We take pride in presenting interesting candidates who often are not actively seeking new positions. We serve as the bridge between client and candidate. We take responsibility for shepherding the search process to completion, ensuring that it reflects well upon the client organization while being respectful of our client's time, particularly the uncompensated time of members of nonprofit boards and search committees.
I. The Client and Opportunity
II. Research and Candidate Identification
III. Progress Meetings, Interviews, and Finalists
IV. References and Credential Verification
V. The Final Choice
VI. Professional Fees
VII. Guarantee
I. The Client and Opportunity
We begin with a site visit. Fact-finding, consensus based meetings and interviews with decision makers and others relevant to the search enable us to understand the organization, its goals and mission, organizational chemistry and culture as well as the mission of the position being searched.
Understanding the organization’s culture is vital to the success of a search. We listen carefully to the mission of the position being searched and goals of the institution. We learn how past successes and failures can contribute to our ability to identify candidates. Our experience and background preparation enable us to bring important insight to a project before we even begin a search.
Shortly after the site visit, we detail our understanding of the engagement by preparing the position specification, which characterizes our client's organization and its history, and describes the position, qualifications, background, skill set, and personal characteristics of the ideal candidate. Client approval of the position specification ensures that we share a common understanding at the onset of the engagement.
II. Research and Candidate Identification
While most of our candidates are employed and not actively seeking new positions, they often respond positively when contacted about an important new opportunity. Prospects come from a variety of sources: client recommendations, our own networks and databases, targeted research and social networks. Our database management system provides fingertip information on thousands of individuals with whom we have developed relationships over the years. We also make direct inquiries in targeted organizations to identify and contact individuals who on the basis of their present responsibilities are likely prospects.
III. Progress Meetings, Interviews and Finalists
In our first progress meeting, we meet to discuss the results of our outreach efforts and review candidate summaries of those we have found to be of most interest. At this time, most of the candidates have only been spoken with by phone.
We then conduct in-depth interviews of those in which there is mutual interest. In addition to learning about a candidate’s life and work, we develop an understanding of what is exceptional about him/her and determine the compatibility of their values with our client's organizational culture. Written evaluations of final candidates are prepared and shared with our client in the second progress meeting.
We schedule interviews with finalists, coordinate travel, develop interview questions as necessary and debrief candidates after their interviews. We keep candidates apprised of their status and notify on a timely basis those no longer under consideration.
