by Sara Nichols, Vice President Executive Search
Edited by David Portney, Marketing Manager

With more than 20 years of experience working in Human Resources, I’ve seen firsthand what those teams go through when tapped with hiring the next senior leader. Now a Vice President of Executive Search at Stiles Associates, I have a keen eye for when HR teams should partner with an executive recruiter in lieu of navigating the hiring wilderness on their own:

1) When it’s a critical role to the organization

Executive and senior leader searches need to be handled with the utmost professionalism. While this is largely true regardless of the position, these roles require an even increased level to ensure the top candidates take the company seriously. This type of search has many touchpoints via phone, email, text and Zoom meetings – and quickly responding to candidate questions and proactively following up can often be the difference when landing the A-players.

Professionalism also involves speaking with the right cadence, knowing what to say and more importantly, what not to say. These skills can be underappreciated as different roles can attract very different types of personalities, so having that deep level of understanding is magnified the higher up the org chart you go.

HR teams might be able to tackle searches on their own for less critical and more straightforward roles but be careful. Sometimes, positions that seem simple to recruit end up taking much longer than expected. This also applies when searching in an area with a robust talent pool. While that makes candidate sourcing easier, without the latest knowledge of the marketplace you can end up settling for individuals you didn’t think was necessary prior to the start of the search.

2) When talent acquisition teams and functional leaders don’t have capacity

In my previous role as a VP of Human Resources, I reached out to Stiles Associates CEO Jake Stiles regarding a sales position that needed to be filled. This was a search I could’ve led without partnering with a recruiting firm … if my team had the capacity. We simply couldn’t juggle the day-to-day tasks and responsibilities while also filling a vital leadership role that would help guide a team of their own. We had to get this one right (and we did!).

Speaking more generally, a similar factor HR leaders should consider is ensuring the respective functional leaders partnering with you on the search understand the expectations. A talent acquisition team can’t do it alone; the leaders in the functional area of the new hire must join the hiring journey, and it will be a failed search if those individuals are unable to make the necessary time commitment.

3) When the executive recruiting firm has the best network

Talent acquisition teams and HR leaders are among the most nimble and versatile people in any company, often being an inch deep and a mile wide. However, when it comes to hiring the next Director, Vice President or C-suite role, we need to go 5 miles deep with access to the top talent in that specific area. Partnering with executive recruiting firms with that type of deep vertical knowledge gives a company access to a Rolodex they otherwise could never assemble.

Firms like Stiles Associates have a constantly growing network of industry leaders based largely on references and referrals cultivated over decades of relationships. This also ensures the recruiters themselves become experts in ways to screen beyond the buzzwords, so they know who has what it takes – both technically and culturally – to thrive in the company. Few, if any, HR teams can match that level of expertise.

4) When time isn't on your side

For the most part, companies have hiring needs when there’s a vacancy from a departure or there’s a critical initiative in need of leadership. In any case, each day without that person is a day that can’t be recovered. A dedicated partner whose primary goal is to fill a particular role will almost always work quicker than an internal team already spread thin. This difference is because firms will spend their time speaking with dozens of candidates – if not more – before presenting only the best to their clients. Without them, internal teams will have to spend additional time sifting through hundreds of resumes in their application tracking system (ATS), then trying to determine the best from that pile.

If time is not of the essence and it’s acceptable for a search to last up to a year, then taking your time internally could be a viable option.

Conclusion

Deciding to partner with an executive recruiting firm is a case-by-case basis as each search requires its own understanding and nuance. I’ve sat in both chairs, first as an HR executive and now as an executive recruiter, so please reach out to me to talk about your specific situation!