The Critical Question Few Ask When Evaluating Executive Search Firms

Executive search always involves a mission critical position. And it’s precisely because executive search is so important, that we are surprised so many companies overlook important questions when evaluating and retaining search providers.

One of the most important questions to pose to an executive search firm is “Who can’t you recruit from?” Yet in our experience, no more than one-third of prospective clients ask.

Some background is in order. It has long been a tradition that executive search firms will not recruit from their clients. In the trade this is referred to as “off-limits.” Off-limits guarantees came about because clients wanted assurances that search firms would not use confidential information about their personnel to later raid the company.

The specific terms of off-limits agreements vary from firm to firm, but historically it has been one or two years. In the case of our company, we put clients off-limits for two years from the completion of the last search assignment we’ve done for them.

Some search firms are very large (the biggest, Korn/Ferry, had $836M in revenues in 2008). Needless to say, the industry giants have a lot of companies on their off-limits lists.

For clients, the nightmare scenario is retaining a search firm that is barred from accessing a significant percentage of the candidate pool. Those searches are handicapped from the start, and often end in failure.

So, be a smart consumer of executive search. Ask hard questions about off-limits constraints, and press for clear answers.