Ask HN: Why do executive headhunters exist?
I get the issue of finding good talent. Rather, my question is why hasn't a startup swept in to steal the insanely high fees the inefficient, fragmented incumbents currently earn? I'm not talking engineers - I mean candidates who are evaluated purely on squishy stuff rather than technical know how.
A relative of mine works as an executive headhunter. With no domain knowledge (entire career is in headhunting), she earns high six figures for finding, assessing the competence of (potential), and recommending C-suite financial roles (e.g. CFO). She told me today she turned down someone because they didn't have enough of an 'executive presence'. When I pushed her on what that meant she only had a blank stare. The engineer in me feels as though there must be a more fact-based approach towards assessing senior talent - especially with the rise of language analysis, etc. Are there any cool startups doing exactly this? Am I missing something? Will my relative continue racking in fat stacks for what seems to be throwing darts at the wall?
"Executive presence" is a code word for having worked for the "right" companies in the "right" roles, having the network and profile for the role. At the C-suite level, tasks requiring domain specific knowledge / skills are delegated.
What you don't hear about is that executive recruitment firms have partners who network extensively, sit on the right boards, play golf at the right clubs, nurture alumni relationships, etc. Furthermore, they have researchers who maintain databases of who's who in their fields of interest.
Boutique executive search companies startup all the time. They are formed by persons of a certain age, who have the connections to hit the ground running. The few that I know are financially established and can comfortably live off making one or two placements a month.
Because executive recruitment works very differently to junior/mid level individual contributor recruitment. 95% of a headhunter's value is in their network.
A company will have a senior leadership role and they won't usually even advertise it; they'll engage one or more headhunters to go and find someone. This will either be a person within the headhunter's existing network who they know could be persuaded to move, or it could be someone they find via other means.