We have shut down the business of Beeley & Company.

 

Janie continues to offer freelance research services, using the Beeley & Company database, and can be contacted on janie@montaguehurrell.co.uk  

 

Rupert is building another business altogether.  You can email him on rupert@cinnamonhill.com

 

Over the years we have learnt and noted down some headhunting lessons.  We set them out below for anyone who might be interested.

 

 

DURING THE SEARCH

 

  1. Insist on a job spec.  If a client cannot articulate what he wants, even with you prompting him, he probably doesn’t know and you will get nowhere.  Even so, whatever the job spec says, a client wants to hire someone he will like and trust, and will compromise on everything else. 

 

  1. Always take that long shot.

 

  1. If a candidate checks out badly, drop him, however good he looks on paper. 

 

  1. Many candidates misunderstand their existing compensation arrangements and contractual obligations.  Check for yourself in good time.

 

  1. Warn candidates early on that lying about career, compensation or qualifications will be discovered. 

 

  1. Always check what the candidate’s partner thinks about the move. 

 

  1. If a candidate shows that he’s interested, the client will rate him more highly.  Playing hard to get rarely has the same effect.

 

  1. Relocation is a really big hurdle to overcome.  Whatever they say, candidates don’t fully address the issue until the very final stages.

 

  1. Taking informal references is crucial and requires skill: prepare your questions but steer them according to the flow; listen very carefully; wait for things to come out; record verbatim as you go along.  The tendency to hear what you want to hear and ignore what you don’t want to hear is strong.

 

  1. Always get nervous when the candidate flies back to HQ, even for a routine visit.

 

  1. In a team move, everyone is important.  Don’t forget the little guy.

 

  1. The real pros, among clients and candidates, are responsive and decisive; always and even in the most trying circumstances.  On the part of a candidate, this is a sure sign of overall quality.  On the part of a client, this is how great candidates get hired. 

 

 

 

AT THE RESIGNATION

 

  1. If ever a candidate volunteers, without being asked, that he can be relied upon to see through his resignation, take it for granted that this isn’t the case. 

 

  1. Always ask candidates if they are pursuing any other roles.  Keep asking them, very directly, right up to the end, even after they seem to have accepted your offer. 

 

  1. If, in the final stages, you have the slightest suspicion that the client or candidate is unhappy about something but is not saying so: stop, rewind, look again and check it’s okay.  Be prepared to put the brakes on everything until the issue is fully resolved.

 

  1. However good a relationship you have with a candidate, the candidate can go completely cold on you at resignation time.  Agree communication lines in advance of resignation and get the candidate to commit to this.

 

  1. Shortly before resignation, run through with the candidate all conceivable responses and outcomes.  Take away any element of surprise.

 

  1. Paint a counter-offer scenario which the existing employer can never really deliver. 

 

  1. If there is a counter-offer, you are on your own in the middle.  It is down to you alone to keep fighting to get a deal done.  A client will always be glad after the event that you gave him the option to offer more. 

 

 

AFTERWARDS

 

  1. It is a very common pattern that the client likes the initial candidates a lot, falls in love with a later candidate, finally loses that later candidate and then concludes that the initial candidates were never any good.  Always try to have a plan B ready.

 

  1. Everyone feels a bit frazzled in the immediate aftermath.  That is the sign of a well-negotiated outcome.

 

  1. Clients give us credit for hires that have worked out well and blame us for hires that have not, even though in practice they often go against our recommendations.  Live with it. 

 

  1. Completed searches generally lead to new searches.  However, if the individual client didn’t really enjoy the experience, however successful the search was, he won’t use you again.  Don’t worry about it – you probably didn’t enjoy it either, and the fees rarely compensate.

 

  1. Two clients cheated on us in 16 years, both of them major organisations.  Just walk away and never forget. 

 

  1. If the new HR person doesn’t like you, don’t worry about it.  They come and go. 

 

  1. Clients get the headhunters they deserve.

 

  1. The headhunters I really admire generally have dreadful CVs.  It’s one of the things that drives them.

 

  1. Completing a difficult search makes you high for days.  Pulling yourself off the floor when a search fails requires real strength.  Managing the highs and the lows is one of the challenges of the job.

 

  1. The individual skills required of a headhunter are not, of themselves, at all rare or indeed difficult.  It is the combination of the full skill set that is rare.

 

  1. Above all, you have just got to do the best you can for everybody.  As one of our clients put it recently: “Your success with us has been built on your understanding of what you bring and your ability to communicate, relate, and work with us, whilst making the candidates feel comfortable that you’re not just trying to deal, that you are genuinely in this game trying to get the right results with the knowledge that your reputation and your business flourishes by doing that.”  Way to go!   

 

 

 

Rupert Beeley  

9 January 2012