Working to your advantage with a search firm. (Career RX).

KEY CONCEPTS

* Search Firm Consultants

* Evaluating Search Firms

* Career Counseling 

* Career Stewardship 

* Making Connections

* Developing Relationships with Search Firms

Executive search consultants have become an inevitable aspect of life for health care executives and those who aspire to their ranks--and that includes physician executives. And they can work to your advantage--here's how.

When the health care industry began to mature in the late 1960s, the "old boy" network was no longer enough to find and hire excellent executives who were needed for the new, more complex, era. Board members with business backgrounds had experience with search firms in their own industries. They understood the value of having the broadest possible (objectively chosen) candidate slates and began engaging search consultants to identify the best senior health care executives. The successes of those earliest searches--those great executive "stars" who took on some of the most visible arid complicated jobs in the country-ensured that other organizations would follow suit and use search firms as well. A new service industry for health care arrived on the scene.

At first, these firms were employed to assist boards with CEO searches. Less-senior roles were still filled the old-fashioned way, by health care executives contacting their colleagues for leads. Over time, as the stakes increased, the professional methods of search firms became the norm for populating health care's executive suite.

Enter (in the early '80s) physician executives-the new breed" as they were once described--the direct descendants of the medical director/chief of staff positions, but with greater executive responsibility and less direct clinical involvement, If it's difficult to find talented executives for any industry, its even tougher to identify physicians who can manage people and budgets within an administrative structure. Once the need was established, health care institutions increasingly came to rely on executive search firms as a source of qualified physician executive candidates.

What you need to know

You may be part of a decision to hire a search firm, or you may be chosen for the short-list of candidates for a great job. Either way, your career success will, in some degree, depend on how well you can evaluate and work with executive search firms. Don't wait until you are asked to hire a firm or are being presented as a candidate to develop your knowledge of the search process. It won't help you much at that point. Instead, spend some time becoming familiar with specific executive search firms and consultants when you do not need their services. (When you do, you're also least objective.)

Here are some thoughts to help you learn more about search firms. Keep in mind that executive search is a relationship-driven discipline, and relationships are what will determine your career successes from here on out.

* Be available. Take (and return) calls from search consultants. You need not be in the market for a job. If the position that's described does not interest you at all, perhaps you can recommend someone else. Taking search consultants seriously lets you build relationships that can put you in good stead throughout your career. They will remember.

* Accept interviews with search consultants whenever possible. You'll learn about a search firm's style and abilities by meeting their consultant and being interviewed. You may even find the job under discussion is appealing, after all. Approach interviews with an open mind and you'll learn a lot--about the firm, yourself, and the physician executive marketplace.

* Ask for career counsel. The best executive search firms are known for providing solid career counseling to those who seek it. Send in your resume and ask for a brief evaluation. It's smart to stay in touch, following up with the best firms when you make career changes. Showing you're interested will prompt them to take more interest in you.

* Look at their record. The age and size of a firm are strong indicators of its performance quality. The industry is too competitive for those who lack good relationships and/or repeat business to remain long in business. Talk with executives who have hired firms and been candidates in searches as well. Winners aren't hard to spot.

* Examine the firm's organization. Two types predominate--general search firms, which work in all industries--and dedicated search firms, which specialize in an industry or area. If it has experience and seasoning, a general search firm can perform well in the health care arena. But ask how long they've done health care search and be wary if they are recent arrivals on the scene. Look at a dedicated search firm's resources for depth and breadth. (Dropping a few names is a good idea to see how well the firm's consultants are acquainted with industry leaders and trends.) Inquire about the issue of blockage, which can prevent a firm's working with individuals in some cases. Ethical firms of every description will encounter blockage issues from time to time. Integrity will always be in order to resolve these questions.

* Realize that there is no unimportant link. First contacts from mature firms are often made by researchers, staff who have information on search assignments and their own firm. Don't dismiss them as "juniors" -- they're influential and their opinions are respected. Should you become a candidate for a position, you'll have plenty of contact with the lead consultant.

If you're exploring firms to select one for a search engagement. the process will be much the same. There is no unimportant link in the chain of your contacts. Search consultants are always interested in impressions and especially value the insights of administrative staff. If they tell me someone is unpleasant or difficult, I'll pay attention. I make and take calls at home and sometimes I'll ask my husband for his impression of a candidate, as a check on my own feelings.

* Make sure that they want to know who you are, not just what you can do. An executive search firm should want to know who you are, not just what you can do. Similarly, they should be able to describe the problems and opportunities offered by a hiring organization. Ask if this is their first search for this client. After one search for an organization, the firm should be expert on the subtleties of the place, its culture and personalities. In that same way, the search firm should quickly become "expert" about you and what makes you tick. It's their job to make a match, to find a great "fit" between candidate and organization-and that can only be accomplished through in-depth analyses and assessments.

* Listen to your instincts. After you've had some exposure to a firm's people and working style, your feelings can be your best guide. Your gut will tell you how well you'll be able to work with a particular search firm or consultant. Did you "click" or was it tough to connect? If you come away unsure of the consultant and how you may be represented, it's a signal to do more homework than usual on the organization-and also, perhaps, to examine and improve your interviewing skills.

Conclusion

Because search firms provide a vital national linkage between great organizations and excellent executives, they have become an integral part of the health care industry. Expect to hear even more from them in the years to come. How you manage and develop this relationship is a key aspect of your overall career stewardship. If you haven't already done so, plan to start working on this critical contact area. You owe it both to yourself and to your organization to open up this important informational pathway. (1)

Mary Frances Lyons, MD, Is a Senior Consultant at Witt/Kieffer, Ford, Hadelman & Lloyd in St. Louis. She can be reached by calling 314/862-1370, via fax at 314/727-5662, or via email at [e-mail] Please fax or email questions that you would like addressed in this column to Dr. Lyons.