Heidrick & Struggles International Profile
Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. operates as a human capital leadership advisory company.
The company provides executive search, consulting and on-demand talent services to businesses and business leaders worldwide. The company provides its services to a broad range of clients through the expertise of over 430 consultants located in major cities around the world.
The company’s service offerings include the following:
Executive Search
The company partners with its clients - respected organizations across the globe - to help them build and sustain the best leadership teams in the world, with a specialized focus on the placement of top-level senior executives. Through its relationship-based, data-driven approach, the company helps its clients find the right leaders, set them up for success, and accelerate their and their team’s performance.
The company’s executive search services derive revenue through the fees generated for each search engagement, which generally are based on the annual compensation for the placed executive. The company provides its executive search services primarily on a retained basis.
The company employs a global approach to executive search built on better insights, more data and faster decision making facilitated by the use of its Infinity Framework and Heidrick Connect. Its Infinity Framework allows clients to holistically evaluate a candidate's pivotal experience and expertise, leadership capabilities, agility and potential, and culture fit and impact, thereby allowing its clients to find the right person for the role. The company supplements its Infinity Framework through a series of additional online tools, including its Leadership Accelerator, Leadership Signature and Culture Signature assessments. Heidrick Connect, a completely digital, always available client experience portal allows the company’s clients to access talent insights for each engagement, including the Infinity Framework and other internally developed assessment tools. In response to working remotely, its Executive Search teams employed Heidrick Connect to operate effectively and efficiently while engaging virtually with its clients. Additionally, the company has introduced upgrades to Heidrick Connect, resulting in greater flexibility, increased productivity and the ability to deliver more insights to its clients.
The company is a retained executive search firm. Its search process typically consists of the following steps:
Analyzing the client’s business needs in order to understand its organizational structure, relationships and culture, advising the client as to the required set of skills and experiences for the position, and identifying with the client the other characteristics desired of the successful candidate;
Selecting, contacting, interviewing and evaluating candidates on the basis of experience and potential cultural fit with the client organization;
Presenting confidential written reports on the candidates who potentially fit the position specification;
Scheduling a mutually convenient meeting between the client and each candidate;
Completing reference checks on the final candidate selected by the client; and
Assisting the client in structuring compensation packages and supporting the successful candidate’s integration into the client team.
On-Demand Talent
In April 2021, the company acquired Business Talent Group, LLC (BTG), a market-leader in sourcing high-end, on-demand independent talent. The company’s on-demand services provide clients seamless on-demand access to top independent talent, including professionals with deep industry and functional expertise for interim leadership roles and critical, project-based initiatives. The company’s unique model delivers the right independent talent on demand by blending proprietary data and technology with a dedicated Talent Solutions team. As a result of the acquisition, the company identified a new operating segment, On-Demand Talent.
Heidrick Consulting
As a complement and extension of the company’s search services, it partners with organizations through Heidrick Consulting to unlock the power of their people. The company’s tools and experts use data and technology to bring science to the art of human capital development and organizational design. The company’s services allow its clients to accelerate their strategies and the effectiveness of individual leaders, teams, and organizations as a whole.
Heidrick Consulting offers the company’s clients groundbreaking approaches to human capital development through a myriad of solutions, ranging from leadership assessment and development, team and organization acceleration, digital acceleration and innovation, diversity and inclusion advisory services, and culture shaping. Applying the company’s deep understanding of the behaviors and attributes of leaders across many of the world’s premier companies, the company guides its clients as they build a thriving culture of future-ready leadership. These premium services and offerings, which complement the company’s Executive Search expertise, significantly contribute to the company’s ability to deliver a full-service human capital consulting solution to the company’s clients.
The company continues to focus on increasing the scale and impact of its Heidrick Consulting business. The company’s consulting services generate revenue primarily through the professional fees generated for each engagement which are generally based on the size of the project and scope of services. The company’s Heidrick Consulting teams have pivoted to create new digital solutions for Leadership Assessments, Team Acceleration, and Organization and Culture Acceleration that can be delivered virtually in response to the global pandemic.
The company provides senior-level executive search and consulting services to its clients worldwide through a network of 48 offices in 28 countries, including its affiliates. In addition to its wholly owned subsidiaries, the company’s worldwide network includes affiliate relationships in South Africa and Turkey.
The company operates its Executive Search services in three geographic regions, each of which is reported as a separate reporting segment: the Americas (which includes the countries in North and South America); Europe (which includes the continents of Europe and Africa); and the Asia Pacific (which includes Asia and the region generally known as the Middle East). The company’s On-Demand Talent and Heidrick Consulting reporting segments operates globally.
Americas Executive Search: As of December 31, 2021, the company had 193 consultants in its Americas segment. The largest offices in this segment are located in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.
Europe Executive Search: As of December 31, 2021, the company had 103 consultants in its Europe segment. The largest countries in this segment are the United Kingdom, Germany, and France.
The Asia Pacific Executive Search: As of December 31, 2021, the company had 69 consultants in its Asia Pacific segment. The largest countries in this segment are China (including Hong Kong), Australia, and Japan.
On-Demand Talent: The largest countries in this segment are the United States and the United Kingdom.
Heidrick Consulting: As of December 31, 2021, the company had 69 consultants in its Heidrick Consulting segment. The largest countries in this segment are the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.
Within the Financial Services sector, the company’s business is diversified amongst a number of industry sub-sectors, including Asset & Wealth Management, Consumer & Commercial Finance, Commodities, Corporate and Transaction Banking, Global Markets, Hedge Fund, Infrastructure, Investment Banking, Insurance, Private Equity Investment Professionals and Real Estate.
The company services its clients with global industry interests and needs through unified global executive search teams who specialize in industry practices. This go-to-market strategy allows the company to leverage its global diversity and market intelligence and is designed to provide better client service.
Client Base
The company’s clients generally fall into one of the following categories, such as Fortune 1000 companies; major U.S. and non-U.S. companies; middle market and emerging growth companies; private equity firms; governmental, higher education and not-for-profit organizations; and other leading private and public entities.
Clients and Marketing
The company’s consultants market the firm’s executive search and consulting services through two principal means: targeted client calling and industry networking with clients and referral sources. These efforts are supported by proprietary databases, which provide its consultants with information as to contacts made by their colleagues with particular referral sources, candidates and clients. In addition, the company benefits from a significant number of referrals generated by its reputation for high quality service and successfully completed assignments, as well as repeat business resulting from its ongoing client relationships.
In the support of client calling and networking, the practice teams, as well as individual consultants also author and publish articles and white papers on a variety of leadership and talent topics and trends around the world. The company’s consultants often present research findings and talent insights at notable conferences and events as well.
Regulation
Certain aspects of the company’s business are subject to the EU's and the U.K.'s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The company has a global privacy program to facilitate its ongoing efforts to comply with global privacy regulations, including GDPR and other rapidly emerging privacy and data protection laws in countries, such as Brazil and China, or states in the U.S., such as California.
Competition
The company’s competitors include Egon Zehnder International, Korn Ferry, Russell Reynolds Associates, and Spencer Stuart.
History
Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. was founded in 1953. The company was incorporated as a Delaware corporation in 1968.
