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Lessons To Be Learned From Botched Employment Decisions
The machinations of search firms are intentionally cloaked in secrecy. Sometimes searches even go out of their way to avoid an accessible paper trail for the future.
Little is known about the way that Parker Executive Search Firm went about helping Rutgers come to Julie Hermann as its new athletic director. Or how the vetting process went.
When reached, Parker declined to comment and deferred to Rutgers for details. However, it still highlights their involvement in Hermann's hire on their website.
Previously, Parker has been involved in hiring the athletic directors at Ohio State, Oregon, and Notre Dame. In 2009, Rutgers paid the firm $58,000 and expenses when it hired Tim Pernetti.
However, they've had their lower moments.
Parker helped Pittsburgh hire Mike Haywood as its football coach in 2010. Haywood was fired after 16 days after he was arrested for domestic abuse. Dan Parker, the firm's President, took responsibility for the blunder. The firm then helped Pittsburgh hire Todd Graham, who left the school after a season.
It has been reported that Kate Sweeney, a co-chair of the search committee, exerted her influence and had Hermann added to the initial list of candidates produced by the firm, as first reported by Steve Politi.
That is not an irregular occurrence during AD or coaching searches said Jed Hughes, the Vice President of Korn/Ferry, a prominent sports executive search firm. Hughes, who has led many AD searches, said that the circumstances under which a person not on the original list comes to earn the job matter.
"I don't think that's unique to have other people's names brought forward," he said. "It also depends in what part of the process it was brought forward."
That process is a multi-step, multi-variable one, in which the search firm works with the school. It all begins by looking at the cycle the university involved is in. Is it trying to grow? Make a turn around? Or, as Hughes described Rutgers, trying to re-establish credibility and protect its brand.
Next, the search committee, however large or small, puts together the criteria it is looking for. They look at whether there are successful alumni available or an athletic director elsewhere that might have interest and be suitable. Also, Parker, according to its site, develops an "aggressive timeline to meet the institution's needs."
Along that path, the firm would consider how that potential candidate was trained and came to their position. Were they a former coach or involved in administration. Is there business experience related to sports?
The conditions matter. Rutgers, Hughes said, benefited from moving into the Big Ten. It may have garnered a different set of candidates if it were still in the Big East.
When the original list gets cut to a selective tier, usually around five, Hughes says that a "very deep, expensive, third party" background check ensues to understand how that person functioned in their different environments. That means talking to former colleagues, other coaches, or people in the athletic department they worked in.
But checking with former players decades removed, as Rutgers seems not to have done with Hermann's past, may be a step too far.
Then come the interviews, followed by a decision on how to pare down to the final choices.
To avoid having to reveal details through public records requests, Hughes said that search firms can encourage for committees to discuss its issues verbally rather than write it down and have there be a record of it.
After the final candidates are chosen, an extensive background check begins. This step lasts three to five days and costs between $5,000-$10,000 because a third party scrutinizes the candidate's career, court records and anything else on the public record. On its website, Parker says that it will "conduct extensive background and reference checks."
Korn/Ferry also employs an internal assessment company called Lominger that can do a personality determination for the job based on available background information and characteristics.
After this deep dive has been done, schools pick their new athletic director and make an offer. For some, this decision can work out better than for others.
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