If you're looking for an executive who knows all the ins and outs of your industry and can take your company to the next level, your best bet may be to look to your competitors. Rival companies' CEOs and executives have already been tackling the same problems and navigating the same environment that you will need your new exec to be familiar with. But how can you convince these candidates, most of whom are not actively considering a job change, to make the switch to your company?
First of all, in order to lure top talent away from your competitors, you will have to convince these candidates that your company offers them more than their current employer — more benefits, a more compatible corporate culture or more opportunities to do meaningful work. According to Dr. John Sullivan writing for ERE.net, "top performers want two things: to do the best work of their life, and to have a major impact." If your executive position is seen as a "paycheck job," or a job you would take on just to bring home a check only, it's not likely to attract top leaders.
Second, you have to be able to specifically target your competitors' CEOs and executives for recruitment, taking advantage of contacts who have an "in" with them. Hiring a retained executive search firm like YES Partners can help you make inroads with competitors' leaders who would have ignored recruiting efforts that came directly from your company.
Confidentiality is further a key-issue, i.e. whoever is tasked with finding an Executive (board-of-director or head HR) usually want to keep the name of the company confidential. An Executive Search firm approaches most candidates like this confidentially.
An additional point is that Executives themselves typically are 'in touch' with an Executive Search firm anyway in order to be 'known' in case something 'interesting' or 'matching' comes up.
Finding people is easy, but finding the RIGHT people is not. YES Partners helps companies FIND the right people – for all company functions, across many industries and globally.
