Brochure_Talent_Services

Formal and informal referencing
Salary surveys
Formal referencing is often required once an offer
has been made to and accepted by a candidate.
Research Europe offers structured, formal
referencing with named referees and can rapidly
produce clear, concise and pertinent reference
reports following an offer of employment.
Informal referencing is highly-valued by the
potential employer. It involves taking discreet
and usually confidential soundings from
industry peers or stakeholders of the employee.
The candidate does not nominate the referees,
and the confidential nature of the exercise normally
means the referee is more open and forthcoming
about the candidate. Informal referencing is
commonplace, and particularly valuable when
making very senior or sensitive hires.
When a company recruits in a new geographical
territory, for a newly-created function or hires
global talent, it is valuable to benchmark salary
levels to better inform salary negotiations.
Research Europe offers tailored salary surveys
across a wide range of functions and industries,
and with our international reach and experience
we can offer this as a worldwide service.
We use a combination of publicly-available
information and direct approaches to – and
interviews with – industry peers, employers
and industry experts.
Research Europe’s salary surveys are bespoke,
proactive, highly relevant and up-to-date. We rely
on fresh research, and do not use generic,
archive data.
Case study
A private equity group which owns an international retail business operating in more than thirty
countries planned to hire a new CEO and CFO for that business. At the same time, the investors
were reviewing the headquarters location of the retail operations. Four locations were under
consideration – the US, the UK, South Africa and Australia. Research Europe combined desk
research, networking and telephone interviewing to produce comparative CEO and CFO salary
data within similar businesses headquartered in those four territories. This research informed the
remuneration level set for the new executives, and influenced the decision on where to search for
and locate them.
Case study
An international diversified media group planned to promote an internal candidate to a divisional
chief executive post. Before doing so, the board wanted to gauge the potential reaction of the
market, yet avoid industry gossip. Research Europe took discreet soundings from senior executives
within suppliers, partners and customers of the group – and from industry peers. The confidential
referencing supported the promotion of the internal candidate and the appointment was made.
10 11