The answer often is that companies do not easily lay off their top performers, the best of the best.   Layoffs can often be a winnowing process to “clean house.”   If the role you are filling truly requires a “financial athlete,”   a high performer who can lead and progress through your organization, there is a good possibility that that person will still be happily employed.   Often this person is deeply embedded within an organization, and as an inactive candidate they can be hard to identify.

Companies will often take their search out to contingency firms, spreading the net wide and paying commission only when a firm successfully places a candidate.   You can get lucky this way.  However the biggest pitfalls are two fold.   A contingency recruiter will often go after the low hanging fruit.   He or she will show resumes of active candidates that have come their way, throwing the resume against the wall and hoping it will stick.   Minimal effort required.    As discussed above, active candidates, those with resumes in the marketplace, are often not the candidate that is the high-flier.

When you hire a retained search firm, you are paying for extra effort and personalized service.  More often than not the retained recruiter will have a deep specialty and can more fully assess a candidates’ strengths or weaknesses.    They will have a well developed network of relationships that can help uncover the “embedded” candidate.   And they will have the skills to “pry a candidate loose.”   At Brentwood Search it is common to recruit high performing candidates who are both happy and successful in their current companies, and who have never even considered looking, let alone been active in the marketplace.

Because a retained firm is working on fewer engagements at any given point in time the recruiters at that firm will aggressively be on the telephone, calling and networking to identify and convince a top candidate to look at an opportunity.

Is this sort of recruiting somewhat more expensive?  Yes.   But the results speak for themselves.   If you are placing a candidate into a mission critical role, a mistake can be ruinous to your company.   Or at least can be costly in terms of replacement, hours lost, business lost to name just a few.     A retained firm will give you in depth referencing, sometimes referencing even the referencer.    They will insist on background screening, in all instances, but particularly in instances where the executive has fiduciary responsibility or access to proprietary information.    At Brentwood Search, we use Corra Group  to do our background screening, and find that the level of personalized service that company provides is in keeping with our own philosophy of quality service.

A company is only as good as the team that is assembled.    It is our mission to provide our clients with personalized and in depth service, guaranteeing the best available candidates match the specifics of the positions they are hired to fill.

The question we ask our clients is:  “How important is this role to the success of your company and to you?”   If the answer is very, then retained search is clearly your best option.  You will save or make money in the long run.

Beyond the usual and obvious “network with people you know” advice that is, of course, crucial in a job search, there are several things to focus on that enhance your chances of getting work.   Many people who find themselves suddenly employed, turn right away to Internet job boards and postings.

What most people do not know is that you can spend days, weeks, months even, firing off responses to job listings, and your resume may never even be seen by a company’s internal recruiter.   To deal with the large influx of candidates, many companies use screening techniques that are keyword sensitive.   If your resume is not properly prepared, it may find its way into the circular file without ever being read by a live person.   It is always best to look at each individual job description and fine tune your resume to utilize exact words and phrases from that description in your resume.   Automated screening software will often look for the best “exact match.”     The earlier in the resume these keywords are utilized, the better chance you have of having your resume reach an internal recruiter’s hands.

Very, very few internal recruiters, or search firms, are happy to receive “functional” resumes.   Your best bet is ALWAYS to craft a chronological resume.

But all this aside, success in your job search will require far more in the way of proactive involvement.   We always encourage a candidate to put together a “target list” of companies.   This list should include companies that take advantage of your body of experience and knowledge.   It is much harder to change industries or job function when looking for work in a climate like the one we are experiencing.   And you cannot rely on the hiring manager to recognize how you might “fit” the position.   You enhance your chances of success if you spend a good deal of time researching the company — the Internet is great for this.  Press releases on current activities at the company and areas of growth within each company will be key to helping you define how you are the best candidate for the job.   Too many candidates spend time talking about their past, who they are and how they have progressed in their career.   What the company wants to know is, “What can you do for us?”   Nothing works better than a candidate who comes prepared with a knowledge of the company and ideas about how they might be useful to an organization.   It is never about you.   It is always about what can you do to enhance the company.   Most successful candidates win jobs by taking this more proactive approach.

But what if that is not enough?   With mission critical deadlines looming and severely lightened workforces, many companies turn to hiring temporary consultants to help them deal with the overflow of work.   Often consultants are not officially considered “headcount.”   A department manager may be able to bring a contract consultant on to help with workflow, even during a hiring freeze.

Marcia Basichis, a partner at Brentwood Search, commented, “Though our executive search practice traditionally focuses on senior level retained search, we are seeing an increased volume of requests by many of our clients to hire temporary contract consultants to bridge the gap.  We love our clients and part of our role in tough times is to pitch in and help them weather the difficult times.   So we have expanded our practice to accept these type of engagements.”

Hiring a contract consultant can insure that the project gets done, and in a timely fashion.   A top search firm will work with business leaders to assess their needs and the profile of the professional that will best suit the temporary assignment.   They take the burden off our clients shoulders.  No longer does a busy executive need to take precious time away from critical work to find the right person for the job.   When an executive is shorthanded, as many are in these challenging times, the last thing he or she needs to do is devote precious work hours to rifling through resumes and qualifying candidates.  Sometimes in this situation, an executive who hard pressed, will make an impetuous decision in desperation, only to regret it.  It is no fun, having to undo work done improperly or haphazardly by someone who is not qualified in the first place.   A search firm will qualify candidates before they are presented to you, so you will get the best available consultant to fill your immediate need.

Often the professionals that are placed into consulting roles are simply in between permanent positions.   As the time required to conduct a job search and land a permanent position continues to lengthen, sometimes taking upward to six months,  contract employment can be a lifeline, providing income and stability in unstable times.   Many candidates find that the relationships made during these short term assignments often lead to full time employment - either at the company where they have been placed or through referrals to friends and colleagues of those executives with whom they are working.

Other candidates are finding that the flexibility that comes from contract work is particularly to their liking, or the variety of assignments enable them to develop and or bone up on specific skills.   For many professionals, working while searching for a new position is far preferable to spending the day at Starbucks, trying to look busy.

In either situation, your company will be able to find a top professional at an affordable price to help you through rugged times.   Marcia Basichis added, “We view this as a win-win situation.   Our clients are able to manage their workload and demands of their departments so that the company does not suffer.  Strong and reliable professionals are employed in stressful and difficult times.   And we are delighted to be of service to valued clients.”

With the recent economic downturn, the whole game has changed.    Not only are the quick turn profits drying up, but many private equity firms are finding that their portfolio companies are facing extreme challenges.   And a failure of a portfolio company creates real challenges for any private equity firm.   Many firms are reassessing their needs in light of the current climate.

A great “growth” CFO often cannot make the transition and become a CFO that will know how to rein in costs, how to restructure a firm, or how to keep a firm moving forward.   Often in these situations a firm’s best course of action is to replace its CFO.   The specific set of skills that are needed are often found in executives who have experience in knowing where and how to trim, where and how to lay a stronger foundation for future growth.

Marcia Basichis, recruiter with Steinbrun Hughes executive search, has seen an increased demand or executives who are experienced in helping companies weather such rocky times.   “We are now being retained to bring in Chief Financial Officers, who can grow companies organically, bringing real value to the bottom line.   Often restructuring CFOs have learned these skills through hard won experience in other downturns.  Picking the right candidate to guide your financial organization can mean the difference between survival and bankruptcy.”

Basichis added that Steinbrun Hughes is hired to bring in consultants on contract as well.  She noted that this is especially effective when a company needs immediate action.  Such contracting assignments can actually run concurrent with a search for a permanent CFO replacement.

Adaptability in changing times is essential for companies in challenging times   Making sure you have the right personnel in place can lead to difficult choices, but may be a company’s only choice.

Again, welcome.