Quality comes to fore as the economy slows

In tough markets there is still a drip-feed of transactions to keep a large number of headhunters in operation at lower levels. But at senior levels, search mandates are increasingly going to only the most successful in their field.

So what makes a successful headhunter? Jonathan Baines, sector chairman of global financial services at recruitment and leadership consulting firm Whitehead Mann, says: "In these markets you have to be unbelievably tenacious, put what the client wants first, learn to listen very carefully, and realise what the client wants to do."

He says he has always thought a good headhunter had the same attributes as a good corporate financier - "the ability to originate, execute and close deals".

Many headhunters say that relationships are everything, and to be successful, you must be seen as being on an equal footing.

Phillipa Rose, founder of the financial services boutique the Rose Partnership, says: "It is important to have intelligence and wit equal [to the client]. You are needed for your information, your access to people, your insight into the business and your ability to reflect the market.

"If you are annoying, they are not interested. On the other hand, if a chief executive rings you up to ask for advice you know you are doing something right," says Rose.

The style of good headhunters can differ widely. Jason Chaffer, head of global financial services in London at the big-brand global firm Spencer Stuart, says: "Successful headhunters in financial services come in various guises - there are skilful networkers with a high media profile and there are also those who are less extrovert and socially engaged."

He adds: "Those who are capable of being market advisers can win good work on both sides of the Atlantic. In these markets you have to know when to make the call and to whom - and to do it with the utmost discretion."

The best headhunters are increasingly taking advantage of the strategic decisions facing their investment banking and fund management clients by shifting themselves into a consultative role.

Sainty Hird, one of the most highly regarded financial services search firms in London, is run by Julian Sainty and Christopher Beatson-Hird. Rivals say Sainty Hird is as good as it is partly because of its connections at the highest levels.

A veteran headhunter says: "Sainty Hird is very strategic in the way it goes about its business. It goes first to the global head of investment banking, finds out which areas are shrinking and expanding, and then goes down the line to find those who are still investing in the business."

Another top-level headhunter says: "The market is about taking revenue-making opportunities to the financial institutions and saying 'you are not in this market or are in it in a sub-optimal fashion. Here is what you can do with this opportunity'."

Not everyone sees a good headhunter's role as being business development, however. Baines is clear that his role at Whitehead Mann is not to devise business strategy, but to talk about how best to develop leadership. "When I go and talk to a senior client, I need to know what he wants from his senior managers, and out of that assessment comes either coaching or search," he says.

But some form of consultancy now seems an inevitable part of the role of the successful headhunter. Simon Hearn, head of global financial services at Russell Reynolds in London, says: "Clients will want consultancy-type relationships for the future."

Another important attribute, particularly in difficult markets, is the ability to deliver the candidate, no matter how long it takes, or how much flak you get along the way.

Martin Armstrong, founder of niche financial services search firm Armstrong International, says: "As a headhunter you spend all your time getting shot."

Dealing with banks' human resources departments has become an increasingly sensitive task, even for the best headhunters.

HR departments are widely pilloried by headhunters in private for having "a little taste of power that has gone to their heads", as one puts it.

However, one headhunter, who has run a successful business for 15 years, says: "HR is the jam in the sandwich - they have expectations made of them that are usually unrealistic.

"HR is also often regarded as a dustbin for issues that management does not want to deal with. But headhunters who are rude to HR or about HR are rude at their peril. You have to be able to work with all aspects of HR and with senior management."

Cost-cutting by the financial services industry on search fees makes even successful headhunters wince in these markets.

A good headhunter has to find a way to keep the client happy on fees, whether it is through capping, consultancy services thrown in as part of the search, or an understanding that there will be future mandates in return for flexible charging.

While product knowledge is clearly very important, most good headhunters say that some people skills - such as instinct and intuition - cannot be learned.

Elizabeth Hammond, one of the best known headhunters in financial services and the co-founder of recently launched niche player HammondBlack, says: "You need to have persistence, a passion for what you do, as well as the killer instinct. You have to be able to sell to the candidate, and get under their skin in such a way that they don't realise you are doing it."

Being available at all times, even if at the end of a mobile, is taken for granted as part of the job. In financial services, a successful headhunter needs to be bright, persistent and ultimately creative, if the best headhunters are to be believed.

One senior-level headhunter says: "Very few headhunters are good at thinking of the business of the client and the structure of the market simultaneously. You need to be able to demonstrate how to turn it this way and that."

The investment banks themselves are reluctant to comment on what makes good headhunters, and some are making their own bid to try to do without them as much as possible.

But as the intermediary role of the headhunter is unlikely to disappear at senior levels of financial services search, institutions will continue to need to identify the best.

As the talent pool at the top gets smaller, there is also some evidence that candidates are establishing closer relationships with individual headhunters.

Trevor Foster-Black, co-founder of HammondBlack, prefers to quote John Viney, the Cambridge-educated astrophysicist who was with Heidrick & Struggles until he recently launched his own headhunting boutique in London, the Zygos Partnership.

According to Foster-Black, Viney says that what differentiates a good headhunter from an excellent one is "the angst and the empathy" - in other words, a constant tendency to be self-critical and keep looking for the right person for the job, and an ability to connect to people.

In the end, the best headhunters admit it is not rocket science, and Viney's description probably sums it up.