Executive Search

Specialized Recruiting Solutions

If your company is in search of a highly specialized senior level, executive, or C-suite position, our executive search services are the perfect solution to address your talent needs. While all of our staffing services are customized to the unique needs of each client, our executive search services go a step beyond and offer only the most personalized and confidential of talent acquisition experiences (think Ritz-Carlton-esque service and attentiveness).

Executive search provides your company access to a pipeline of talented candidates that are otherwise thought to be untouchable. Fortune 500 CEO’s aren’t out their posting their resumes on Indeed, which is why partnering with a recruiting firm with a wide range of personal contacts across multiple industries and specialties is essential to successfully filling these elite types of roles. Utilizing our executive search services makes sense when your company lacks the internal research resources, professional network connections, or the ability to devote the time and resources required to properly source and recruit talent yourself. Additional benefits of executive search include the freedom to recruit talent from competitors without doing so directly (this is where the term headhunting comes from) as well as the ability to hand pick candidates unavailable through traditional internal or passive sourcing methods.

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The Executive Search Process Explained

Unlike other staffing services performed on a contingent basis, our executive search services are retained searches. Due to the highly personalized level of service, confidentiality, and “off-limits” agreements, DTS exclusively partners with your firm to complete the job search. Typically, retained searches are used for positions that pay upwards of $150,000 and higher and require a retainer to engage the search. Fee payments are usually made in thirds, 1/3 of the fee paid upon the initiation of the search, 1/3 paid once qualified candidates are presented, and the final 1/3 paid upon placement of the candidate; however, fees and payment schedules can be established based on your company’s individual circumstances. For slightly lower-level management positions, delimited or engaged search options are available which require a smaller up-front fee discounted from the final placement fee.

01 Search Engagement

Once DTS engages the search, we serve as the exclusive representative of the search for your company. In our initial search engagement meeting with your firm, we will also establish engagement timing, off-limits agreements, and all other items related to the particular position we have been entrusted to fill.

02 Launch Meeting

A launch meeting will then take place between us and your hiring managers and executive stakeholders to discuss the requirements for this role. This meeting also provides us the chance to witness firsthand the management style and corporate culture of your company, allowing us to better understand what makes someone successful at your company.

03 Job/Candidate Profile

We then create a job description detailing everything covered in our launch meeting as well as a candidate profile defining the core competencies, preferred experience, and soft skills being sought in the ideal candidate. These documents are then sent to you for your review and approval. These profiles will serve as the guiding documents for the search moving forward.

04 Research Strategy

We then develop a search strategy by compiling a list of target companies most likely to yield a successful candidate. Comparable roles and other key data points are also considered such as office location, corporate cultures, and other job performance metrics. The off-limits list is also taken into consideration to avoid any potential conflicts of interest or non-compete agreements.

05 Original Research

Using the research strategy as our blueprint, we begin conducting initial research to source and identify ideal candidates. In addition to online research methods, we will also utilize our network connections, our internal candidate database, information services, and social media to gather more intelligence and yield other prospective candidates not found through traditional research methodologies.

06 Network Referrals

In addition to researching potential candidates, we reach out to all of our network connections in order to garner referrals and more information on potential candidates who may be open to pursuing new job opportunities. Additional referrals sources may include business publications, professional associations, and other relevant professional referral sources.

07 Qualifying Candidates

Upon completing our initial research, the list of sourced candidates are closely compared to the job/candidate profile. Sourced candidates that most closely align with the job/candidate profile’s core competencies, soft skills, and required experience are then moved to the qualified candidates list and we will coordinate and schedule the initial interviews with Fives DTS.