executive recruiter

associate

project administrator

analyst

senior associate

Heidrick & Struggles

A typical day at work would consist of "bottomless-pit" tasks and no gratitude. Conditioning seems to be the opposite here. Work hard and get beaten for it. 

What I learned was that they aren't looking for "out-of-the-box" thinkers, just doers. This mentality is usually indicative of low esteem of upper management. 

Immediate management was always great. It's immediate management that has the same interests as you: get the work done. 

Workplace culture promotes individual and silo'd work. People here seem to be "franchisee's" instead of working together for a common goal. Felt more like working with glorified salesmen. This was not the rule as there were some that were genuine, but I can't imagine them staying there that much longer either.

The hardest part of the job was leaving. I made myself a living part of my company.

I really enjoy working at Heidrick & Struggles. y. A typical day for me includes heavy amounts of scheduling between entire teams, researching/ inital calls to potential candidates on searches and preparing status reports/ candidate reports to give our clients an overview as to how our searches are progressing. The most enjoyable part of the job for me is getting to listen in on candidate interviews/ interacting with our candidates and clients. I feel most comfortable when working with others. The hardest part of the job would be the scheduling. I am normally trying to coordinate up to 10 high level executive's calendars to all fit calls at the same time which, while sounding rather simple, can take a long period of back and forth. For me, the workplace culture is a bit more traditional than what I would like to have in my next job. I am not the biggest fan of a stricter corporate environment.

Executive high-level searches for clients start-ups to multi-billion dollar companies.  Produce weekly reports on active candidates.   Write extensive candidate presentations for clients.  Work with my Managing Partner to gather business and completely understand the clients needs and culture.  Research on companies and potential candidates  Coordinate with our EA on putting clients and candidates together whether on phone or travel.

Everything about search.  I had, in my opinion the best mentor and search consultant in the firm.  

Gracious company management for any needs.

Long hours, high expectations of assessment of candidates.  

Loved my team.  Really enjoyed getting to know the executives and contacts that I still have today.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Great people! I worked there over 10 years ago and at that time the culture was terrific. Great people! We had awesome Halloween parties. Summer hours on Fridays. Truly enjoyed working there, felt appreciated and  they allowed me to take a two week leave for a professional artistic opportunity.  That meant the world to me. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
I did not find it stressful. The work can be intense but the amazing partner I worked with was fair and she didn’t really want us working overtime. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
15 years ago was fun, personable, excellent people in all roles. I respected and enjoyed the partners and associates I worked with. I felt valued and seen as a whole person,  it just a worker.

Daily interaction with the head of the IT Department of Heidrich and Struggles (and top producer) included administrative duties as well as opportunity to take on additional responsibilities.  

My manager and I arranged monthly conference calls with guest speakers (presidents of IT companies throughout Silicon Valley and beyond) to educate the H&S staff on IT developments.  I initiated and wrote summarys of these calls for participants and those who could not attend.

Wrote summaries of candidate resumes.

When my husband took a job in Boston, I resigned from H&S.  At the same time, my manager started his own "virtual" company, and he hired me. (see above).

A typical day at work is full of decision-making, fast-paced discussions, and processing documents and materials for candidates and clients. All of this entails an enormous amount of customer service and keen attention to detail.

In my role I provide project and business administration support to a search team in all aspects of the search process including: document preparation and management,
scheduling and planning of candidate and client interviews and
meetings, accounts receivable and accounts payable, expense
reporting, correspondence and file management. This always includes problem-solving within the search execution
and administrative process.

The experience at Heidrick & Struggles is very dependent on which team/ Partner you end up working for. Some are much better than others and it's hard if not near impossible to switch. The compensation is not very competitive until you get to the Partner-level, especially for the amount of time you end up working. There is an expectation to work on weekends and holidays and very little work-life balance, even though there is great PTO and benefits. You're just expected not to use them. They love to promote their "great culture" but it's all smoke and mirrors. They had a big secretive Covid layoff/ RIF in 2020 but a lot of great people have been leaving since 2019.

lack of consistency in processes 
management is stretched thin and unable to spend quality time with staff
staff is stretched thin 
PTO time is lacking compared to other companies, ie. vacation and sick time are included in one bucket but the number of days is significantly less than most companies that provide 3 weeks vacation plus 8-10 days sick time for employees under 5 years of service although some work so many hours that we don't even use the PTO time even when taking a day or two off during the week then lose ability to accrue time due to reaching a PTO accrued cap

H&S is a great company with a lot of advancements from a technical standpoint, but terrible leadership and work culture.  Company tends to hire a lot of industry experts who have never worked in executive search in which these individuals implement the same culture to H&S that is not conducive to executive search.

Not a lot of collaboration, more of a transactional environment.  Simply head down and get your work done, which is not desirable to all and doesn't allow room for employees to engage and connect with each other.

There is zero work life balance.

Worked in Executive Search for over a year and it was fast-paced (usually urgent) and mundane. Once you get past the understanding that you are helping top companies hire c-suite individuals for high compensation rates, the small ember of “helping people find the perfect job” flickers out. However, it is a completely different company in the other parts (Heidrick Consulting, known as HC; Heidrick Digital; and Business Talent Group for On-Demand Talent). Those areas care and want their employees, no matter their level, to do well. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Executive recruiter 81 salaries reported	$99,938 per year
Associate 6 salaries reported	$82,917 per year
Project administrator 7 salaries reported	$74,429 per year
Analyst 6 salaries reported	$77,750 per year
Senior associate 5 salaries reported	$99,921 per year

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