring out information from potential candidates because resumes don't always say all that you need;
- Good project management of time and resources;
- An ability to work with many different types of people from the CEO to the director of biology to the vice president of manufacturing;
- You must be service-oriented;
- You must have an interest in complete follow-up.
The job market is changing as our world is changing. The person with a curriculum vitae showing a job change every 2 years is no longer considered a high-risk hire, as long as the move was planned and it demonstrates progressively increased responsibility. Today's businesses are looking for individuals with myriad experiences, who can rise to the challenge of ever-growing companies.
How do you orchestrate these "planned" moves? Look at yourself as a small company, "Me, Inc." Take charge of your career and create a board of directors (people who are concerned about your career and who can be a sounding board to guide you). Identify five to seven individuals whom you respect and who respect you as well. Choose persons who are successful, forward thinking, well connected, and willing to help. College advisors, work supervisors, and mentors are good choices. Select those who will give you a variety of perspectives and will encourage you to grow.
With your knowledge of science, you are ahead of the pack in this technology-driven society. As you develop your career plan, build relationships early in your career and nurture them by keeping in touch with those you meet. You will have opportunities to do favors and you will formulate your circle of business contacts. This takes time and effort but the rewards will be great.
There are a number of ways by which you can enter this industry. The usual way has been to gain experience in recruiting and in interviewing via the human resources profession. This is certainly one way to learn about screening candidates, conducting telephone and face-to-face interviews, evaluating resumes-skills needed in this profession.
The other avenue is to work up through the management ranks and to gain experience with a number of different companies or job responsibilities. A necessary component of being a supervisor or a manager is to recruit and evaluate new staff. In this way, one can see firsthand the impact a new hire can have on a company.
Another way to be introduced to the industry is to ask a recruiter who happens to call on you. Be helpful and polite, because you never know when you may be turning to them for an opportunity. I can guarantee that your name will be remembered if you have been helpful.
Finally, there is a list of search/recruiting firms for your city available through the Chamber of Commerce or through a business directory. Contact them directly or ask for an introduction. Some search firms, such as DHR International, focus on attracting leaders in their field, so industry experience is important to them.
Each firm has its own particular qualifications. Some look for industry experience, others look for relevant experience in managing and hiring key people. But the most valuable asset you bring to any company is your contact network. At an early stage of your career, build up those contacts keep in touch, do favors, keep in touch, attend meetings, speak at meetings, and keep in touch!
