A confidential search is conducted by a company seeking to fill important positions without publicly advertising or broadcasting it, keeping the process discreet without alerting employees, competitors, and clients.
A confidential search is one where the hiring organization can choose to be anonymous until a chosen time. According to statistics, 70% of jobs are never published publicly – these jobs are often filled through a confidential search.
A process that guaranteed a successful hiring of a suitable c-suite executive.
REASONS FOR A CONFIDENTIAL HIRING PROCESS
Below are common reasons that tend to warrant a confidential approach and the reason why the hiring company may require anonymity, or an executive recruiting firm may recommend the client having a confidential search.
Replacing an Employee
If the organization’s reasoning for a confidential search is based on a low performing incumbent to improve an area of business by simply replacing stagnant or unmotivated employees. This is where the incumbent has performance issues or interpersonal conflicts, and the organization plans to terminate them once a successor is identified. The individual a company is seeking to replace may not even be aware that a confidential search for their replacement is underway until it’s finished.
Risk of loss of intellectual property
Organizations may want to provide notice to individuals facing termination, but this could mean IP is unintentionally walked to the door too. Removing the window and exiting someone on the spot may preserve more IP.
Replacing Leadership
In most cases of confidential recruiting, the search is done for a replacement in leadership or an executive position. To avoid leadership gaps, it’s best to replace an outgoing employee without tipping them off, and having a replacement lined up ensures a smooth transition.
Maintain control of the narrative
The organization needs to maintain control of the narrative. If there’s a risk of gossip and half-truths or information needs to be protected.
New Branches & Product Launches
Another reason hiring managers often opt for confidential searches is when there are impending product launches or business changes.
Internal Changes
Additionally, during significant internal changes, such as upcoming acquisition and mergers or restructuring, certain job titles may give away sensitive information to staff before you’re ready to make an announcement.
Fear of a walkout
This may be a leader who is well adored who may “take” individuals with them.
Avoiding High Volume of Unqualified Applicants
For larger or globally recognized companies, it is incredibly important to hire confidentially. Doing this avoids having to sort through an overwhelming amount of unqualified applicants, ultimately leading to better hiring outcomes.
Internal Recruiters gives away the identity of the company
It is nearly impossible for an internal recruiter to conduct a confidential search without immediately giving away the company’s identity, thus it is imperative that a third party recruiting firm is utilized.
Finding qualified c-suite candidates is a difficult, expensive, and time-consuming process. A confidential search is an exclusive way to recruit top candidates under the radar.
Passive candidates are people who aren’t necessarily looking for a job change. They are thriving in their current role, which means regular job posts don’t typically reach these top performers. Recruiters can reach out to passive candidates directly and communicate the opportunity on a personal level. Through these one-on-one conversations, they’re able to relay certain aspects and details about the role that may pique their interest in making a move.
Talent&Partner search for professionals regularly to engage with these passive candidates, who comprise the roughly 85 percent of people that do not actively look at job postings. These highly sought after professionals are happy with their current positions but are selectively open to enticing opportunities to advance their careers. To reach passive candidates, we use a multi-stage outreach and an omni-channel approach.
Therefor it is important for an organization to understand that candidate pools are typically smaller but more pinpointed in a confidential search, especially in a tight labor market.
As a potential candidate in an executive search, you may find yourself in a confidential hiring process. That might be with a job posting that does not reveal the hiring company. You might also receive a call or a message from a recruiter, or search firm one day to talk about an opportunity, but they will hold back on the company name. However, there are several good reasons why a company might want to conduct a confidential search.
When executive staffing firms conduct confidential searches, it is important to respect the confidentiality of the employer. But know it is still ok to ask questions about any position. Just because things are confidential does not mean you cannot try to determine if you are a good fit for the role. Asking about work from home/hybrid, location, expectations, pay range, industry, the mission of the job, and the role itself helps both sides come closer to determining if there is a fit.
A job is what you do, an organization is why you do it…
I.e. The best candidates are selective. Candidates are typically drawn to an organization first, before then being drawn to the job. By not being able to disclose the actual company, you may find that some great candidates are often reluctant to advance their candidacy.
An extra layer of confidentiality can be put into play when by using NDAs in this process.
Signed NDAs hold candidates accountable, so they don’t communicate any details related to the job opportunity with others. Its often in the final stages with a candidate, it’s most common to sign a mutual NDA and share all the details.
ND&A can be shared with a prospective candidate, or only disclosing information to a small group of qualified and interested candidates is also a good work around.
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