Best Practices For Needs Assessment In Executive Search

Needs Assessment is one of the basic starting points in the executive search process. The process of Needs Assessment not only confirms that the hire for a particular executive job is needed but it also determines how this hire would be beneficial for the organization in the long run. Needs Assessment is very important as it prevents unnecessary hiring. Once your hiring is justified, it also helps in defining the type of candidate that is needed.

Being the Top Executive Search Agency in Germany, or at least one of them, the one thing we always stress before carrying out an executive search for any company is their Needs Assessment for the particular search. It not only helps us in understanding their requirement but it also helps in laying out a better recruitment plan before the executive search.

Basic Parts of a Needs Assessment for Executive Search

In order to lay down a needs assessment plan for your executive search, the first thing you need to do is list down the current skills of your organization and try to look for the performance gaps that might require an executive position. Doing this would help you determine whether you need an executive or not. This can be done for any position be it a brand new one or the existing one. You can also use this analysis to identify new opportunities and the same can be addressed as well during the ongoing hiring process.

Once you have sufficient reason for the job, lay out a job description based on the needs you listed down. At this stage, you may be tempted to copy from the past executive job description but as we discussed earlier, with time, the requirements from even an existing post may change and hence writing down a fresh job description might be a good idea. As all the top headhunting companies in Germany make use of this job description in their executive search, making sure that it lays down your requirements clearly can ensure an effective and speedy recruitment process.

 

Executive hiring is very important so spend some time determining exactly what experience and skills you are looking for. Also rewriting the job description gives leaders an opportunity to run a SWOT analysis on their previous job descriptions as well as the candidates that were hired on the basis of that description.

Once you have the job description, it is imperative to determine the urgency of filling the position as it will have an impact on the manner in which the hiring process would be carried out. Here, the recruitment agency comes into play and is especially helpful when it is a high-urgency hiring situation.

Benefits of a Needs Assessment

Working on Needs Assessment might take a little bit of time, but in the long run, it will result in a more focused, less time consuming executive search. It could save you thousands as the more time it takes to find the perfect match, the more expensive your executive search will be. Also hiring the right person in less time would mean more productivity as well as more achievements in terms of organization’s goals.

 

Needs Assessment leads to a faster hiring process, as finding the right person takes less time when the needs are properly identified. Also, once the needs are clear in advance, the screening of candidates becomes faster and the shortlisting of candidates happens faster.

Lastly, needs assessment not only helps in the hiring process, but the ongoing analysis helps in identifying potential gaps which can be worked upon in order to ensure better productivity in the organization.