It’s the most common story in the banking industry today. You have a role that’s critical to your revenue goals. You need it filled fast. And not just by the highest qualified person. The recruit needs to be a precise culture fit.
As you seek out an executive search firm to help you find the best candidate, these four misconceptions may place hurdles in your way.
Learn the facts from our team at James Allen Executive Search, a leading executive search firm in St. Louis.
Some banks and commercial lenders choose not to work with executive search firms, usually under the impression that they don’t fill roles quickly enough. While it’s true that many firms have lengthy timelines, a few have records that show consistently low time-to-hire.
At James Allen Executive Search, we fill 94.7% of roles in under 90 days. In our case, this is the result of a proprietary system.
In reality, executive search firms have wildly varying processes and approaches to finding candidates. That starts from the sectors they specialize in and extends to the unique practices they’ve fashioned to ensure access to industry-best talent.
For us, the “secret” to maintaining a network of the top 10% of talent in the banking industry is leveraging decades of experience. And we are serious about candidate exclusivity. When we present a carefully vetted candidate for your consideration, yours is the only bank they’re thinking of joining.
It’s certainly true that we hold qualifications and talent in high regard at James Allen Executive Search. But if a candidate is going to make long-term contributions to your company and serve in a leadership capacity, we have to evaluate them holistically.
That’s why the candidates we bring into our network or find for you are those with more to give to your organization than core skills. To identify those candidates, we learn about your organization intensively.
As we answer those questions and more, we develop an understanding of the ideal candidate. And that’s someone who looks good on paper and is, in practice, a revenue-driving value-add.
It may seem natural that once you find the right candidate, you can wind down your relationship with the search firm. And indeed, some firms take this approach. But it’s not conducive to long-term success for the recruit and, eventually, the company.
What happens when you require a highly qualified candidate again? Another process of waiting and losing revenue?
We’ve modeled our approach around securing the long-term talent needs of our clients. We respond proactively to their vacancies in a way that’s simply not possible on a contingency basis. And we even offer onboarding support to help each hire settle in and deliver business value straightaway.
Providing support at that level requires strong and valuable relationships, which are a staple of our approach.
We match qualified and high-performing candidates within the banking industry with employers like yourself. And our proprietary system plus relationship-based approach consistently fills 94.7% of executive roles with time-to-hire at under 90 days.
