The Major Executive Search Firms usually Have a Research Staff
ByThe staff can be sizable and located in many of the firm’s offices around the United States and overseas. As college graduates and often librarians, they are trained in information gathering techniques. Using the guidelines and directions of headhunters as to which fields and companies, and what levels of executives to identify, researchers develop potential or target candidates’ names (individuals who are usually working in competitive companies) whom the recruiter can call. How do they do this?
They purchase specialized directories listing who’s who in different fields. They may also have had the opportunity to look at staff directories of different companies that were lent to the headhunter by an executive who is an employee there or was an employee there whom he had hunted away. Additionally, magazines and newspapers in different fields are subscribed to and a reference library is maintained. A research staff reviews the search firm’s resume files or computerized data bank to see if there are qualified people who match the job specifications. Many sophisticated search companies have computer linkage to other invaluable information services, such as Dun & Bradstreet (enabling quick information retrieval about numerous companies), The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times (all past articles from their morgues can be obtained), and so forth. Researchers telephone into companies and find out who holds a particular position. They have been known to visit an office building, peruse a lobby directory, and note which executive does what for a given company.
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