executive search: your bespoke leadership solution.

Randstad is one of the world's leading Talent Partners who enjoy a strong position and a solid reputation on the Indian market. We have been present in India for 30 years, we have offices in more than 20 key cities throughout the country and employ in excess of 2,500 staff here. We offer a wide range of staffing solutions (including both temporary and permanent, plus outplacement) to almost 3,000 clients, who range from multinational corporations (MNCs) to Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

Our key differentiating factor is our specialisation, both by industry sector and by function (or discipline). Our size affords us the luxury of having consultants who focus specifically in your field, possessing impressive market knowledge and understanding of your business.

Another crucial aspect is the time and effort spent evaluating each candidate, as to how appropriate they could be not only to your organisation, but also as a fit to your hiring manager. 

Honesty is also a key policy in Randstad. If for any reason we believe that your requirements are unrealistic or that we simply do not possess the expertise to successfully close your vacancy, we will inform you. What we commit never to doing, is to take on assignments which we don't believe that we have a strong chance of filling.

Once we have agreed upon the job description (JD) with our client, we aim to present you with 1-2 benchmark candidates within a matter of a few days. These are to ensure that both sides understand the role, and make any subsequent adjustments to the JD, if required.

Based upon your feedback, we tailor the search accordingly and typically can have the shortlist of approximately 5 candidates ready for interview within a few weeks. Whether you wish to interview candidates as soon as we source them, or wait until the full shortlist is ready, is up to you.

Ultimately the speed of the search will then come down to how quickly you are able to interview these shortlisted candidates, come to a decision, make the chosen person an offer and then agree upon acceptance. 

We work hand-in-hand with you to broker the offer and ensure that there are no last minute hiccups (i.e., counter-offers from the candidate's existing employer, or pending offers from other companies). Wherever possible, we help with negotiating a shorter notice period so that your new employee can come on board as quickly as possible.

Executive Search maps the market and specifically targets a niche selection of relevant candidates by proactively reaching out to them. Most such people are not looking for a job and their profiles are therefore not on open-source job boards. 

Standard recruitment (at the lower-to-middle level) however, focuses more on working with existing candidates from an agency's database

With retained searches, the candidates are exclusive to the client (unless/until they choose not to proceed with them) and are targeted purely for this particular search - the key aim is to fill the client's vacancy in a timely manner, without of course compromising on quality.

On contingency projects, candidates may be presented to multiple clients (should they so wish) as the aim is to place the candidate in the most suitable company.

This is a fundamentally different service being provided - think about the economy and the business class cabins of an aircraft. Costs are higher when a search is required, which it almost always is at the executive level. It's extremely rare to be able to fill a senior level vacancy at a senior level with existing candidates from any agency's database (regardless of what anyone tells you).

No agency can ever guarantee a placement, even on a retained search, as the successful outcome depends as much on the client’s input as our efforts in conducting the search. We do however promise that we will continue to work until the project is brought to a close. 

It is of course quite possible that the 'perfect' candidate does not exist (remember that we don't do genetic engineering, we can only work with what exists on the market), in which case, we will reassess the role, together with you. Sometimes this takes the form of widening the search or redefining the job description, or perhaps increasing the budget to hire a star person. We will always work together with you, at all stages to ensure that the most suitable person is identified, and hopefully can be brought on board.

A search is almost always required when hiring at the top level. Let's face it, senior executives don't post their CVs on job boards and rarely respond to job advertisements, if they even read them at all. This involves considerable research work before and profiles are presented, often including market mapping. It's definitely not a case of simply dipping into our database, presenting you with a few suitable profiles and hoping that you hire one of them.

Our experience shows that when companies opt for this method, they usually end up disappointed and return to us to have the job done properly. Agencies who offer to run a senior level search on a contingency basis are often unaware of the quantity of research work involved, and eventually give up and disappear, leaving you no further forward in filling your key vacancy. Yet you will have wasted considerable, precious time for nothing - far better to get it right from the very start.

For the same reason that retainer fees are payable at this level - due to the workload required when operating at this level. Of course you can always find someone who says that they will do it cheaper, but this typically results in them simply cutting corners and not giving your project the time, effort and focus which it deserves. The cost of making the wrong hire is high, and hoping to make small savings on recruitment fees tend to end up being counterproductive.

If for any reason a client decides to cancel a project, we would only invoice for the stage of work already completed, such as the retainer, or shortlist stage. Should you wish to put a position on hold, we will keep the assignment open for a period of up to six months, after which we would consider it cancelled. Should you wish to restart it, we would need to begin again from scratch. Of course we can reconnect with previously contacted candidates but we of course cannot guarantee that they are still available, and/or interested in your position.

If for any reason except redundancy, a candidate leaves or is asked to leave within the first three months, we will replace the person free of charge. 

As you are probably well aware, the majority of senior level vacancies are never advertised anywhere, and there are good reasons for this. Many organisations would prefer to keep things under wraps, even from their own employees, to avoid upsetting the balance or any unnecessary gossip within the office or on the open market. The additional downside of openly advertising a vacancy is that you can expect a deluge of replies, the overwhelming majority of which will be totally unsuitable. 

Consequently, the majority of our searches are conducted on a confidential basis to varying degrees, unless the client wishes for the role to be advertised (in which case, we would handle the response). 

Definitely, there are in fact many! Firstly, be sure whom you wish to hire and why, so as to avoid the need for changing the JD mid-search. Any additional information you can provide us with is always helpful, such as a presentation on your company (on top of what is already on your corporate website), your plans for growth, your firm's position on the market, and crucially your USPs.

Begin your interviews with a brief sales-pitch about your company and why you are making this hire & whom you wish to see in this role. Please don't start the conversation by asking "why should we hire you?" or "Why do you want to work for us?" - remember the majority of candidates you are meeting are not in fact looking for a job, but are merely interested in hearing about your vacancy and are open to at least potentially exploring new opportunities. 

We of course brief the candidates and prepare them for the interview, but don't forget that recruitment is the only business in the world where the product can say "no" !!

Finally, being realistic about whom you can hire and remembering that we don't do genetic engineering; we can only present you what's available. Nobody was born to work in your company, but we will always do our utmost to ensure that you have a strong shortlist of suitable, prepared and motivated candidates who are potentially interested in coming on board and making your company even more successful than it already is.