Senior Level Executive

D. Executive Agent: Could This Be Your Next Career Move? - Execunet Newsletter

You're accustomed to giving your corporate clients the best in service. How do you feel about giving that same attention to individuals on a one-on-one basis? Welcome to the world of executive agents. This specialty practice has been growing in popularity over the last few years. Some recruiters are moving completely into this business model, while for others, it serves as an extension of their recruiting business.

Instead of focusing on finding the right candidate for a specific position, executive agents represent the individual (similar to how an entertainment industry agent represents an actor). "With the [traditional] recruiter, the client is the company. With the agent, our client is the talent," said Joe Meissner, managing director of Executive PR. Executive agents do everything from helping their executive clients strategically determine their next steps to making introductions and setting up interviews. "We take over their job search, and we execute it for them," said Craig Chrest, principal of Executive Top Gun Search. "We turn the process into a selling process." Chrest's organization has been offering executive agent services—in addition to traditional recruiting services—for more than three years.

"It's very hard work," said Janice Waterman, founder of Waterman Hurst LLC. "The clients expect to achieve their goals and are used to achieving their goals. When anybody's paying money out of their checkbook, expectations are high." Waterman is a former senior executive who sought someone with executive agent skills and couldn't find anyone.

For Jay Stephenson, the transition to executive agent was a natural. She had already been performing these duties on top of her traditional recruiter responsibilities. Yet, she spent five months researching the possibilities and now, 80 percent of her time is spent on the executive agent side. "One has to make the decision to focus on individual interests or corporate interests," said Stephenson, senior partner of JG Consultants. She added that she serves in the agent capacity only for executives with whom she has previously worked.

"When someone is thinking about adding [executive agent capabilities] as a service, it might not be a viable business model," said Stephenson. "Recruiting is much easier than asking executives to trust you with their well being and reputation."

Fees for the executive agent business model range from traditional upfront retainers to additional fees once a position is secured. Compensation can also be earned through a percentage of a newly hired executive's starting salary. Chrest said his company charges clients a $4,000 retainer fee up front and an additional $5,000 once they are hired.

Meissner, who connects clients to investment deals (not jobs), is hired on retainer to help them develop an investment thesis, accompany them to meetings with private equity groups and negotiate contracts with the equity groups. Meissner said his retainer is in the mid-five figure range and is "paid out in milestones as we reach specific thresholds in the process," he said. Meissner added that while retainers cover overhead, most of his income comes from finder's fees received from private equity groups for connecting them with executives and deals. These fees are paid in either cash or equity in the deals Meissner helps facilitate.

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