There are over 8,000 executive recruiters (consultants and researchers) who are members of the AESC, with access to the BlueSteps database. Recently we spoke to Sophie Euzen, Senior Research Associate at Neumann International in Paris, France, to gain her insight into the research process.

BlueSteps: How do you begin the research process when working on a new search? Where do you look for candidates?

Sophie: It really depends on the position and context of the search. If I'm looking for an operational professional in a specific sector, I will start by building a list of relevant target companies in that sector, and then identify the professionals within those companies. If I'm looking for a functional role (MD, HR, CFO), I will look within companies of similar sectors as well, but also make a keyword search on candidate profiles using the main criteria required in their professional background.

The tools I use are also different depending on the search, but I will always screen 2 online professional networks: Viadeo for executives with national experience, and LinkedIn for executives with international backgrounds. I also check our internal database and BlueSteps, and very often make a keyword search on Google.

BlueSteps: What does a 'good' resume/CV look like?
 
Sophie: A good CV is one that a non-specialist reader will understand! It should give you a synthetic, yet precise view of the person's professional experience: indicating clearly dates, titles and names of companies (with location), figures to indicate scope of responsibility, and a few 'bullet points' with main achievements in each position.

BlueSteps: How can senior executives make themselves more attractive to researchers?
 
Sophie: Be clear and synthetic on the content of your professional experience, indicate figures where needed to give a precise idea of the scope of responsibility, and use relevant keywords within your profile/CV so that one can find the profile when searching databases or the internet. Executives sometimes don't realise that one of our problems is often to identify them!

Senior Executives - Gain International Visibility to Executive Recruiters

BlueSteps is the exclusive service of the AESC that puts senior executives on the radar screen of over 6,000 executive search professionals in over 70 countries. Be visible, and be considered for up to 50,000 opportunities handled by AESC search firms every year.