A 5-Part Series: Secrets To Finding The Right Candidate

Executive Search and Your Club
All You Need To Know About Search Committees, Search Firms, and Candidates

A new series of articles by Dale Petrie, Club Governor, President and Consultant to the Private Members Club Industry.

Club governors often ask me as a former club president about executive searches for top management at their respective clubs. Questions abound once we start talking. Even though many members and colleagues of mine have run their own businesses or are part of a C-Suite team at their work, the search for a Director of Food and Beverage, Golf, Racquets, or indeed a Club Manager can be very different from a search in the business world. Whether completed in-house or through an executive search firm, the club goes through a transition that is not always pretty, transparent, or inexpensive both literally and figuratively.

I have personally researched and explored the search industry and individual clubs going through a transition on both sides of “The Pond” while being part of the industry. The procedures of a good search, the costs associated with hiring an executive search firm, and the methods attached to finding strong, talented candidates can sometimes feel as if they are cloaked in secrecy. Whether it’s to protect the privacy of the candidates, the club, or the search firm, or due to inner politics at the club, the entire process is not always wholly transparent.

Cape et d’épée!
Uncloaking The Cloak and Dagger Of Search

My objective with this series of articles is to help guide and educate any private members club through a transitional period at a private members club. First, whether to keep the search in-house or to turn toward the possibility of hiring an outside firm. What are the some of the factors and advantages to hiring an executive search firm and what can some of the issues be with retaining a firm? What might it cost?

For any club governor it is inherent to better understand the procedures, the strengths and pitfalls, and the costs associated with a search. It’s a procedure that is at the heart of improving our private members club industry when recruiting new staff. And search always creates a pivotal, if not volatile, period for a private club.

Deeper questions as to the processes and philosophies in connection with candidates and searches should be asked of any search committee or search firm by the club governors long before any job description is completed. What are the inherent needs for the club and what candidate characteristics might match those needs. We investigate those issues in this series as well.

To better understand the entire search process within the private members club industry is to learn how a club can avoid the pitfalls into which search firms and clubs often fall. We also look at the search procedure from the candidate’s viewpoint and we will use case studies to trace a candidate’s path through a typical executive search.

And finally, we will explore the inherent biases of any search, from your very own club manager, to the search firm’s beliefs, and finally to the inner workings, opinions and politics of a club’s search committee.

In this series of five in-depth articles, video and presentations along with actual case studies, Dale Petrie will investigate the industry that has become a popular hashtag: #clubcareers. Let’s, as club governors, look at how we can better serve our clubs through a better understanding of the procedures and the costs. Join me for the series at a discounted rate, exclusively reserved for club governors and officers. Or visit the InstituteOfClubDirectors.com today and join your fellow private member club governors with a year’s membership and lead your club to new heights and receive this series absolutely FREE!

1. When a Search Is Required and When To Proceed In-House or Hire a Search Firm – June 1 Release Date
2. Retained Vs Contingent Search: Negotiating with the Search Firm – June 15 Release Date
3. Getting the Job Description to Match Members Desires, Both Real and Imagined – July 1 Release Date
4. Inherent Biases of any Search & The Consolation Candidate – July 15 Release Date
5. The Top Ten Mistakes a Search Committee and Search Firm Make – August 1 Release Date

Register Below For This Incredible Series!Reserved Exclusively for Members of Private Clubs!

Dale Petrie has gained national fame as a leading contributor to the private members club industry through his work with BeyondTheBaselines.com. His recent work with leading restaurants and boutique hotels in the South of France and with private clubs in Dubai has launched his career as one of the most knowledgeable industry consultants. He is a graduate of the Universite Sorbonne in Paris and gained his Masters in Marketing from the same University’s program in Abu Dhabi. A leader in the industry, Dale observes trends long before they are accepted practices and we are honored to have him as our exclusive writer. His written series: How To Best Manage Staff and Membership can be found at InstituteOfClubDirectors.com