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10.09

Do You Need an Executive Talent Agent?
By Debra Feldman, JobWhiz, Execuive Talent Agent

Having an executive talent agent is a competitive advantage. Agents provide expert confidential, personalized career guidance, exclusive entrée to prime inside connections, as well as comprehensive professional services that support the daily needs of busy executives.

Executive talent agents and headhunters (also called executive search consultants or external recruiters) are often confused. They appear to produce the same outcome: introducing executives to potential new employers. However, there is an unmistakable distinction — the two professions are paid by, loyal to and represent separate parties that may have different priorities and opposite interests related to the same recruiting transaction.

Headhunters stay in business by satisfying their corporate client’s (i.e., an employer’s) mandate. They find appropriate prospects to fill an open position. They are not outplacement specialists. They don’t create new jobs or find spots for individuals. Headhunters are paid by employers to identify and attract new talent that exactly matches the employer’s specific requirements. Their role is to source the perfect candidate and manage the applicant pool. Thus, headhunters frequently exert control over the recruiting process by limiting the ability of potential employees to communicate directly with company insiders, those with actual hiring authority.

On the other hand, executive talent agents are consultants to individual job hunters and have been compared to the agent model in the entertainment field and sports industry. As experts, executive talent agents provide a competitive advantage for the individuals whose careers they manage. Their knowledge, guidance, connections and business savvy propel their clients’ success. Individual executives, not employers, pay an executive talent agent for services that include being their personal coach, mentor, representative, advocate, confidant and scout. An executive talent agent can be a long term partner or retained on a short term basis to advise on a job search campaign. Their compensation ranges from a percentage of an executive client’s annual compensation to a project-based or hourly fee. Agents usually differentiate their practice by industry sector or functional discipline.

Executive talent agents are not a substitute for executive search consultants and vice versa. Search consultants put their employer-clients first. Executive talent agents evaluate situations from the personal perspective of individual executives. Here are more details about executive talent agents and the exclusive benefits they provide for their executive clients:

• Providing objective advice and counsel gleaned from a wide range of practical industry and personal experience — more than any one person might gather in a single lifetime.

• Devoting 100 percent of their time and resources to their client’s career management issues. Customer service is top priority. Sample assignments include developing job search and career management strategies, evaluating job options, analyzing deal structure, researching and collecting information, preparing documents, initiating networking introductions, planning new mandates, conducting follow-up activities, etc.

• Maintaining their client’s privacy and conducting business or setting up meetings on a confidential basis. Protecting the client’s current status while pursuing more rewarding future challenges consistent with the client’s career goals.

• Incented financially and motivated by client’s success in finding a new job or getting promoted or closing a deal on favorable terms, not satisfying an employer’s needs.

• Independent agent: not restricted by employer-defined recruiting agreements that limit which other employers they are allowed to propose an executive as a prospective candidate.

• Each executive’s career comes first. No limitations on where an executive is introduced based on other search engagements undertaken by other headhunters in the firm.

• Access to the 80 percent of executive positions that are not advertised. Agents deliver leads in the hidden job market and establish new connections for their clients to place them on the radar screens of hiring authorities in advance of other potential candidates.

• Bypassing human and automated gatekeepers and opening closed doors to connect clients with hiring decision makers, key industry leaders and academic trendsetters. Promoting their client’s visibility, building their client’s credibility and strengthening their client’s competitive positioning for their next gig.

• Unparalleled cachet that differentiates an agent’s client commanding attention, developing credibility and promoting meaningful dialogues with contacts leading to productive business relationships, new opportunities and creative ventures.

Retaining an executive talent agent is an investment. Those most likely to appreciate and value this relationship are executives that fit into the following categories.

• Doesn’t have a network or known contacts are not generating leads

• High stakes campaign: search must be confidential, discreet and sophisticated

• Re-entry candidate emerging from a sabbatical or early retirement

• Changing career or industry and needs new, targeted inside contacts

• Not prepared for today’s complex job market: “I never had to look for a job before because I was always promoted or recruited.”

• Limited time and restricted availability for networking and researching

• Job search progress stalled and needs diagnostic to remove barriers

• Needs sharper focus and consistent execution of the right strategy

• Seeking hands on partner: “Can I hire anyone to job search for me?”

If any of the above applies to you, then an executive talent agent may be the right solution for your career’s future success. If you hire an executive talent agent, you can expect he or she to be your strongest ally, champion and advocate, to cheer you on, keep you focused on the right job search and career path progressing to reach your immediate and longer term career goals. Much as sports agents represent their clients to the media and negotiate employment contracts, an executive talent agent arranges face time with key industry leaders, coordinates networking meetings, counsels on new media and professional association activities designed to attract potential employers, advises or negotiates hiring terms, and recommends attorneys, accountants, etc. as necessary. Some executive talent agents joint venture with clients and become financial partners on new ventures, while others focus only on giving career and job search advice. Much as one might retain the services of a financial consultant, executive talent agents lend their expertise to the job hunt and sometimes to implementing future career plans. An executive talent agent is not for everyone, but for those who must conduct a discreet job search campaign, individuals who shy away from networking on their own and professionals who are not expert at navigating in today’s highly competitive job market, having a dedicated, loyal and trusted partner is definitely a good investment.

© 2009 Debra Feldman

Debra Feldman , founder of JobWhiz, is an executive talent agent with more than 20 years of senior management consulting experience. She uses networking to identify and connect candidates with unadvertised new career opportunities in the hidden job market. For more information, visit  www.JobWhiz.com, and to contact her, visit www.jobwhiz.com/contact.php.

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Opinions expressed are the author's.