Beware India Inc., headhunters are poaching your own

On the radar: senior executives at consulting firms and corporate houses, and the lack of recruitment background is not a deal-breaker. Search firms are looking for hires with connections within sectors and business understanding, betting that such candidates would make a good fit.

“There has been a 20% increase in our consultants in the past year, and we have 42 partners in a team of 650 in India. Movement from consulting firms works well for professional services because consultants come with an ability to build long-term relationships and have worked on engagements which stretch out,” said Navnit Singh, chairman and managing director for Korn Ferry India.

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“Our business is built on quality delivery and long-term sustainable relationships,” Singh said. “Consulting firms also work similarly and, hence, it works well for our hiring strategy and is similar to how the search industry works.”

Running out of talent

The need to tap industry experts for recruitment roles reflects the changing requirements as businesses become more complex. And the executive search industry has also realized that it cannot sustain poaching from one another.

“As the industry grows, we can no longer dip into the same talent pools and cannibalise each other,” said K Sudarshan, managing director at the search firm EMA Partners India Ltd. “We have to look at adjacent talent pools which include the Big Four, strategy firms and even chief human resource officers and senior talent acquisition professionals.”

Consulting and audit firms KPMG, EY, PwC and Deloitte make up the Big Four.

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EMA Partners hired Rohini Seth, former chief human resources officer of Jubilant Pharmova Ltd, in 2023 as a partner for their consumer practice. Shreya Jain was brought in as client director specializing in retail and services, media, private equity, and professional services practices. She joined the firm last year from KPMG India, where she served for 14 years.

Search firms often spend months to find a suitable CXO candidate, and their relations last for years. After multiple interviews and negotiations over five to six months, most candidates serve a three-month notice period before moving jobs. Often, the same recruiter is responsible for getting the CXO to other jobs after a few years at one firm.

Candidate dropouts

Headhunters for top corporate roles are also facing a problem once limited to the lower ranks: candidate dropouts, where a person finishes the recruitment process and accepts a job offer, only to back out later.

Dropouts are rising since companies scout for CXOs from a wider range of sectors, resulting in the same candidates receiving multiple offers. In turn, these recruiters are pushing companies to wrap up the hiring process quickly and even keep tabs on the candidate. For these negotiations and cross-checks, an insider from the sector will have an advantage in understanding if the candidate is truly keen on the role.

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“Traditionally, headhunting firms used to hire from recruitment/talent acquisition background but now focus on domain expertise and industry connects,” said Pranshu Upadhyay, regional director for search firm Michael Page. “Clients now want a search partner who can not only get the candidate but guide them on the talent available in the industry, ancillary industries where talent can be targeted from, and for that we need domain experts.”

Compensation for headhunters has also risen 15-20% in the past year, and they usually take a cut out of the search firm’s revenue or profits. According to a leader at one such firm, who did not want to be named, a Big Four consultant with 10-15 years of work experience can join a search firm for ₹80 lakh. Senior partners make up to ₹2-5 crore annually.

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Heidrick & Struggles India plans to hire four to five consultants from both the management consulting firms and business/industry, said Suresh Raina, partner at the search firm. “In a rapidly shifting business environment, as businesses become more complex, search consultants need to be the trusted advisors to the management.”