What Is An Executive Recruiter?

If you’re trying to hire an new executive, you may wonder what an executive recruiter is and what they do. An executive recruiter, also known as an executive search consultant or headhunter, is a professional who helps organizations find and hire high-level executives and specialists. Executive recruiters typically work for specialized firms, known as executive search firms, that exclusively partner with organizations seeking industry-leading placements for pivotal C-suite, specialist, and other hard-to-fill roles. 

Executive recruiters are assets to organizations across industries, because they have expertise in finding and attracting top talent for leadership positions. They have a deep understanding of the skills and experience required for various roles and are able to leverage a suite of specialized tools, methodologies, and practices to identify, engage, and evaluate candidates who may represent a good fit for their partner organizations.

Executive recruiters invest in developing unmatched networks of contacts across industries to widen their access to talented professionals for their partners. These diverse, multi-faceted networks allow executive recruiters’ partners to streamline their hiring process, while also significantly boosting their access to exciting and innovative candidates. 

Executive recruiters are also expert negotiators and relationship-builders, making them excellent assets for winning over leading experts in your industry that likely already enjoy an appealing compensation package. Executive recruiters will promote your company’s culture, mission, and future to convince your top candidates to make the leap and join your team.

What Does It Mean To Be An Executive Recruiter? 

Being an executive recruiter is a unique and essential role in the recruiting industry. Executive recruiters specialize in finding and placing high-level executives, specialists, and other corporate leaders in pivotal positions.

Executive recruiters differ from generalist recruiters, who typically work for staffing or recruitment agencies. Unlike generalist recruiters that handle everything from seasonal and block hiring to intermediate and mid-management placements, executive recruiters exclusively take on projects at the highest rungs of the corporate ladder. Being an executive recruiter also typically means you operate across industries.

Being an executive recruiter also typically means you bring more experience to the table and have a wider range of responsibilities than generalist recruiters. As an executive recruiter, you’ll be expected to provide deeper insights and stronger guidance regarding the skills and experience your partners need for a successful placement. Being an executive recruiter also means you have access to state-of-the-art tools that empower you to make accurate, data-driven evaluations that support long-term success. 

What Is The Job Description Of An Executive Recruiter? 

So, what might a job description seeking a high-powered executive recruiter look like? 

While real-world job descriptions for executive recruiters differ depending on factors like industry knowledge and desired experience level, they generally include fundamental executive recruitment tasks and aptitudes like:

1. A keen ability to identify and engage valuable candidates.

Executive recruiters’ most vital responsibility is dialing in on executives and other specialists that represent excellent skill, leadership, and cultural fits for your clients. Every job description for an executive recruiter will request a demonstrated ability to separate ideal fits from their lackluster competitors as well as successfully gain access to top-performers for further evaluation.

2. Assessing candidates.

Experience and expertise in assessing and evaluating candidates is another essential executive recruiting skill you can expect to see in nearly every job description. Executive recruiters face more pressure from their clients to deploy data-driven evaluation processes that predict cultural and performance assimilation, due to the pivotal role their placements play in the futures of organizations.

3. Building relationships. 

It should come as little surprise that every executive recruiting job description mentions relationship-building. After all, the success of every recruiter, from seasonal specialists to executive search consultants, hinges on their ability to build, maintain, and expand an actionable network of candidates in their industry and niche.

4. Actionable industry insight.

Executive recruiters aren’t just recruiters – they’re strategic business consultants, too. Organizations investing in executive search (rightfully) expect a more refined level of service that allows them to create competitive offers that capture the most promising professionals in their industries. 

To consistently provide this expected outcome, executive recruiters must have an exceptional and current understanding of their partner organizations’ industries. This knowledge allows executive recruiters to provide guidance on key topics, like your total reward package.

5. An ability to close.

Executive recruiters don’t call it a day when their client chooses a candidate. Instead, they shift from recruiting to sales mode and begin interfacing with your ideal candidate to discuss, negotiate, and finalize the terms of their new employment contract. After securing a signature, the best executive recruiters transition into providing transition and assimilation services to better ensure the long-term success of their placement. 

What Is The Typical Day Like For An Executive Recruiter? 

Most executive recruiters’ days involve an ever-fluctuating combination of client work, network maintenance and expansion, and candidate engagement. 

An executive recruiter may start their day by carefully conducting background and reference checks for one client, then transition into evaluating first-round candidates for another. Then, an executive recruiter may meet a contact for lunch to arrange a meeting with an intriguing colleague later that week. 

After returning to the office, an executive recruiter could wrap up their day by reaching out to a few prospective candidates to gauge their interest in taking on a new challenge, followed by arranging interviews with candidates further down the pipeline that have passed the first round of evaluations. 

How Medallion Partners Stands Out in Executive Search

Medallion Partners is a boutique executive search firm with extensive experience placing executives and specialists in even the most difficult industries. We don’t just find you the perfect candidate. We also offer transitional services to help your hired candidate move and settle into the new role. There is a reason over 98% of our placements are still in their roles over two years later. If you are struggling with a difficult-to-fill critical vacancy, contact us today to see how we can help.