Building Teams & Relationships with Heidrick & Struggles
Last week, we welcomed Gina Connelly (Partner) and Maryann Hamed (Principal) from executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles for a deeply insightful panel on Building Teams and Relationships. We convened Enrich members and select guests in person at H&S’ beautiful NYC office to get an inside perspective on hiring, interviewing, and cultivating professional relationships from two of the industry’s top executive recruiters.
If you’d been there, here’s what you’d still be thinking about today:
Back-channel references matter. Back-channeling references where recruiters reach out to former employers and colleagues are often a part of the process for executive recruiters — especially for leadership hires. If you've had bad relationships with coworkers in the past, you should reach out to old colleagues where things didn't go so well to repair. Here’s how to open that dialogue: "I am seeking to learn and grow. I know things didn't go great between us, can you share some feedback as to what I can to do differently?" If you already know you might have a negative backchannel, be prepared to address this with the recruiter. You can say something along of the lines of: "Some feedback I've gotten in past is X or Y, here are the steps I'm taking to work on this.”
On a related note: when you submit references, be sure to include your former manager. Not having your direct boss on your reference list stands out as a potential red flag. If that’s a relationship you need to repair, see the above point on how to approach.
There’s two ways to proactively connect to executive recruiters like Gina and Maryann: a) send a good cold email with some short bullets about yourself and b) get a warm intro — they will take that call. As always, a warm intro is the better bet. Don't take it personally if they don't respond right away; they might just not have the right opportunity for you.
We also heard about how to nail an exec-level interview, who to choose to work for, and the most important qualities and achievements that executive recruiters look for when hiring for leadership roles. To get access to the rest of our notes and attend future panels like this one…join Enrich!
