My husband has been a criminal defense attorney for over twenty years. During many of our dinner conversations, he tells me about one of his peers and the underwhelming work they have done representing a client.

The topic arises because he has taken over a case where the previous attorney is failing to file on time, charging an outrageous amount of money and/or not helping the client work through the legal system to get a case settled with a (reasonably) positive outcome.

Like the legal business, not every executive search firm is created equal. It is often that I am called upon to ‘rescue’ a search started by another search firm. Despite the abundance in recruitment training available, there are still many recruitment/executive search consultants that:

• Do not have a defined search process

• Use job boards and resume banks to find candidates

• Don’t have the ability to convince top (happily employed) talent to interview for a new position.

I started in recruiting in the early 90’s and we spent many a day paging through large (and heavy) research directories to find names of candidates to contact for a search. The Internet has replaced this type of cumbersome ‘heavy lifting’ that existed pre-Internet. Within 48-72 hours, any recruiter using the various online directories and Internet databases, can find the names of targeted candidates to recruit. But many seem to use that initial 48-72 hours placing ads and searching resume databases to find those candidate who are looking for a new job vs. being ‘happily’ employed and productive. (I should watch some of my opinions during this very turbulent time of company wide layoffs; there are some very talented executives now looking for a job.)

Very few recruiters seem to understand let alone utilize the process of deep research to find the best talent. Lacking also seems to be the confident search consultant who possesses the psychological skills necessary to recruit reluctant and ‘happy’ talent in other companies.

Competency is on my mind this morning as I take over another search from an underperforming recruitment firm. Please don’t get me wrong, I am happy for the work. However, from a client’s point of view, they have lost time and money in getting this search filled. Moreover, my ‘underwhelming’ colleague is adding to the seeming negative reputation of the executive recruitment profession.

It is my feeling that time spent on the ‘lazy’ recruiter’s methodology can be transferred into identifying and recruiting the best talent – not just the talent that is available. Perhaps I would receive fewer ‘rescue’ searches but, I doubt it. Quality and process speak for themselves.