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Executive Search in Tough Times
Declining sales and shrinking profit margins have only accelerated the pace of searching for
new talent, as both national and regional homebuilders pull out all the stops to get them
through these tough times.
Many are active in the marketplace despite the new home sales precipitous decline over the past year. The market
demands that you have the most capable people to help run your company.
To be sure the internet is becoming a staple of home building recruiters to surface junior level talent. Yet, while
this is true to a certain extent, job boards, online venues and contingency models, actually don't have much of an
impact when it comes to landing the more highly paid and capable senior executives.
Reaching Hidden Executives
High performing and promising executives are happy where they are for the most part. They are well compensated,
not looking for a change, and will almost never send their resumes to a job posting board or contingency firm. But
that doesn't mean they will remain where they are forever. The question is, how do you reach them and get them to
listen to the opportunity you have?
The answer for the more progressive homebuilders is fast becoming to retain a professional search consultant. In a
very confidential manner, these consultants contact executives who meet specific criteria on behalf of their clients.
Better homebuilding executives who have the right backgrounds and leadership skills are being contacted often to
determine if they would consider positions outside of their companies. They are being given significant increases in
compensation, stock, and responsibilities to get them to change.
In fact, in recent searches for Divisional and Regional Presidents for a national homebuilder, I ran into executives
who were also being pursued by other companies using consultants to surface the best and brightest. Moreover,
even some of the larger regional builders appear to be using retained executive search to fill critical senior level
needs.
As the market slows down the need for fresh leadership can actually increase. Some executives who were able to
post good numbers in boom times are not equipped with the leadership and managerial instincts to get the
organization through tough times.
The homebuilding industry is not the only industry that has felt the pain of such a dramatic turndown. In fact most
other industries have gone through these cycles many times before. The market actually puts a premium on the best performers.
Upgrading one's talent base becomes a way of life. The costs of not doing so can be dramatic today as
well as when the market rebounds.
Advantages of Retained Executive Search
There are numerous advantages to this retained search approach. For example, the search can be tailored to the
homebuilder's unique needs. It can take into account a homebuilder's history, culture, key responsibilities,
required experiences, and the all important personal attributes desired of the candidates.
An experienced consultant knows how to winnow down the list of potential candidates to only those executives
with real potential for their clients. This final list contains executives who are interested, have the required
backgrounds, and appear to be a fit with the client's culture.
If done correctly, calls put out can get a person interested who is not even looking. With the proper positioning, the
job offers a compelling career proposition for the executive to consider pursuing. Prospective candidates begin to
take an interest in the position explained by the consultant.
A search consultant becomes an ambassador for the client and provides a vetting process to single out the most
outstanding candidates. This includes scheduling a time for the search consultant to meet the executive face to face.
In these face to face meetings, each candidate is assessed against the written specification already prepared by the
client and consultant. The best search executives have special training in interviewing techniques. They should be
outstanding assessors in determining the make up of an individual.
After the interview, the search consultant provides a written assessment to the client that offers insight into the
candidate presented and why the executive may be a fit for the position.
The client picks the best candidate presented and begins to seriously pursue them via additional meetings, exposure
to more of the executive team, and telephone conversations.
When comfortable negotiations on compensation begin in which the consultant plays a pivotal intermediary role.
The search executive also begins a final round of in depth referencing checking.
The consultant should be good at seeking a mutually satisfactory offer that both the individual executive being
recruited and the client company are comfortable with. This offer is then written up providing the specifics of the
position and terms of agreement, mailed to the candidate, and signed.
Even after a deal has been struck between the two parties, the search consultant continues to assist in the transition.
In the first 90 days the search consultant periodically checks in with the executive to ensure that everything is OK.
This stage only maximizes the potential for the transition to be a complete success.
Measuring True Payback
The truth is, there are no short cuts to this process. It is a time intensive and exacting procedure. It requires
dedicated focus, follow-up, and solid coordination between the client and a highly experienced and trained search
consultant.
Undertaken properly the results can produce a strong and favorable outcome for the client and their company.
When you consider the higher profitability and ROI that comes from hiring the right executive, most companies end
up wondering why they hadn't used this process a long time ago.
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