Replacing or Hiring a Product Manager

If you haven’t already, at some point in your company’s lifespan you’re going to need an executive recruiter. But, they’re expensive, right? Well, yes and no. Think about this scenario.

You’re at your desk working on a presentation. One of your Product Managers stops at your door asking for a few minutes of your time. You invite her in to have a seat. After a few minutes of small talk, she tells you she’s leaving your company and hands you her resignation letter. While you’re a bit shocked and disappointed, you understand. She has an incredible opportunity to grow her strategic career at one of your competitors, and at a salary you can’t possibly match. After a few more minutes of chatting, she leaves your office and you begin to realize how truly valuable of a strong product manager she was to your company overall and the team. You’ll need to replace her quickly to avoid any significant downtime. Thankfully, you have some alternatives.

The first option is to divide her work among two or three other product personnel to make certain no critical deliverables are missed. This will undoubtedly add to their workload and hours; and that in turn, may compound the problem prompting them to leave as well.

Second, you could promote someone on the team who believes they’ve proven them self. However, in doing so you may increase the chance of losing others who are equally convinced they were overlooked for this promotion they perceived was also justly deserved; only exacerbating the problem further.

Third, you could place an ad in a trade publication or website seeking an executive to replace her. While this may seem like the best solution, a couple of other issues will very well soon arise. Like, how long will it take to review the stack of submitted resumes; most of which are not even worthy of a nano-second of consideration.  Next, how many candidates do you interview? If you’re like most, you’ll have continual lingering doubts about all the candidates and in hopes that someone absolutely perfect magically presents themselves. The issue here is most successful executives have their head down and aren’t actively looking and applying for new roles. Or, what if the candidate you select accepts a counteroffer? You’re back to Square One; losing all that valuable time. Regardless of which path you choose, all will take down a road that is a departure from your current responsibilities.

And fourth, contact a recruiter to conduct the search on your behalf. It’s critical to work with a headhunter who clearly understands product management and you industry–and most importantly, your company. This may require paying a bit more, but in the long run, it will be time and money well spent. And, there are some significant benefits of hiring an external recruiter.

Like any company providing a service, hiring a recruiting firm costs money. While you might be reluctant to pay for a service you can do yourself, remember they’re doing some things behind the scene steps (finding candidates, reviewing resumes, vetting applicants, debriefing both parties after interviews, checking references, and negotiating compensation). All of which allows you to do other things that also require your time and attention that ultimately could make you money.

No doubt employee turnover is expensive, but hiring the wrong person can be quite detrimental…lost time, resources, morale, etc. A good recruiter always focuses on the quality—not the quantity—of candidates. They’ve been industry long enough, and talked with enough executives, they have the wherewithal and the resources to know where to look while digging deep to find the best possible candidate(s).

It’s also important to remember executive recruiters are outsiders looking in. Their unbiased point of view can prove beneficial many times over. Including finding someone whose working at your competitor’s company that’s busy doing their job rather than looking for another job.

Other benefits recruiters provide include the willingness and ability to ask tough questions. Thereby getting the most meaningful insights in terms of candidate’s personal claims. Candidates often are more direct when speaking with recruiters about often difficult topics like extended gaps between jobs, layoffs, terminations, and current compensation.

Skilled recruiters will eliminate those who may not have the ideal personality or qualifications that are necessary to be successful. Conversely, they may be aware of other candidates who are not be on your radar screen for whatever reason, yet maybe well-qualified.

In addition, in the course of seeking for candidates, a strong recruiting partner will often unearth industry information (new product launches, mergers, key executive transitions, possible new business leads, and the like) that could prove lucrative to you. Recruiters can be a great resource to finding out what’s happening in the industry. Most are recruiters are willing to share these insights with their best clients.

Another reason that a headhunter may be worthy of your money, since they’re being compensated to identifying the ideal person, it’s essential they keep all parties involved satisfied. So, if the selected candidate doesn’t work out for whatever reason, in the mutually agreed time frame (usually from 90 to 180 days depending on the level of the executive), most credible recruiters will offer some sort of a guarantee—whether it be a replacement or a partial credit toward another search.

So, you’ve decided to utilize the services of a recruiter. How do you find one? There are many ways. For an example, call the headhunter who’s contacted you about great opportunities in the past, or ask an industry colleagues for a name or two. Another method is Linked IN; there are hundreds of recruiters, you’re apt to find one that specializes in your specific needs. Finally, consider Google, just type in the word “recruiter” with the critical keywords and you’re bound to get meaningful hit.

Finally, once you have identified the recruiter that you wish to partner with, it’s important to know how to communicate. Some recruiters prefer Email, others phone calls, some may even prefer texting or meeting face to face.  All methods are good, but all have drawbacks, too. The important thing to note, is what way works best for you and your recruiter. It may also be worthwhile to have a set day and time to have follow up conversation to discuss what stage the search is. Keep in mind, with cell phone numbers easily transferrable these days, the recruiter may or may not be in the same time zone as their area code. It’s always best to ask them to avoid missing critical meetings or calling early morning or too late at night. 

As you can see there are numerous do’s and don’ts working with a headhunter. Anything can work as long as you’re on the same page. The best way to do that is by following the simplest, but often the most overlooked rule: communication is key.

Jamie McCann

Owner of 3AM Marketing Services

(949) 292-8166

jamie@3AMmarketingservices.com