Services

Executive search

Our consultants see themselves as all-rounders when searching for leaders:

A position in a company becomes vacant. The solution either consists of filling the position from outside, adjustments within the internal organisation or a combination of both. An intensive exchange of information takes place between the company and the consultant. This results in the drawing up of a position profile, taking into account, in equal parts, the organisational environment and the corporate culture.

If it is imperative that the manager being sought comes from the client’s industry, the focus is always on a direct approach as the search method with the greatest prospects of success. In such a case the consultant with experience in the industry draws up a list of target companies together with the client which includes the most important market players and from which a manager matching the profile may be subsequently able to be identified. The agreement between the skills profiles and the requirements for the position represents an initial important step in the ongoing process an essential element of which is the taking up of personal contact by the consultant.

At the same time, a screening takes place within our extensive network. During this process, databases and personal industry contacts by the consultant constitute important elements for success.

An essential criterion for the high quality of our search process is the certification of our internal research team in accordance with the challenging criteria laid down by the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC).

Last but not least, social media also enable the tracking down of executives who have left their original industry at some point in time and who would be happy to take up the opportunity for a return. This path is also essentially suited for a rounding-off of the search tools used; because it opens up the communication with managers who are currently seeking a new career challenge and in many cases it speeds up the time taken for the search process.

Succession within small and medium-sized companies

Small and medium-sized companies are a key pillar of the German corporate landscape. In numerous cases there is a lack of a suitable successor for the management of a company, mainly due to family reasons.

The search and selection of appropriate people are essentially similar to the procedure in an executive search. However, the “cultural fit” with the corporate culture and the founder/entrepreneur of many years plays an especially important part in this context.

Management audits for leadership

Rapid, diverse changes in an increasingly globalised environment pose constantly increasing demands on the topic of leadership. Subjects such as digitalisation, industry 4.0, company purchases and mergers, also increasingly across national boundaries, can only be mastered by managers who possess the required personality traits and the necessary specialist skills.

Through the consistent use of audits it can be ensured that this management potential in companies is present at all times in sufficient volumes; because in an appraisal process the targeted quality analysis in a management group will most probably lead to the desired goal through a sound scientifically-based assessment.

The most important reasons for audits are increasingly events taking place across national boundaries as well as changes as a result of management acquisitions and mergers. Errors in the selection of successors to positions in small and medium-sized companies generally have severe consequences and may be avoided through professional audits.

Last but not least, our leadership service forms a valid basis for the selection of managers during re-structuring within companies (for example, in the case of a change in the business areas) and also makes an important contribution to securing of the success of personnel development concepts (career planning).

The basis for a successful audit was and is, as for every form of personnel selection, an extensive structured interview by an experienced consultant. In addition, selected, sound scientifically-based aptitude-testing procedures are used which enable a detailed assessment of the personality and the specialist skills of an executive and, at the same time, promote objectivity in the personal subjective impression gained from the interviews.

Audits are thus a useful and important element in the selection and assessment of management potential and one instrument among many that contributes to the minimisation of elementary errors made in the field of human resources.