Attracting top-tier leadership is fiercely competitive and requires more than just traditional hiring methods.
Why? Because the most talented individuals are highly unlikely to be actively looking for a job.
A strategic partnership of in-house recruitment teams working with an executive search firm can offer property businesses the best of both worlds.
Combining an internal talent acquisition team’s detailed understanding of company culture and long-term recruitment needs with the expertise, networks, and specialised search methodologies of an executive search partner is key to finding the best senior executives.
The challenges of internal talent acquisition teams when hiring senior executives.
Some of the key hurdles include:
• Limited Networks
Internal teams may not have the extensive industry connections and reach, especially when targeting passive candidates not actively seeking new roles.
As a result, they adopt a ‘post and pray’ approach, relying heavily on platforms like LinkedIn and job boards to find candidates who are actively looking for a new role.
• Time Constraints
Hiring senior executive talent is complex and requires a significant time investment for sourcing, assessing and engaging candidates.
Internal teams often have to juggle multiple priorities, spanning the organisation’s entire talent attraction needs – from entry level through to the c-suite.
They may be restricted by the time required to deliver a detailed forensic in-house executive search project, and choose to focus on less strategic roles.
• Lack of Specialised Expertise
Hiring for executive positions requires assessing not only technical skills but also candidates’ leadership qualities, cultural fit and strategic capabilities. Internal talent acquisition teams may have limited experience in these areas.
• Bias and Politics
Dynamics within the wider business can lead to internal bias and politics having a negative impact on decision-making. The best candidates can be overlooked as a result.
• Confidentiality Concerns
When it comes to senior searches, discretion is crucial, especially if it requires replacing a current leader. Internal teams might find it harder to maintain the necessary level of confidentiality.
• Market Intelligence
Internal recruitment teams may have limited market data in areas such as compensation and benefits and competitor analysis, which play a key role in attracting and securing the best leadership talent.
Internal recruitment teams can often spend significant time trying to attract candidates with a benefits package that is out of kilter with the current expectations of senior leaders.
8 ways an executive search firm can help elevate the recruitment process.
There are a number of key reasons why a property business might engage with an external search partner to support their talent acquisition team. These include:
• Cost effectiveness
Whilst the common argument against using external recruitment support is often skewed towards the additional cost, external firms can reduce costs associated with prolonged vacancies, lost productivity, and the high price of mis-hires.
• Access to a Broader Network
Executive search firms have an extensive database of connections and a narrow focus on strategic leadership positions or critical hires.
This allows them to tap into passive candidates who may not actively be looking for change of job, but who might be a perfect fit.
• Time and Resource Efficiency
Executive search firms know the complexities of attracting the right senior leader and the time-consuming process to do so.
An external firm can focus its full attention on the search assignment and can handle initial screenings, background checks, and preliminary interviews. This allows internal teams to focus on other recruitment priorities.
• Specialised Expertise
Executive search firms are experienced in identifying and vetting candidates for senior roles. Their expertise in assessing leadership qualities, cultural fit and strategic capabilities is often more refined.
• Objectivity and Unbiased Advice
Search firms will bring an unbiased perspective to the table. This will help them identify the best candidate without being influenced by internal politics or bias.
• Confidentiality and Discretion
As a business plans the process of replacing a current executive or making a critical hire, external search firms provide the confidentiality and discretion needed to protect against internal dynamics and perception in the market.
• Market Intelligence Clarity
External search firms will bring valuable insights about salary benchmarking, leadership movements within the industry and knowledge around competitor strategies.
They will bring clarity around the availability within a set geographical areas or market niche, and will understand the compensation and benefits package required, to tempt a senior leader to make a move to a new organisation and role.
• A Positive Impact on DEI
An executive search partner will look far beyond the usual referral networks to identify candidates made up of the widest diversity of gender, ethnicity, skills and thought.
Partnering with an executive search firm with a strong track record of placing diverse senior executives is a clear way for property businesses to grow a pipeline of inclusive talent.
Within today’s competitive talent landscape, property businesses that embrace a collaborative approach between their internal talent acquisition team and an external executive search partner, will position themselves for success.
Combining an internal talent acquisition team’s knowledge of company culture and day-to-day operations with the extensive industry networks, market insights and the unbiased perspective of an external executive search firm, can be a powerful catalyst to identifying and securing the diversity of leadership talent needed for future business growth.
You may also be interested in reading:
FIVE Costs of Hiring the Wrong Person for your Property Business and How to Avoid a Mis-hire
Find out more about our Executive Search services and how we help property businesses find and retain the very best talent.
