Increasingly, companies are evaluating job candidates on how 
well they fit their corporate culture - not just the job.

It's an important consideration, as shrinking budgets and 
economic uncertainty put a squeeze on corporate environments 
and demand smarter hiring practices.

Filling open positions can be a grueling, expensive and lengthy 
process. According to recent research by global human resources 
firm DBM, 94 percent find the average job search is taking four 
to six months, with the majority seeing most job seekers taking 
about five months to secure employment. And finding a new, 
senior-level position in the current job market takes more than 
12 months, compared to about seven months in 1998.

To manage the more extensive search process, many companies are 
using personality assessments to find the right person for their 
company. In fact, one third of 2,100 human resource managers 
recently surveyed by the American Management Association were 
incorporating personality profiling into their hiring 
decision-making process.  

Personality testing allows companies to go beyond first 
impressions and analyze the true value of candidates' skills 
and character. The goal is to determine how the combination 
of the two will fit into the organization.   
  
Considering a job candidate's characteristics can help employers 
determine if that person has the right ability and adaptability 
for their work environment. For example: a new hire may have 
outstanding abilities, but if he doesn't have the communication 
skills to work well with a team, he may not be the best 
candidate. The company may be better off hiring a great 
communicator with average skills that can be improved upon 
with training instead.

The bottom line is: Personality assessments can help companies 
hire the right employee - and retain them longer. And employee 
retention saves companies money and valuable time due to lost 
productivity and costs associated with recruiting and hiring.

In addition to personality testing, more businesses are relying 
on the expertise of innovative firms like ASearch LLC to help 
them identify the best candidates for the job and company. 
ASearch is a Connecticut executive search firm that heavily 
factors a potential employee's character into the recruitment 
and hiring process.   

In his 30 years of organizational development consulting, Bruce 
Clinton has watched too many poor executive hires endanger the 
success of organizations. But very few executives fail because 
of their resume, says Clinton, a founding partner of ASearch. 
"Most failures are due to lack of the right behavioral or 
cultural fit."

If you only hire on experience, he poses, how do you deal with 
the behavior and chemistry that walks in the door? "We help the 
hiring authority get beyond the tip of the iceberg, which is 
the resume, experience, interview and references…to find the 
best fit for the organization's culture and job requirements." 

ASearch takes an in-depth approach that helps its clients lower 
their transaction costs. The company provides value-added 
services such as a company culture analysis of the executive 
team. As a result, job candidates submitted to companies will 
all meet the cultural and behavioral requirements for the 
position and will have third-party assessments to verify their 
qualifications. Therefore, their clients generally only need 
to review a few candidates to find the best match. 

ASearch's process guarantees the suitability of candidates and 
removes the risk of a poor fit. "Our value proposition is not 
offered by all search firms," Clinton says. "As a matter of 
fact, I don't know of any that do all we do."

The company's approach is evidenced by its bold slogan: "We go 
beyond the search. We take the risk and doubt out of your next 
critical executive hire." 

ASearch is a major New England search firm that represents 
decades of organizational development, executive search and 
assessment experience. Following are questions and answers about 
the company's background and perspective on the executive search 
process. More information is available at the company's Website 
at http://www.asearchllc.com.  


Q: Why did you start ASearch?

A: I saw this as an opportunity to fill a gap in an under 
   serviced and misunderstood market of closely-held businesses. 
   I believe small and medium sized businesses are the key to 
   our economic growth and felt that this retained search 
   business could make a positive difference. And between my 
   background and that of my two partners, we had an exceptional 
   value to offer key executives and company owners.  


Q: Tell us about your experience.

A: My background is over 30 years of organizational development 
   consulting to closely-held and family businesses. Prior to 
   this, I was owner and president of a residential real estate 
   business with two locations plus a new home sales division; 
   president and owner of a land development company; and 
   general partner of a limited partnership which developed 
   200 acres of land into a luxury subdivision of 96 lots. I 
   later joined the consulting company that helped me build my 
   real estate business when I sold it to one of my managers in 
   the mid-seventies.
 

Q: What about your partners and their experience? 

A: Anthony Townley has over thirty years of staffing and 
   executive search experience. He conducts our searches once 
   the position requirements have been defined. Barry Foster 
   has extensive assessment knowledge and is a leader and 
   innovator in the business and executive coaching profession. 
   Barry and I procure the retained search assignments, 
   facilitate the development of the position requirements with 
   the position development team and the selection team, and 
   coach the integration process of the new executive.
 

Q: Describe the typical client you work with. 

A: Closely-held companies with a sweet spot of $25-100 million 
   in sales. We have worked with organizations with sales of 
   $4 million to over $300 million. We deal mostly with the 
   CEO or President of the organization or the COO. 
 

Q: Can you give us an overview of your company and its services?

A: ASearch takes the risk and doubt out of the next critical 
   hire an organization makes.  We take an organizational 
   development approach to make this a reality.  We help our 
   clients understand their culture, define the position and 
   the goals for the first 30, 60, 90 and next 180 days with 
   agreed upon evidence of goal accomplishments, required and 
   desired experience and education and the objective 
   psychometrics required for the new position based on the 
   understanding of the culture and position requirements. We 
   also make sure that the selection team understands its role 
   in making this new key person successful. Finally, we coach 
   the integration process of the new hire with reviews at the 
   45- and 90-day time periods. At that time, if all parties 
   are progressing as expected, we extend our guarantee for the 
   balance of the first year from the date of hire. 


Q: Any additional information about your services?

A: Because we become so knowledgeable about an organization 
   and are able to provide so much value, we often reach the 
   level of trusted advisor and are asked to assist in other 
   organizational development type assignments.  In this case, 
   we will do the assignment or bring in other professionals 
   who we have worked with to perform the services on behalf 
   of ASearch and the client.
 

Q: Have most of your clients had a negative hiring experience?

A: Yes. Almost all of our current search clients have had a poor 
   hire in a similar position or understand the value of getting 
   the right fit the first time.

 
Q: Can you give us an idea of how much money is lost due to 
   these failures?

A: It's hard to gauge the lost opportunity costs -- which are the
   higher costs -- lost business, turnover of good employees, 
   lost production and bad comments about an organization which 
   means opportunities you will never get or know why. On the 
   tangible side, are the transaction costs, advertising, resume 
   culling, extensive interview time, training costs of the 
   wrong person once hired, lost wages and benefits, placement 
   fees, law suits for wrongful discharge, contractual costs, 
   relocation costs and contractual separation costs if the 
   executive is let go for any reason but cause. Minimum figures 
   for turnover of an executive have been four to five times the 
   annual salary.
 

Q: Why have those employees failed? 

A: If you interview companies, you will find a lack of cultural 
   fit (chemistry) and behavior that did not allow the new hire 
   to perform i.e. no sense of urgency, low energy, not able to 
   make a decision or hold people accountable, etc.


Q: What are the challenges you see facing employers who are 
   trying to do it on their own? 

A: Understanding the real requirements of the position and their 
   culture, being able to get below the surface or tip of the 
   iceberg to match the position requirements to the candidate, 
   determine what is success early on as well as long term, 
   integrating the new hire into the organization and working 
   out the rough spots - especially if the position requires 
   different behavior(s) than the current culture.

 
Q: At what point do employers give up their own attempts and 
   seek your help?

A: I am not sure…the need to know that there is a better way 
   than the traditional search firm... Otherwise they will 
   continue on a hit or miss proposition. I knew of one firm 
   that turned over a key executive position three or more 
   times and still did not get it right.


Q: Can you quantify the retention rate of employees who were 
   sourced on their own, compared to those hired using your 
   firm's services?

A: No, but the cost of any turnover is great …We know that if 
   you know how to define your culture and the position and have 
   objective means of measuring the culture and behaviors 
   required for success in this culture doing the position 
   requirements, with the right experience and education you 
   will have little chance of turning over the position. That 
   is why we offer an unprecedented one-year guarantee to 
   everyone who uses our process.