Fee and speed are usually the first things a business compares when choosing a headhunter. In my experience those are the two least useful things to compare. A quick, cheap search that produces the wrong leader is the most expensive option available.
If you are choosing someone to find a leader for your business, these are the four questions I would ask, and the answers I would want to hear.
“How are you going to understand our business?”
The right candidates ask lots of the right questions, and the headhunter is the one who has to answer them. Do they intend to understand your values, culture and goals? Do they know the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats your business faces?
If their understanding stays at surface level, the best people will rule your opportunity out quickly when it is put to them. Strong candidates can tell when they are being sold a role by someone who doesn’t really know it.
“How does your process reduce the risk of a bad hire?”
The right decisions rest on the right data. Ask how their screening actually adds to your process, rather than just passing CVs along. Will they interview candidates properly? Do they use job-specific testing, such as a live exercise on real capability? Do they use cognitive testing, and will a professional interpret it? Will they take references before the final interview, not after? And what will they ask at the first interview?
Vague answers here are a warning. This is where most of my own work goes.
“What aftercare do you offer?”
The real work begins once the hire is made. What support will they offer you and your new leader to make sure the start goes well? Staying in contact with both sides keeps expectations clear and catches misunderstandings early, while they are still small.
A headhunter has built a relationship with you and with the candidate. That relationship is useful long after the offer is signed. Make sure you use it.
“How long will it take you to fill this role?”
This is the one where the reassuring answer is usually the wrong one. Great candidates take time to find, assess and hire. A well-planned, well-run search typically takes eight to twelve weeks.
If someone promises CVs in your inbox within a few days, ask yourself whether they are really doing the depth of search and evaluation a senior hire needs, or simply sending whoever is already on their database.
Choose the search, not the speed
A good headhunter should be comfortable being questioned this closely. After all, they will be asking you and your candidates much harder questions about fit. If they struggle to answer these four, that tells you most of what you need to know.