Some time back i wrote about the fact that executive search firms are in it just for the quick wins….
I recently had another experience with a big executive search firm.The big thing with this firm was that they came clean right in the beginning, “managing expectations”, about not working for me, but working for their client. That means that only if they had anything fitting my profile would they get in touch. “Do not expect calls to see how you are doing, or if anything has changed in the following months”. Allright, that isn’t too bad in the first place, but the big thing is, they wanted to see a copy of my last salary-stroke.
The big question was why they would want to see that, and an even bigger question: why i would want to give that.
The answer to the first one was quite easily given: that way they can give a good indication of the current salarly package to the client, who can then decide what he wants to offer for a specific function.
The answer to the second question i can’t give: i see absolutely no reason why i would want to hand over that information. It is always the question of what i want to get minimum and how much the employer wants to pay for getting me to work for them. Why would i then show all the cards in my hand?
They gave as reason that they wanted to stop the inflation of salaries. I can understand that from their clients point of view, but not from my point of view. But hey, they only worked for the client they said.
Another executive search firm has been sending over quite a lot of functions lately. The only problem: half of them do not match my profile, or are definitely something else than what i told them i was looking for. Why i asked? The answer: I made a mistake..
That’s nice, they expect you to spend time in reading profiles, and then they just sent anything that comes on their path. Probably hoping they can get their bonusses, even if it is a lucky shot.
So i changed the way i would be working, i’ll keep reading any profiles the big companies send, but i really don’t expect much from that.
I’m in touch with a smaller company now, let’s see what they have to say. On their site they offer the chance of discussion in which to determine your “market value” and to see what they have to offer based on that.
I’ll keep you posted on the updates.
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