5 Tips For Selecting A Dallas Executive Recruiter

Sept. 23, 2009 - PRLog -- Many companies in Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, Houston, San Antonio and other business centers in the state of Texas and throughout the US know that leadership positions and one-of-a-kind roles are getting much harder to fill today than in years past. As a result, many are deciding to engage an executive recruiting firm to provide aid in the recruitment of these key positions.

The question is - with so many executive recruiters, executive search firms, search consultants and headhunters to pick from, how does one choose the right firm or person? Below are five things to consider in the selection process:

1. Customization

You have a very important position to fill within your organization, and you need to make sure you select the best person for the role. Even though some positions, titles  and industries may share similar capabilities and backgrounds, you have a unique organizational culture. You should insist on a custom made search effort to address your specific need, not a canned response based on assignments completed for other clients.

2. Expect Professionalism

Find a recruiter that understands and appreciates the fact that you and the other members of your company expect to be treated with the utmost respect and highest level of client service.


3. Experience, Experience, Experience

Finding and attracting top talent is often more art than science and experience plays a major role. Seek a veteran executive recruiting firm or consultant with a long proven track record and a lot of client references and case studies. In the case of firms with many consultants, ensure that the person that will actually be handling your search has the experience and that he/she is not just hiding behind the reputation of the firm.  

4. Protect Your Company Reputation

An important group to consider when protecting your brand and strengthening your company’s reputation in the marketplace is the candidates who are contacted by your recruiting agents. Often, these people are asked to consider an opportunity within your company, and many of them are invited for interviews with one or more of the company’s representatives.

Unfortunately, many candidates are oversold or misinformed about a particular opening they are asked to consider. Other candidates are not provided meaningful feedback regarding their candidacy, and some candidates receive no communication after an initial contact or even after an interview.

This communication with candidates and/or mistreatment reflects badly on your organization.  You should engage a recruiter who not only protects your organization's image in the marketplace but also enhances its reputation.


5. Off Limits Policies

In the executive recruiting business, off limits policies are assurances that the search firm will not recruit people from the client company during the assignment and usually for a designated period after the assignment is concluded.

Off limits policies become a challenge with larger executive search firms which have hundreds of clients. If these firms have off limits policy agreements with most of these clients, then are these firms truly able to provide a new client with a thorough and objective search of the marketplace?  The same problem even comes up with smaller specialized search firms that may have many clients in their particular niche, discipline or practice area that they are also blocked from providing a new client with a thorough, objective search.

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About the Author:

Carl Taylor is the president of Carl J. Taylor & Co., an executive search firm based in Dallas. For over 20 years, the firm has successfully completed challenging search assignments for clients of all sizes in Texas and around the country. If you would like more information about this or other executive search related topics, please call Carl Taylor at (972) 490-7697 or email him at ctaylor@carltaylorco.com. The company website is http://www.carltaylorco.com.