Executive Search for Business Owners
Recently, the CEO of a $10 million manufacturing company approached me,
"Carl, I need your help. Our business is going great right now, but we have acquired a complementary company, and we see some tremendous opportunities for us in the months and years ahead. We have wonderful people on our leadership team, but we need help in the sales area. Our current and future business opportunities have outgrown our current sales leader."
The CEO went on to say,
"if we don’t get the right person in this position in the next few months, we will lose some outstanding marketplace advantages that we have right now. Furthermore, we believe that if we can take advantage of this opportunity, it will springboard us into some even greater opportunities for our company."
"My management team and I have spent as much time and effort as we can spare looking for this person. We have explored our networks, and we are not seeing the types of candidates we believe we need for this position. We can’t wait for the right person to come along. We are all too busy with our other responsibilities to give this the active attention it deserves."
"Can you help us?"
"My management team and I have spent as much time and effort as we can spare looking for this person. We have explored our networks, and we are not seeing the types of candidates we believe we need for this position. We can’t wait for the right person to come along. We are all too busy with our other responsibilities to give this the active attention it deserves."
"Can you help us?"
The First Question
The first question I usually hear when I share that story is "Didn’t you mean to say a $100 million or $1 billion company? A $10 million company is too small to use an executive search firm."Actually, the company had not hit the $10 million sales level when we did the search. The point is that no company is too small to consider using an executive search firm to assist it in identifying and attracting candidates for key senior level positions.
The problem is that most of the business community automatically assumes the executive search process is only available to large companies.
Most of the stories you read about executive search involve assignments for very well known Fortune 500 Companies and their very high priced executives.
The management positions within a small or mid size company are just as important as larger companies. In fact, a single individual may have a much greater impact on the growth and success of a smaller company. And, it is not any easier to find a top quality person for a smaller company role than a large company.
The need for new leaders can be brought on by a wide range of events, including:
Retirements
Resignations
Health issues
Growth
Mergers and acquisitions
Changes in strategy
Marketplace issues
New products or new services
New markets
Regulatory changes
Whatever the reason for the need, your company can face a huge challenge in identifying and attracting the right person to address the need. The CEO above needed a new person to appropriately address the tremendous opportunity his company was facing. He had a good problem; nevertheless, it was still a big challenge.
What About Your Company?
When a similar need arises in your company, how do you attempt to find the right candidate for the role? If you don’t have an internal candidate, you may pursue employee referrals and use your various networks to identify people to consider. The company noted above went through some elaborate efforts to spread the word about their need; yet, they did not see the right candidates.Many companies use internet postings on job boards, their own websites, and social networks to appeal to potential candidates. Other companies use advertisements in a variety of media, and some companies will just wait until the right person comes along.
Any one of these recruitment methods may work, but they all represent passive approaches to a very important issue in your company.
Successful companies, large and small, must develop a clear definition of the person they need, and actively search for that person in the marketplace.
- If you have limited or no internal recruiting resources...
- If your recruiting efforts have proven to be inconsistent or limited in their success...
- If you do not understand how executive search can bring value to your Company...
- If you have used executive search or external recruiters in the past and this experience has been less than positive...
Carl J. Taylor & Co. is the resource to help you identify and attract your next senior level or one-of-a-kind position.
For a free consultation regarding your company’s current or anticipated hiring needs, please call (972) 490-7697
or email ctaylor@carltaylorco.com