Here’s what happened at The Executive Search Summit
Last month, we closed our three-episode series of the Executive Search Summit! It was an engaging series from start to finish, filled with insights into the state of the industry to deep dives into the Bullhorn platform.
In case you missed it – or need a refresher – check out our recap below for the highlights:
Episode one: State of the executive search industry
Our series kicked off with Karen Greenbaum, CEO of AESC. Greenbaum used an interactive polling platform to get real-time insights into what executive search professionals are experiencing in today’s environment. Some key takeaways included:
- The market has been up and down for most executive search firms in 2023 but they are optimistic for growth in 2024.
- Pollers indicated that the greatest challenges in this profession are a hiring slowdown, increased competition, candidate market, and digital transformation.
- Greenbaum also posed the question, “What are the internal issues clients are discussing with you?” The audience felt that the need to attract top talent was number one.
- Executive search firms are concerned about data privacy, legal challenges, and biased outcomes when it comes to using AI.
Episode two: From short-term sales to long term client relationships
As the summit continued, episode two introduced David Butter, Client Relationship & Leadership Expert. With business development being the top priority for practices around the world, Butter leaned into building the strongest partnerships with new and existing clients.
Butter discussed the need for having an “advisor mindset” vs. an “expert mindset”. This led him into a discussion about how trusted advisors also need to become “agenda setters” – that is, they need to understand, inform, and influence their customer’s agenda of critical priorities and, in turn, show how their services help them accomplish this agenda.
Butter also talked about the first meeting with a client and the influence it has on the overall relationship. He leaned into five goals: establishing rapport, building credibility, uncovering the client’s issues, exploring the need, and gaining commitment. He ended the session with the posed question: what personal action will you take in the next seven days to become a trusted advisor?
Episode three: Bullhorn’s vision for product innovation
Our series concluded with Bullhorn experts discussing the cutting-edge initiatives that are underway. Jonathan Novich, SVP Product, kicked us off with Bullhorn’s executive search journey and how we arrived at our exciting multi-product strategy to address the varying needs of boutique and large firms. He passed the baton over to John Hopkin, Product Manager, to go over the executive search mission: “To propel executive search professionals, to elevate the relationship between the search firm and the executive, and to help place leaders to change the world.”
Hopkin brought this mission to life in this presentation with a fictional executive search firm and how the Invenias platform helped them achieve their digital transformation goals. Some highlights included Invenias Web, Office365, Power BI Invenias Integrations, data migration enhancements, Automation, and other key initiatives in 2024!
The session also explored Bullhorn for Salesforce and how it has been synthesized to support large executive search and leadership consulting businesses, including configurable workflows per engagement type, customizable user experiences by roles and business units, and world-class reports and dashboards to tap into nearly every data point in the platform. Novich ended the session with a summary of how Bullhorn is at the heart of Executive Search with multiple solutions to suit your business, investments in web and desktop, and innovations in automation and AI.
For a deeper dive into how Bullhorn can support your Executive Search business, watch all three sessions of Executive Search Summit. We’ll see you next year!
