Executive search has gotten a bad reputation over the last several years. You hear people say that searches for executives take years, and many of them do in fact. However, the best Executive searches happen when the person leading the search understands the business and understands the people in that business.
For years and years, an agency model has been prevalent. You call up your search vendor, tell them a list of items you want in the next person in the role, give them a timeline and salary, and they are off to the races.
But that’s the issue. That’s exactly where this process breaks down.
The BEST executive searches happen – wait for it – by a Fractional Talent Executive or Fractional Chief People Officer already embedded in the organization.
Hear me out.
Agencies have lists and lists of people. They have logged them into their systems, they add in a few keywords, and then they pull up a list of names to start to call to sell the opportunity to in order to gauge interest.
Maybe it’s a few more conversations along the way, but the bulk of the work then falls on the interviewers – the other executives in the organization. And let’s be honest, those other executives truly and likely are not great interviewers. Mostly because no one taught them how to be, and also because their bad habits have compounded over time.
Then, the interviewers tend to give bad feedback to the agency heading up the search, and this is what starts the endless loop of mostly meaningless feedback that spins the organization, candidates, the agency, and the interviewers into weekly meetings where nothing progresses and the role remains empty.
Time spent. Time wasted. For months.
The better option? Hire first a Fractional Talent Executive to truly understand your business and the people in it.
What is a Fractional Talent Executive? Well, it’s someone that embeds themselves into an organization for a set period of time for a fraction of the time a full-time executive would take at a fraction of the cost, plus no overhead for benefits, taxes, etc.
Have them then help you prepare the job description because, well, let’s face it, most executives can not agree on what is needed in a role, and it’s better to hash those details out ahead of time instead of over the next 9 or 12 months. The Fractional Talent Executive can also train up the executives that will be interviewing the candidates. No more of the same questions over and over again, or hearing the phrase, “they just weren’t a culture fit”, again! Instead, you get targeted questions that actually try to understand how the person will perform in the role, not just how they perform in the interview, and not just to gauge if you’d like to grab a drink with them after work. (And yes, the latter is a very common topic in a lot of executive search conversations, as is the “culture fit” conversation, and both of these really need to stop. They are poor excuses that bad interviewers use when they can’t articulate real feedback, and they introduce and lead to more bias in the process.) And still then, the Fractional Talent Executive can set up a process that works, that doesn’t require 5-8 interviews, and that doesn’t waste peoples’ time.
The real kicker here is that the Fractional Talent Executive can embed themselves quickly, as a turnkey solution, to understand the business, and how this role will elevate and contribute to that business. They will do the work upfront and with the executives once to ensure that there aren’t gaps that exist after the executive is hired, and to help prioritize the needs of the business with the needs of the role to fill.
Lastly, Fractional executives come into organizations and focus on those organizations. While agency recruiters can have tens if not hundreds of clients, Fractional executives typically have a small handful of clients where they can create better, more thoughtful and intentional experiences for that organization while also saving time on the overall search.
For many agency recruiters on an executive search, you will hear timelines like 3-6 months that then turn into 9-12 months. For Fractional Talent Executives, they jump in headfirst and get those roles locked up within 3-4 months.
The executives are happier because they didn’t have to spend as much time on interviews. The candidates are happier because they weren’t experiencing endless interviews with the same questions over and over again.
