The job of a search consultant is crucial since he has to take the initiative to establish a climate conducive to mutual respect, trust and open communication, says Bhavna Bhatia.
Executive search can be simply defined as the fine art of selecting the right person for the right job. Search consultants facilitate this process through their systematic armoury of strategic business acquisitions, research processes, mapping documents, interview processes and so forth.
However, last year with its world altering capacity seems to have added another prerequisite for a search consultant – counselling. How many of us in the Executive Search business have had to play the additional role of a counselor, especially in the last one year? In order to manage both relationships – with the clients and the candidates – search consultants have often had to play the role of the therapist.
Last year, the recession made most clients jittery, even superstitious while selecting and finalising people for critical positions.
They not only needed bright and eligible suitors but also needed to be doubly convinced (of course, the traditional methods of confirming such as diligent reference checks and the psychometric and 20/20 skill tests did come in handy).
However, it was only a detailed probing of both the parties finally – resulting in counselling – that led to happy closures for all involved, including us!
It is at times like these that the true colours of any Real McCoy show. For one, industry exposure comes in quite handy as one can relate to the dilemma of both the candidate and the client who’s uncertain of hiring.
At this stage what is required to seal the deal is counselling by the consultant. Counselling is a skill and a process distinguished from advising, directing; perhaps listening sympathetically and appearing to be largely interested in many of the same concerns as professional counselors.
Counselling is a relationship; furthermore, a helping one. The consultant must take the initiative in the initial and the following meetings to establish a climate conducive to mutual respect, trust, and free and open communication.
Counselling would encompass a number of relationships and personal and professional modalities in which the counselor needs to be proficient. The relationships that you develop with your clients are crucial to any progress that you might make together.
Effective counselling would require consultants to possess:
– The ability to establish a trusting, open and useful relationship.
– Knowledge and awareness of career development theory and the ability to support the candidate and client through transitions and facilitate decision-making.
– The ability to recognise the need to refer the candidate to appropriate resources to remove barriers to employment.
– The ability to conduct effective intake.
Apart from the above mentioned professional skills, certain personality traits are critical as well, such as:
– Empathic Understanding – the ability to understand feelings, thoughts, ideas and experiences by viewing them from the client’s and candidate’s frame of mind. The objective is to be understanding without crossing the line from being professional to personal with the clients andcandidates.
– Respect and positive regard – belief in the candidate’s innate worth and potential and the ability to convey the same.
– Genuineness and congruence – ability to be authentic, to be real as opposed to artificial. One of the most critical qualities of successful consultants, it is a skill that is generally mastered over years of practice.
– Concreteness – the ability to not only see the incomplete picture that clients paint with their words, but also to communicate the figures, images and structures that will complete the picture.
– Warmth – the ability to communicate genuine caring and concern; again a skill that is often mastered by most successful consultants.
– Immediacy – the ability to deal with here and now factors. This approach often scores the most brownie points with the clients.
In addition to these personality traits, it is important to understand the competency levels of the counselors themselves. Although most search practitioners will in time develop their own personal theory to guide professional practice, established theories will provide a basis for examination and learning.
The coming years would see the emergence of qualitative search firms and executives. We hope that most of us are up for the challenge.
