SHREK isn’t working

Most of the searches we pick up with new clients are ones where one of the Big 5 retained-fee executive search firms (acronym: SHREK) was previously engaged and failed to produce suitable candidates, despite being active on the search for more than 6 months.

In these situations, a considerable fee was already paid with months of time wasted for no tangible result, and therefore, our model (interested and relevant candidates in 5 working days with no fee due unless the role is filled) is highly attractive. 

As we speak with more and more senior stakeholders in large multinationals and PE firms, we see this pattern being repeated across the board. The large exec search firms are now trying to pivot away from search and focus more on talent consulting, where fees are larger and the deliverables are more achievable. 

We have multiple recent examples of where we have filled searches where a previous top-tier retained fee search firm failed, including:

We even had one of the top retained fee search firms offer to buy TXT, as we were continually placing candidates in searches where they had not been successful!

It is clear that the retained fee search model simply does not work effectively in today’s globally connected digital market.

If you are not seeing good enough candidates despite retaining a “top-tier” executive search firm, if you are considering engaging one or would just like to find out more about why executive search firms are increasingly struggling to deliver, please reply directly to this email, and we can book a time to speak.