Corporate headhunters - The Economist

2/26/2020

Take me to a leader - Corporate headhunters are more powerful than ever | Briefing | The Economist

boards.

They also enjoy the money. A median partner at the Shrek ve typically earns $600,000 a year, according to industry veterans. The top 1% get $3m-4m, most of it bonus. Those hiring for nance usually earn the most. Seven-gure slice Generous pay comes courtesy of eye-watering fees. For decades headhunters charged one-third of the chosen candidate’s rst-year compensation (including any bonus). Caps became more common over the past decade as ceos’ salaries climbed into the stratosphere, fees more often exceeded $1m—and clients started to rebel. Now fees at the top end are typically limited to between $500,000 and $1m, though the boom in ancillary fees means overall revenues continue to grow fast. The search for a ceo takes anywhere from 90 days to a year. The board forms a committee to oversee the process, which the headhunter helps shape. It then helps directors crystallise what they want the new boss to achieve, such as boosting prots or expanding into new markets, and draws up a list of required competencies.

Once the actual headhunting begins, recruiters hire armies of researchers to

https://www.economist.com/briefing/2020/02/06/corporate-headhunters-are-more-powerful-than-ever comb through databases containing millions of proles; gone are the days when a cabinet full of cv s and organograms of superstar rms like ibm would suce. Lists of candidates who look good on paper are then compared against tips from

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