The impact of Research – the key to de-risking your senior leadership hiring at the Executive level

Over the last five years Inspired Search has seen 100% of placements pass their probation; a statistic we are not only very proud of but one that we intend to uphold for years to come with our unmatched and continued extensive dedication to research. 

Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, once said ‘Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought’. That’s exactly the value of Research in an Executive Search process – to bring diverse and fresh thinking to each assignment, having not just looked at the market but having truly seen the context, the passive talent and spotted the trends. 

Leaving no stone unturned, Inspired Search de-risks your leadership hires with the network, talent, insights, resources and market trend knowledge that is constantly cultivated by the dedicated Research team. The ongoing work of our Researcher means that when you instruct us, you can feel assured that we can respond with agility to your requirements, curating our existing knowledge and network to your specific requirements while having the capacity to look in new places, building out the talent pool further. 

The powerful research foundations that our Executive Search service is built upon is what will allow us to create and deliver results for a Search assignment proactively, fueling employers with complete confidence, inspiring insights and the peace of mind that their next hire will be the best in the market. Here’s our Top 5 reasons to invest in the power of Research: 

1.Constantly growing network 

Executive Researchers are continually researching, approaching and assessing the market outside of assignments and building strong relationships and connections with a great network of existing, new and passive talent every day. Working with us gives you access to a fresh and current network that can be tailored to your requirements.  

2. Access to the passive market

With only 30% of the current workforce actively seeking a new role - and even fewer at the leadership level - there is a huge pool of talent you may miss out on if you rely on a traditional recruitment process. By mapping the market our research allows talent to be sourced who may not have otherwise considered a move. 

3. Diversify your shortlists

With overall only 13% of senior management at the top 100 firms being from ethnic minority backgrounds in the UK, and only 10% being led by women, there is still a huge need to have more diversity on our boards. Evidence shows that diversity in leadership brings in more experience, knowledge and perspectives resulting in more innovation and better profit margins. By carrying out a fully comprehensive search you are ensuring that every person who could do that job is found, not limiting yourself to conventional networks or running the risk of candidates not responding to an advert due to unconscious bias in text. 

4. Live benchmarking

With the average tenure of a CEO in the UK being on average 5-6 years it is unlikely that the salary and benefits you had or have associated with the role are still accurate, and with fewer roles at this level and fewer being like-for-like it can be hard to get the current robust data to understand what salaries and benefits are like. Our tailored approaches to candidates can also serve to collect anonymized data on market rates and competitive packages

5. Evidence your decisions 

The full market map, that is so integral to an Executive Search process, also means you can produce evidence to the Board or trustees that all due diligence has been done and you can rest assured that decisions are made based on evidence and not network alone.  

Investing in the Research is to invest in the hire itself, giving you security that you have made the best decision for the business and the opportunity to think creatively about the talent for it. 

Here at Inspired Search, we take great pride in delivering in depth, valuable and insightful research on all of our Executive Search assignments. If you would like to learn more about the Executive Search process then do get in touch with our Executive Search team here.