We recently had a client we were conducting a Chief Marketing Officer Executive Search for ask us if we knew of any firm like us specializing in finding Chief Financial Officers. The CEO really liked our model of being a boutique marketing executive search firm that only worked on executive level marketing roles with a team of former marketers doing the vetting of talent. Along with the depth of our experience as a CMO Executive Search Firm.
After thinking about it and reaching out to a few other executive search firm owners, I was not able to come up with a recommendation. I did offer to send them information on how to select an Executive Search Firm, which led us here.
What Are The Questions You Need To Ask Before You Choose Your Next Executive Search Partner?
The search firm you select will have a big influence on the candidate you end up hiring. Selecting the right executive search partner is a critical decision that can make or break a company’s ability to exceed growth goals.
While choosing a reputable, credible firm is vital, what truly makes a difference is the team that will be working on your search and their ability to execute the search process effectively. The team’s experience, key performance metrics (KPIs), and average time-to-fill are crucial factors in ensuring your hire is successful.
1. Firm and Team Overview: Experience and Specialization
When evaluating an executive search firm, the experience of the specific team members working on your search is far more important than the firm’s brand. Larger firms may offer a certain level of cache. Whether they are the right fit for you depends on a lot of factors.
The Big 5 (SHREK) firms all have very talented people on their teams. The top individuals at these firms get put with the largest customers. If you are Proctor & Gamble or Amazon or Coca-Cola, this can work out very well. If you are a company with less than $10 billion in revenue, you are unlikely to get the A-team. Do you want to pay for premium service when you are working with the B or C team? Smaller firms where you have an owner leading your search can be a far more powerful solution.
Most firms typically assign three individuals to a search: a senior partner who serves as the day-to-day point of contact, a senior associate who conducts candidate interviews, and a researcher who handles initial candidate screenings. However, at MarketPro, who recently completed their 300th CMO Executive Search, a leaner approach is used, splitting the research function between the Partner and Senior Associate, as we see the research process as critical to the overall success of your search. Both ways can be effective.
Key Questions to Ask
- How many similar executive searches has your team conducted in the last 12 months? What were the client profiles (size, growth trajectory, etc.)?
- Look for: You will want at least a handful of similar searches specifically completed by the team you will be working with, how many the firm has done is irrelevant if your team is new to your needs (e.g., similar executive roles and organizational sizes).
- This demonstrates the firm’s ongoing expertise in specific areas. Industry is not important, a smart executive search team can adapt to different industries and since all quality search firms do not recruit from their customers, too many companies in your industry can lead to hands-off challenges. This can typically occur with larger firms. The largest executive search firm in the USA works with 40% of the Fortune 500, which eliminates 40% of the talent they can work with.
- How many searches have the specific team working on my search completed in their careers?
- Look for: Extensive experience by the team assigned to your search, ideally with a proven track record in similar leadership searches. A handful of similar searches in the last year is positive, but if this is all they have done, they are still a rookie. You really want a team that has completed at least fifty CMO executive searches or other CXO searches, depending on the role you are recruiting for.
- Who will lead the search and be involved at each stage?
- Look for: A clear designation of roles with a partner directly overseeing the search process and remaining involved throughout. How involved partners remain in the search can vary from firm to firm. You want the senior person to be setting a search strategy, conducting second-round candidate interviews, managing all salary negotiations, and doing reference checks personally.
- Also, be careful that at the larger firms, the team selling you their services might not be the team working on your search once the contract is signed.
2. Interviewing Methodology: Ensuring a Rigorous and Tailored Process
A structured, thoughtful interview methodology is essential for identifying top candidates. Ask the search firm about their interview process and how they decide what questions to ask. At MarketPro, two separate rounds of interviews are conducted:
- The Senior Associate focuses on marketing-specific skills, knowledge, and past successes. These are custom interview questions we create based on our expertise in marketing executive search and we layer in some “top-grading” questions.
- The Senior Partner dives deeper into leadership ability and cultural fit, ensuring alignment with your company’s values and vision.
We create customized questions for each search based on our expertise in marketing and our experience of over twenty-five years as the leading boutique marketing executive recruiting firm and incorporate “top-grading” questions to identify A-players. This tailored approach is essential for identifying leaders who can drive results within your specific organizational context.
Key Questions to Ask
- What is your interview process, and who conducts the interviews?
- Look for: A clear, multi-stage process led by senior-level professionals with deep experience in your field. The process should include behavioral and performance-based interviews to accurately assess candidates.
- How do you ensure that your interview methodology effectively identifies top talent?
- Look for: Methodologies that involve custom, role-specific questions, along with overall executive interview best practices are important, and multiple rounds of interviews to ensure a comprehensive evaluation of candidates.
- How many rounds of interviews do candidates go through before being presented to us?
- Look for: Two rounds of interviews by your executive search firm, first by the Senior Associate and second by the Partner-level person. A Junior Associate might ask a candidate two or three questions to see if it is worthwhile to pass the candidate on in the process. This is not a full interview, and it is not being conducted by someone senior enough to make a decision. This ensures the firm is thoroughly vetting candidates before sending them to you.
3. Screening Process: Separating the Best from the Rest
The quality of candidates you receive depends heavily on the firm’s screening process. You want a partner who only presents the top 20% of candidates they interview. At MarketPro, only 13% of the candidates we interview make it to our clients. This strict vetting process ensures that you’re presented with A-players who meet your specific needs.
Key Questions to Ask
- What percentage of candidates do you send to clients after screening?
- Look for: A high standard of screening where only the top candidates (20% or fewer) make it to the client. Lower percentages, such as 10-15%, reflect a rigorous filtering process.
4. Team Capacity: Managing Multiple Searches Without Compromising Quality
The workload of the Senior Associate is a key factor in the speed and quality of your search. A senior associate typically conducts in-depth interviews with candidates, so it’s crucial they have sufficient bandwidth to dedicate to your search. Some firms overload their associates with four or five searches, which can lead to delays and a less thorough vetting process.
At MarketPro, we limit each senior associate to just two searches at a time, ensuring high-quality, focused attention on your hire. This also speeds up the process, preventing delays common with firms that overload their team members.
The average time to fill an executive search in the US is six months. At MarketPro, we average ten to twelve weeks by limiting the number of searches our team is allowed to work on at any given point in time.
Key Questions to Ask
- How many searches does each person on your team handle simultaneously?
- Look for: A firm that limits the number of searches handled by senior associates (e.g., no more than 2 to 3). This ensures they can dedicate sufficient time and resources to each search. Senior Associate has an incredibly time-consuming role and you want to make sure the number of searches they are working on simultaneously with your search will be limited.
- How many candidates will your senior associate interview before presenting a shortlist?
- Look for: To get you a shortlist of A-players, the Senior Associate needs to conduct a large number of first round interviews. At MarketPro, our average is 75 per search. We then conduct 20-25 second round interviews to get our clients the top (7-10) candidates. Some firms interview as few as 25 in total which means a lot of top talent has not been spoken to.
5. Time to Present a Shortlist: Speed Without Sacrificing Quality
The speed at which a search firm presents a shortlist of candidates is largely a function of how many searches they allow each team member to work simultaneously and the depth of their interviewing process.
The goal is to get candidates to the client as quickly as possible without shortening the quality of the process or talent. At MarketPro, we commit to beginning the presentation of candidates by week four of the search, for every CMO executive search we have done for the past three years, we have successfully begun presenting candidates by week three.
Key Questions to Ask
- How long does it typically take to present a full shortlist of candidates?
- Look for: An efficient turnaround time with an in-depth amount of interviews. The best practice is to be presenting candidates no later than week four.
- Do you send candidates as they are identified or wait until the entire list is complete?
- Look for: Either of these can be successful. We send candidates as we have them, that way is a rare occurrence that we need to course correct, and we can respond more quickly.
6. Time to Fill: Understanding the Timeline and How the Fee Agreement You Sign Plays a Big Role
The average time to fill an executive search in the USA is six months. This is painfully slow and completely unnecessary. At MarketPro, we are averaging ten to twelve weeks, and we just completed our 300th CMO Executive Search in forty-seven days.
Two things lead to search firms being OK with the process taking so long. First is how they process work internally, as previously discussed, how many searches each team member manages. Second, fee agreement is typically disconnected from performance. Which typically leads to a slow and potentially negative outcome.
Key Questions to Ask
- What’s your average time-to-fill from the start of the search to the signed offer letter?
- Look for: Nobody wants to wait six months for a key strategic leader to join. Unfortunately, this has been accepted as the norm. You can definitely find a firm that can get you top talent in half that time.
- Performance-Based Fee Structure
- Look for: Most executive-level retained search firms charge 1/3 or 33% of the first year’s salary and bonus compensation. At MarketPro, we charge slightly less, but that is NOT the important part. Most fee agreements resemble paying us 1/3 upfront, 1/3 after 45 days, and 1/3 after 90 days with a true-up at the end whether or not we have provided any results to you. This agreement removes all motivation the firm has to do a great job.
- At MarketPro we want our agreement to be performance-based and to align us as partners in the ultimate outcome which is providing you with top talent. We do charge 1/3 upfront to make sure you are committed to the partnership so we can invest the time necessary. Our second 1/3 is not due until you start interviewing talent. This is important as you agree we are sending you great candidates and you want to meet them. Our final third is not due until you actually hire someone. This aligns us as partners and makes much more sense for our clients. Make sure you avoid a time-based fee structure.
7. Guarantee: Risk Mitigation and Success Metrics
Guarantees are common in the executive search industry, but the length of the guarantee is less important than how often a firm must conduct a replacement search. Most clients focus on the length and terms of the guarantee but fail to ask about how often a firm has to utilize the guarantee provision.
There are different data points out there on this number, but a good average would be 9% of executive searches fail and by fail we mean the candidate does not last six months in the role. A top firm will be under 3% or have a 97% stick ratio.
At MarketPro, from 2008 to 2024, we have had only 1.1% of our placements do not make it through our guarantee period or we have a 98.9% stick ratio. Due to our expertise in marketing, all being former marketers and a strong focus on culture fit plus over 25 years of experience in marketing executive recruitment, this is possible.
Key Questions to Ask
- What is your guarantee policy and how often do you need to honor it?
- Look for: The goal here is to see a track record of success, not a firm that has too many searches that need to be done for a second time. A failed search is bad for everyone, the client, the candidate, and the executive search firm. That offers a guarantee based on placement success, not just a timeline. A reputable firm should have a proven track record of placements that stick without needing to rely on extended guarantees.
- What is your firm’s success rate for successful hires?
- Look for: A high success rate of at least 97% or higher over an extended period of time. At least for the last 10 years.
8. Top Question New Potential Clients Ask That Is Not Relevant And Might Do Your Search Harm
Industry Expertise: A typical question is, how many searches have you completed in our industry? The reality is you know your industry and can interview candidates based on this, and it is easy for a smart executive search professional to work across industries. All professional executive search firms have a policy of not recruiting from their clients. Therefore, if I have too many customers in your industry, you are limiting the pool of talent your search partner can provide you.
At MarketPro, our marketing executive search practice is across all industries. The industry we work in the most is SaaS / Technology, and that is still only 11% of our work.