Family office recruitment is a notoriously secretive game. The tradition of offices selecting candidates from a tiny pool of individuals already known to them makes it seem even more impenetrable.
My firm, Somers Partnership, specialises in finding top front office talent for family offices. Over the past two decades, we have brought the most exclusive and elusive offices within our remit, offering a new method of hiring based on thorough research and the highly personalised partnering of firms and candidates.
My latest book How to Work for a Billionaire offers insights into the recruitment practices of family offices and gives advice to those looking to find a job in this secretive industry. Here are the crib notes:
Recruiting not hiring
There must be a distinction drawn between recruiting and hiring. Hiring means selecting someone who is out of work, or in line to be made redundant, and then offering them a job.
In these instances, a contingency recruitment agency may represent the candidate’s interests, paid when the family office hires the candidate.
This is often done speculatively, usually by sending candidates’ CVs over to family offices with no link or previous relationship with the family or anyone in the team. A candidate’s immediate availability could be their main selling point.
In contrast, family office recruiting works directly with the family office to find the very best candidate for a specific role. This route often includes actively headhunting a particular individual from another organisation.
A recruitment strategy such as this is executed by a retained executive recruitment firm who align their interests with those of the family office to find the ideal candidate.
They take responsibility for the successful outcome of the selection process and so strive to find the most competent and ambitious candidate.
New blood
Increasingly, retaining a specialist recruitment firm is becoming the approach of choice for family offices seeking new talent and is replacing the traditional method of seeking out professionals the family has already worked with.
This could be within the family-owned businesses or previous investment managers with whom the Principal built up trust, for instance. Whilst this is still the case for many SFOs, there is now an increasing number who use specialist recruiters to find their next employee.
This shift has led to an injection of new talent into this growing industry, allowing more professionals with exceptional experience and the right skillset to work in these highly selective environments.
Bruce Weatherill, founder of Weatherill Consulting, advices family offices to "expect and demand highest level expertise which is up to date, do not let staff get stale or complacent".
Specialist recruiters prioritise a strict set of personal characteristics, seeking out only the top 10 per cent of candidates, the most profitable individuals who are highly capable across a range of roles.
In doing so, family office recruiters have helped the sector to grow and professionalise, bringing a fresh perspective into many family offices.
Weeding out the weak
By using recruiters over the singular hiring processes of SFOs, there is also a thorough process of vetting.
Recruitment candidates undergo a rigorous selection process, including competency based interviews, 360 degree reference taking and psychometric profiling.
These methods are crucial for cutting out the weaker candidates who are used to being carried by big organisations corporate structures and who would contribute little to a family office, ensuring family offices don’t miss out on attracting the professionals who will contribute to the family’s long-term success.
More importantly, it also identifies "well-poisoners". These are the candidates who can cause catastrophic harm to the family’s assets, either through incompetence or actively malicious activities.
Without the scrutiny of thorough background checks, family offices can find themselves with a Walter Mitty type candidate who is not only weak but hugely damaging. Specialist recruiters help to eliminate this risk.
The right fit
To maintain a their privacy and ensure continuity of service, family offices prefer to have a low turnover of staff. Families are understandably reluctant to reveal too much to too many people and data protection is of paramount importance.
The complexity of the families’ requirements and the idiosyncrasies of each office also make this long-term outlook necessary.
These considerations mean that many family offices only employ individuals who they know can be trusted to be discrete. On the other hand, this is not necessarily the most efficient way to find a candidate who is the best possible match for the family.
No two family offices are the same and the values, aims of the family and roles differ hugely between each. Family office recruiters give families an opportunity to choose a candidate who aligns with their unique needs, without compromising on privacy.
This shift towards specialised, high quality recruiting now means that firms like Global Partnership Family Offices advise that the best approach for candidates looking for a new role is "a personal approach or through an 'approved' head-hunter", according to co-founder Michael Shelton-Agar.
A dedicated recruitment agency can help family offices find the perfect fit for their organisation, whilst maintaining a high level of discretion that is key for this industry.
Bringing reliability to recruitment
My book How to Work for a Billionaire, is intended to be a comprehensive guide to the industry, as well as a reality check. The reality is that there are only a tiny number of single family offices who mainly recruit from a pre-existing network which you are not part of. Filled with quotes from family office clients, I hope it will be an interesting insight into the variety and contradictions of the industry.
