Cast a Wide Net
The second piece of our search roadmap, following the needs analysis, is the target list, which essentially tells us where we are going to look in order to assemble a pool of potential candidates.
Every search is different and requires a new strategy; therefore, it is important that we communicate with the client with respect to exactly where we are searching in an effort to locate the best possible candidates for a particular opportunity. In our case we are also obligated to advise our clients of existing client relationships that might preclude us from recruiting for particular companies.
Sometimes the ideal candidates will come from within the client's industry and from their direct competitors; and sometimes they will come from other industries in which best practices in a particular discipline are better. For example, if a supermarket retail company is looking for a vice president of real estate, the person with the best skill set for that job may not exist within that industry.
Indeed, in many cases candidates from outside a particular industry can be as, or more effective, than players within the industry. These determinations are always made as a result of collaboration. While we make recommendations, and many times all or most of our recommendations are accepted, we require buy-in on all phases of each search.
Assuming that the client's needs analysis and target list is complete, and that all involved have signed off on all documents, our next objective is to cast the widest possible net to sell the opportunity, not the candidate; and to build a pool of as many potential candidates as we possibly can.
Building a large pool of candidates is important to us because we do not want to limit our choices to just three to five great candidates; we want to go through the entire target list which has been agreed upon by both client and consultant-and that list may often consist of 150-200 candidates or more.
We must be certain that we have thoroughly examined the entire target list. Although there may, in some cases, be only a dozen candidates in the country, or the world, that could do a certain job effectively, that is not normally the case.
If you are not utilizing the services of a professional firm, you'll still want to follow a similar process of sourcing and identifying a suitable number of candidates. The trickiest parts of securing an adequate candidate pool when you are recruiting directly in to your company is actually making enough direct contacts, while keeping the playing field level and remaining objective.
Unless you are doing a search to replace Jack Welch at General Electric, or some other search in which the candidate pool is necessarily miniscule, the general rule is that you had better start with a target list of at least 150 potential candidates. I repeat - AT LEAST 150 potential candidates. In most cases the numbers should be greater. There is no way to quote a number that would be appropriate for each situation. The numbers are search specific.
Philosophically, your initial target list should consist of virtually every possible candidate who would be a logical fit for your particular search. This axiom would apply to any CEO or officer level search in a traditional industry.
EXAMPLE 1
We were retained to find a CEO to replace an incumbent chief executive. After a lengthy discussion with the client, it was determined that the individual we were looking for would certainly have a senior level general management and deal-making background in commercial real estate.
We had identified 268 senior commercial real estate brokers in, and around, Houston.
We contacted all of the 268 individuals on our target list. We were referred to another twenty-five or so. We procured forty-seven fresh resumes, determined that thirty-one were qualified, interviewed twelve and presented three. Because we had cast a wide enough net, and interviewed based on not only the hard skills required, but also the personality traits needed, the search was successful. An ideal candidate was hired and the client's expectations were clearly exceeded.
EXAMPLE 2
We were retained to find a CEO for a Dallas-owned, Chicago-based vinyl composite tile manufacturing company. The company was in crisis. We needed a turnaround specialist, a wizard, a water-walker. After three days of discussions with the owner and interim CEO, a detailed search specification had been developed and approved by the owner and interim CEO. It was also determined that we needed to be talking to substantially every sitting Chicago based CEO and COO in a manufacturing environment with revenues between $20 million and $100 million. We needed to cast as wide a net as possible in order to surface not just a good candidate, but the absolute best possible candidate. Second best would not do. It was also decided that looking outside of Chicago should not be necessary given Chicago is the manufacturing capital of the world.
A Hoovers query revealed 534 companies in Greater Chicago that fit this description. We had our marching orders. We contacted substantially everyone on the original target list. We delivered a short (less than one minute), concise, hard-hitting presentation in each of our phone calls. We asked for referrals and advice. In other words, we did not leave a stone unturned. The 500+ individuals we talked to referred us to approximately 100 additional candidates.
We procured eighty fresh resumes. Not resumes we found on the internet, or fished out of an old file or database, or pulled from some informal network. These were eighty new resumes on COOs that were not actively looking, were not reading ads, and not posting their resumes on the net. We could honestly say that our pool of resumes represented the cream of the crop, the best of the best, in Chicago.
A screening and interviewing process, which is not the subject of this discussion, took place, and we ultimately presented three motivated, qualified candidates, all of whom had led at least two turnarounds. The candidate was hired and subsequently has performed brilliantly. The search was text-book perfect.
EXAMPLE 3
We were retained to conduct a search for a Chief Merchandising Officer. The client was the brand new CEO of the 47th largest supermarket chain in the country.
Time was of the essence, so we assembled a target list of 268 target candidates, virtually every possible merchandising executive from the top retail and wholesale operations in the country. In two weeks we had contacted substantially all of our prospects, procured sixty-one resumes, determined thirty were qualified and had interviewed and qualified our list of twelve semi-finalists.
The length of time between the point at which the search was commissioned and the time of acceptance of our client's offer, was forty-four days.
I could sight hundreds more examples of extremely successful searches completed as a direct result of this methodology. The benefit of careful preparation and research cannot be overestimated.