Quality of talent is most important to our respondents. Almost as important, and the number one source of their frustration, is speed. It just takes too long to fill mission critical roles. Every day a position remains open means lost profit and opportunity cost to the corporation.
Directly after quality and speed, the key factor for corporations is return on investment. ROI from the traditional executive search industry is too low. HR executives want to make sure they are driving real value with the dollars they invest on behalf of their companies.
2008 Retained Executive Search Market Study - Pax Gabriel