How much do you trust your search firm?

Trust. I don't know about you, but it's huge in my book. It makes and breaks deals, friendships, and, at times, fortunes.  In the world of executive search, the best companies and the most brilliant leaders depend on us to have their best interests at heart.  Yet, if that's the case, why do off-limits remain such a big issue? And why, at the end of the day, do so many clients trust their search firms so little?

I would argue a couple of issues are at play.  One is a lack of transparency.  A good many retained search firms refuse to share the information they've gathered over the course of a search, arguing that to do so would violate search consultant - candidate confidentiality.

Please.

As a former investigative journalist, I know all about confidentiality. In fact, unlike search partners, I had to be willing to go to prison to protect a source. If there are some details that a candidate would rather not share, it is easy enough to redact from data exports and update reports to the client. That is why I suspect that the primary reason search firms refuse to share the data they gather over the course of a search is pure self-interest. They simply don't want to help their clients build their own database.  Another reason is that some firms may be afraid to "show their work" quite simply because they haven't done it.

Whom do you trust?

Because we're a search firm powered by a high-performance research engine, we're big believers in showing our work. In fact, we learn that by drilling down and providing granular detail, we've provided an important platform from which to build out a real consultative relationship of trust and collaboration.  It takes courage to show that level of detail, but it speeds corrections of errors and in so doing brings strength and resiliency to the process.

Another issue is off-limits.  Ironically, search firm specialization creates the very off-limits issues that clients wish to avoid. In fact, off-limits and specialization are diametrically opposed.  If you want deep domain expertise, then there will be many companies from which your search firm can't recruit. 

That is why we advocate for other kinds of search firm specialization.  Ours is human capital intelligence. We power every engagement with expert research (He who has the best information wins.) Quite simply, that kind of specialization rewards trust with less search, more find.