Job Title: Senior Associate
Location: Los Angeles
Submitted on: 15-Nov-04
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| Senior Associate |
Overall the firm was an excellent training ground for anyone who has an
interest in becoming an executive search consultant. The consulting
staff, especially at the Senior Associate, Client Partner, and newly
promoted Senior Client Partner ranks are for the most part, a very
bright, aggressive group.
The good news is that it's a preformance based culture and you will be
rewarded for successfully completed work and billings. The bad news is
that it's a preformance culture with little room for anything other
than quantitative results. If I had one bit of advice for anyone going
into Korn/Ferry as a Senior Associate or Client Partner, it would be
make sure you are aligned with someone who has genuine influence and is
committed to being your champion.
Professional services firms are tough enviornments and Korn Ferry is no
exception. It is a sales driven culture and billings speak. Of all of
the major firms I think KFI is the strongest as far individual
development. What anyone thinking about entering this profession needs
to understand is "development" at KFI or any other search firm is up to
you. There are not programs or training beyond integration sessions.
I will say KFI has the most proactive training I've seen in the
industry and has made a concerted effort to introduce the best
technology and train it's consulting staff to use it to expedite search
execution time and drive quality.
Regarding hours, it really depends on the office you are in. Face time
in some offices is far more important than in others. Recruiting is a
full-time+ job. Expect to have calls early in the morning, late in the
evening, on vacations, etc. You are very much "on call" for the
client and candidates and to be effective it sometime requires less of
a divide between your personal and professional lives.
Regarding opportunities for advancement, again I would say, they are
there if you are aligned well and work hard. On the consulting side
there are three "professional" ranks. Senior Client Partner, which is
the senior most rank for a consultant. This person is primarily
focused on bringing in business and developing relationships with
potential clients. The Client Partner rank is the next rung down.
CP's are required to bring in a designated dollar amount in billed and
collected and execute a "full-load". The Senior Associate is the most
junior on the consulting staff and is primarily focused on search
execution. Depending on the SCP you are working with this can mean
purely dialing and recruiting all the way through full search execution
where a SCP plays no part in the execution of a search. To be promoted
to CP a SA must demonstrate the ability to generate new business
through either new client acquisition or repeat business from existing
clients based on his/her quality of work.
If you are entering executive search for the first time make sure you
fully comprehend how you will be spending the majority of your time.
Realize you are on the phone and dealing with people at all times and
to that, you have to be able to deal with ambiguity, subjectivity and
indecisivness in it's most developed form. Without exception, every
person I've talked to who has other industry experience, professional
services or otherwise, has said executive search is far harder than
they ever thought.
If you are talking to Korn Ferry, make sure you explore other search
firms as well. I was with KFI for five years and had, overall a great
experience because of the people. Each of the major firms have thier
own distinct culture, find the one where you feel the best connection
with the people. You spend a lot of time with colleagues and your
ability to develop business, especially in the first couple of years
will in most cases hinge on the relationships you build inside the firm
as much as the relationships you develop outside the firm.
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