by Gina Cariño
Home >> Creative Recruiting: Interview with a Headhunter
GC: Michael, tell us about work.
MM: I work for an executive search firm called Janou Pakter. Our headquarters are in New York and we have offices in Paris and Milan in addition to the Los Angeles office which I run. My title is Director of West Coast Operations.
GC: And you hunt for executives.
MM: We work on jobs that are mid-level to what we call C-level (Chief Creative Officer, Chief Executive Officer, etc.), with salaries ranging from $50,000 to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. The positions we do are fashion or graphic designers of all types, creative directors, marketing directors, public relations roles, Web or interactive designers, even architects. We don’t work on financial, administrative, or technical positions.
GC: You call yourself a creative recruiter, not a headhunter. Why?
MM: We are headhunters sometimes, but that term really refers to the act of contacting someone who is not necessarily looking for another position. That is only about 30% of our job.
GC: And how do you recruit and hunt?
MM: When we get in a new search, we look for possible candidates in our own database first, then start calling our network of contacts for referrals, which is the best way to find new prospects. We usually ask our clients which companies they’d like to see candidates from, usually competitors, and then we headhunt into them—unless they’re another client of course! Another major resource is the Web. We use a variety of professional networking sites to to find both junior and senior candidates.
GC: Who are your clients?
MM: We specialize in recruiting talent for creative lifestyle brands and design-driven companies. That means that we are hired by fashion companies, design firms, advertising agencies, and luxury brands to find candidates or prospective employees for creative and marketing openings in those companies. Our client list ranges from Chanel and Louis Vuitton to Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and Nike. Our European offices focus primarily on fashion and design companies.
GC: What do you charge?
MM: We work under two types of contracts: retained and contingency. In a retained search, we are paid a percentage of our fee in advance to find talent. After we present three qualified candidates, we invoice the client an additional amount. In a contingency search, we are paid nothing upfront and only receive our fee if the client hires one of our candidates. Our fees range from 20-35% of the new employee’s first year’s salary. The fee is paid by the client, not the employee.
GC: Tell me more about the actual recruiting.
MM: Each recruiter in our company has an area of expertise such as fashion design, marketing, interactive (Web) design, PR, etc. I was brought in to open the office here in L.A. and also to create a division focusing on jobs related to the photography industry. That’s where my previous experience was. However, because we have a smaller office here, I work on a wider range of jobs. Some of the positions I’m currently working on are an online business development director for a Hollywood studio, a director of photography for a French photo agency, and Website designers for an advertising agency that works on the new videogames.
GC: What’s a typical work day like for you?
MM: Much of my day is spent online or on the phone looking for new candidates and reviewing the resumés and portfolios of those we are interested in. I usually have six or seven people come in for face-to-face interviews each week. If it’s a mid-level candidate, I spend about 20-30 minutes with them. Senior candidates get at least an hour for the first interview. If their experience is right and they seem like a good fit for the client, we present them for consideration.
GC: What does it take to be a recruiter?
MM: Recruiting is very hard work. You have to really like people and be able to assess them critically in order to be successful. We often work very late hours because the best time to talk and meet with candidates is usually after normal working hours.
GC: What do you like most about your job?
MM: The ultimate satisfaction is in connecting the right person with the perfect job. When that happens, everyone is happy and the client is glad to pay our bill!
GC: Were you recruited?
MM: I was actually recruited to work for Janou Pakter. I was looking for a new job and went to talk to Janou and her husband in New York. Instead of helping me find a job, they offered me one! They wanted to open an office here in L.A. and create a photography division and I was the perfect person to do both.
More questions for Michael? Ask right here below.
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Posted on http://www.weeklyletter.com at 2008-07-03 09:00:00 +0200
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Michael, what are the age ranges of the people you are looking at? Do Federal laws kick in here? I mean are there any “old age” restrictions, for instance?
It’s interesting that Michael’s is a job that is about other jobs. You are employed to work on other people’s (hopefully gainful) employment. So the burning question is: What do you like to do when not working? What is your perfect Saturday?
Cheers from L.A.
mia
(who is, by the way, on a lazy Thursday afternoon before the July 4th long weekend, totally unrecruitable!)
Hi all,
I have a question for Michael: why not recruiting people from the technical part ? don’t the companies look for this kind of profiles?
You have a very interesting job, and difficult too…Do you have any work method? I mean, is there a procedure(always the same) to recruit people or each job have a specific treatment?
regards from Spain.
happy 4th of July!!!
Begoña.
Peter, thanks for asking about the age issue. Of course, US federal laws prohibits discrimination for any reason including age. We recruit all ages of candidates. Of course the more senior level candidates tend to be older due to their experience, but we also work with people just out of school. It’s really about the talent and the relevant experience. I do have to tell you a funny story about that. I work with my Silver Lake neighborhood council on an oral history project interviewing local residents, artists, businesspeople, etc. to create an archive about our community. I recently interviewed a 92-year-old woman who has lived in our area since the 30’s. When I mentioned to a friend that I had interviewed this 90+ woman, he said, “Wow! What job is she applying for?”
Michael
Mia (and everyone), apologies for the late response. I am in Texas visiting my family for the 4th of July holiday and have been on the road. My perfect Saturday is to get up and drive to Santa Monica and have breakfast at a little cafe right on the sand called Back on the Beach Cafe. They have the most delicious breakfast pasta dish! Afterwards, I drag my chair and books and magazines down to the ocean’s edge and spend the afternoon reading and dozing in the sun. If I’m really ambitious, I’ll walk a mile or two up the beach and back to work off that breakfast pasta!
Michael
Hi, Begona! Our firm doesn’t focus on technical or financial roles for example. We specialize in the creative jobs only. There are many other firms that handle those types (and many other kinds) of roles. Our success is based on finding the right candidates in our areas.
Our techniques do vary depending upon the level of the search. If it’s a more junior job, we post notices at universities and use social networking sites like Facebook. If it’s more senior, we use referrals and “headhunt” into competitive companies.
Michael
Hello everybody.
I think this interview is proof of the “power of the network”. Michael does his job by talking to people and companies. Companies know what they’re looking for, and Michael knows the people and people know referrals who can do interesting things for the companies.
I’m sure Michael is not going to have problems finding a new job. His experience is very important in all kinds of companies.
Good luck,
Carlos
As I was reading your anecdote about the lady in her nineties, I also thought that she was applying for a job! This is because I was skimming through your text instead of reading it in detail.
Here’s a question for you: I have heard that in France, recruitment agencies are very fond of graphology. They analyze applicants’ handwritten texts to see if they are what they are looking for. Your opinion?
Hi Gina&Michael,
Good interview as usual….
Some questions:
In your interviews, do you have body language in mind? Is body language important for choosing the right person?
As you know some people exaggerate or lie about their experiences and qualifications, do you detect it?
Regards,
Leticia.
Hi Paola! I’ve never heard that before. I have e-mailed our office in Paris to ask them what they know about using graphology. As far as I know, it’s not a factor for us, but I’ll let you know what they say.
Michael
Leticia, one of the skills needed to be a good recruiter is the ability to read “body language” as you say. You can usually get a pretty good sense of the person by how they dress and how comfortable they are in the interview setting (allowing for nervousness of course!). We code candidates on their talent, personality and appearance.
As far as determining whether their experience is accurate, you can usually tell by asking a few targeted questions. If we still have any doubts, we will ask permission to contact their former employer for a reference. Most of the big companies we work with will conduct their own background research (including checking university credentials) before making a final job offer.
Michael
Fascinating interview.
Michael, do you ever put a candidate’s name in Google to see what comes up?
We do use Google quite often to check out info about candidates or to try and locate them through their Web sites, etc. One of the major sites we use is called LinkedIn which is a professional networking site with millions of members here in North America. It’s also becoming quite popular in Europe and Asia as more people realize that LinkedIn is a major resource for recruiters like us and lots of people would like to change jobs!
Michael