The Confidential Search- a good recruiting strategy.
Confidential = “Done or communicated in confidence; Entrusted with the confidence of another.
Entrusted with private or restricted information.”
There often exists a lot of confusion around a confidential search, or that it feels like it is not proper for a company to be involved in a recruiting project that is not announced; when the exact opposite is actually the case.
A confidential search need may arise for several reasons, and it becomes very necessary for a company to keep such a recruiting project contained. Often times it may be difficult to manage this internally, and an outside firm will need to be retained.
Some common reasons that a company may be in a hiring need where the situation must be initially kept confidential could include:
- A senior level executive has resigned with extended notice and the board of directors does not want to make an announcement until they have the replacement secured
- General succession planning. Someone may be receiving a promotion and the company does not want to announce this until they have this key rolled already backfilled
- There may be a health concern with an employee, and it may not be appropriate to disclose this information until a later date, but as a critical role the company wants a search firm to begin working to have someone identified and ready to go when necessary.
- A company may be looking to “top grade”. Meaning, a person in an essential role may not be the right person to take the company to the next stage of growth. A search firm can be doing the work behind the scenes to identify the right skill set and person to make a smoother and timely transition in order to put the company in a better position.
- A future termination is planned, and a company needs to be proactive to fill this person’s role
Managing through open positions and being strategic about predicting future openings is very important in running a department and/or company. And then determining how to best fill these role is essential to maintaining how well your company is operating and protecting your profitability. Being proactive is always the best approach to recruiting. Being in a reacting mode is when problems tend to arise and positions can remain open for long periods of time leading to undue stress on other employees and loss of revenue.
Randy E. Sims
Sims Executive Search LLC Owners: Randy@SimsSearch.com Teresa@SimsSearch.com
www.SimsSearch.com
Office: 636-265-2600