Our Approach to Search
The Isaacson, Miller search process is simple but disciplined. We explain it in detail to our clients, adapt it to their requirements, and ask them to join us as partners in its implementation.
We typically divide a search into five phases: Understanding the Challenge; Networking & Screening of Prospective Candidates; Narrowing the Field; Selecting Finalists and Checking References; and The Final Choice.
Understanding the Challenge
Our consultants spend a considerable amount of time at the outset of the search learning about the client organization and defining the concrete objectives for the new executive. We ask, "How will you know one year, three years, or five years after you hire someone that you have chosen the right person? What will this person have accomplished?"
We meet with management, board members, key staff, and others to understand the history and culture of the organization and to determine how the new executive will fit. We also use this time to establish specific short- and long-term objectives for the incoming executive.
The document we draft after this research and consultation is not so much a job description as a statement of the challenges that will face the person we will help recruit. It also articulates the professional experience and personal characteristics required to meet those challenges.
We find that this process often helps to build a consensus within an organization about where it is going and what is expected of its new leadership. It also ensures that we share our client's understanding of the assignment as we begin to network for prospective candidates.
Networking and Screening
We consult closely with our client to identify industries, fields, target roles, and organizations where we might find candidates who match the requirements set out in the challenge statement. Rather than waiting for candidates to respond to the job announcement, we actively pursue and recruit special talent well suited to the role. We conduct extensive telephone networking, drawing upon our rich and diverse network of contacts around the country, including our database of more than 150,000 names. Recognizing that our clients often have excellent networks themselves, we carefully and systematically pursue their suggestions. Where appropriate, we advertise in targeted publications or extend our outreach through Internet postings on relevant Web sites and e-mail mailing lists. Our networking always includes a concerted effort to reach and interest qualified women and people of color.
Our objective is to cast as wide a net as possible to assemble a deep and diverse candidate pool. Many of the people we identify are busy and successful in their current positions and are not looking for another assignment; we work closely with our client to protect the confidentiality of their interest. We take particular care to keep prospective candidates advised of their status, to handle rejected candidates with consideration, and to inform our client of the progress of the search on a regular basis. In some searches there are strong internal candidates as well. These individuals undergo the same screening and assessment process as outside candidates.
As we complete our outreach we focus on reviewing resumes and conducting telephone screens. This allows us to narrow the long list of prospects to a reasonable number of candidates to interview in person before referring them to our client.
Narrowing the Field
Isaacson, Miller's in-person interviews with candidates are biographical in nature. We trace a person's career, learning about accomplishments in each successive role, challenges undertaken and milestones achieved, mistakes made along the way, and lessons learned.
The goal of these preliminary interviews is to form hypotheses and make initial judgments that can be tested in further interviews and references. We look for the fit between what the candidate has encountered in the past and the challenges of the role under consideration. We seek to identify the patterns in a candidate's career that may have led him or her to particular kinds of challenges and success at certain tasks or roles.
After completing our own candidate interviews and any preliminary reference checks, we report in detail the results of our work and recommend four to eight semi-finalists for our client to invite for interviews.
Selecting Finalists & Checking References
As our client prepares to interview semi-finalists, we review together the challenges of the position as originally outlined and the resulting skills and experience we have been seeking. We offer guidance on both the substance and the logistics of the interview process.
After the semi-finalist interviews, our client may face a considerable challenge in deciding upon finalists. Where appropriate, we help to structure the review and discussion of candidates. While the choices are always our client's to make, we are fully prepared to offer our own opinions and recommendations.
When finalists are invited back for a second round of interviews, we help to structure their return visits in order to provide an opportunity both for the candidates to learn more about the organization and the position, and for our client to get a deeper, second look at the candidates.
As candidates move through their final interviews, we begin an intensive and thorough process of checking references. We believe references are just as important as a candidate's performance in a series of interviews. We do not solicit letters of reference. Instead, we speak directly with each candidate's bosses, peers, and subordinates over the course of his or her career, asking questions and eliciting comment on themes that we have previously explored with the candidate. We document our lengthy reference material in a transcript style report and typically provide many pages of commentary on each finalist.
The Final Choice
A good search can be difficult to close. If there are three or four strong candidates whose strengths and weaknesses are known in detail, making the final choice can be complex. We remain active through this phase of the search, helping our client make a well-informed decision and staying in close contact with the finalists to address their questions and concerns.
We are often asked to play an important role in the final negotiations between the candidate and our client. Although we do not provide legal advice, we can help think through compensation packages and provide advice on relocation and family considerations.
