Interview with the CEO of The Daniels Group

Q. The Daniels Group has grown at a pretty rapid clip every year since you began. How do you account for that?

A. We never really expected to grow this quickly. There are a few things we seem to be doing right.

First, to avoid wasted motion, we keep it pretty simple. We limit our attention to only real estate related businesses. Our practice is limited to retained searches for senior managers. We decline to undertake searches if we believe the compensation levels are insufficient to attract ‘A’ players. No client wants to hear three months down the road that to get the right person, they need to ante up another 50K. Every year. It’s like low balling a real estate listing. Who needs business like that?

These self imposed boundaries allow us to service our clients very attentively. More important, the principal responsible for committing to successfully complete the search is the same person who will personally talk to every candidate.

Q. Don’t all headhunters work the same way?

A. Today, since the mid-sized firms have disappeared, search firms come in only two flavors. Boutique firms like ours usually specialize in a certain industry. The others are mega-firms, often fueled by the growth of multinationals. They may have, not one, but 25 industry specializations.

In these giant firms the actual search is conducted by teams of researchers, and not the principal who sold the business. I can’t imagine that something important about the client’s or candidates’ goals doesn’t get lost in translation between all those people spread through 50 odd offices.

Q. Apart from growth, how do you measure the firm’s performance,?

A. I look for the first signs that our quality of service has been impacted by that growth. So far, so good. We look at the percentage of our new business coming from referrals, which is about 90% and I look at our average time to fulfill our engagements. The time it takes to successfully complete a search depends on a number of factors. However, we always give our clients an estimated time of completion and our performance against those estimates has been excellent. I’m also aware of course, of the percentage of failures we have, when the new hire doesn’t work out six months later. That number is so far, thankfully, is less than 2%.

Q. What is the most fun part of the business?

A. My biggest kick often occurs during the early stages of the engagement with the client’s staff on site. I really enjoy the process of defining the kind of person who can help the company get to the next level, in the new hire’s area of influence. I have a Masters with a concentration in organizational development and I invite the client to brainstorm his human resource issues when we’re together. I can often help.

I like working with candidates. I came up through sales; I like getting to know-and persuading- people. I’ve moved around a lot, so I can empathize with the familial issues surrounding moving to another community. And I feel that I owe them the same level of candor I expect in response to my often very direct questions. Therefore I share my impressions both about the good news and bad news regarding the position in question. This mutual forthrightness often comes in handy to get us through any sticky points down the road that may come up from either side.

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