How to Hire A-Players: Finding the Top People for ... - GIT home page

146 How to Hire A-Players
Hire the Recruiter, Not the Firm
Some great advice for college students is to ‘‘take the professor, not
the class.’’ A terrific professor can transform a seemingly boring
subject into something interesting and valuable, while a lousy professor
can turn the most scintillating topic into a trip through Purgatory.
This same wisdom applies when hiring a recruiter. Hire the
recruiter, not the firm. The outside recruiter you select may work
for one of the biggest search firms in the world or for a boutique
firm with a small staff. Hiring a big firm does not guarantee you
great results. Find a recruiter who is well known and well respected
in your niche and make sure that he or she will personally conduct
your search. The size of his or her firm is secondary.
A-Player Principle: Bigger does not necessarily mean
better in the world of recruiting. Find the individual recruiters
with the best reputations, regardless of the size of the firms
for which they work.
Checklist for Interviewing Recruiters
When you find a handful of reputable recruiters in your space,
interview them before hiring one. Here are some questions to ask:
What industries or roles do you specialize in? (Are they generalists
or specialists?)
How many searches have you conducted in our industry in the
past year? (Do they have the industry expertise you want?)
How many positions have you filled in these areas in the past
year? (Do they have a deep list of contacts as a result of recent
search activity?)
Can you describe your process for conducting this kind of
search? (Listen for how comprehensive and analytical their
procedure sounds to you. Is this a recruiter who is going to