Access Search Partners Adds India Member Firm Specialist
August 4, 2016 – Access Search Partners (ASP), a new global partnership of executive search firms recently launched by Polachi Inc., has added White Ocean Expert Consulting (WOEC) as its newest member for to address the growing executive search market in India. WOEC is a global executive search and consulting firm focusing on technology and industrial sectors across India and Asia Pacific.
“There is a big hole in the market between the small boutique search firms and the large multinational search firms,” said Charley Polachi, managing director of Polachi. “We’ve filled that gap with the Access Search Partners partnership, and have been able to effectively serve or clients global search requirements. We are pleased to welcome White Ocean Expert Consulting to our partnership.”
Access Search Partners other member firms include: Stonewood Group in Canada, SPMB in San Francisco, and Gillamor Stephens in the U.K.
According to Mr. Polachi, the organization has developed a new framework that delivers all of the global capabilities of large, publicly traded search firms, but without the ‘hands off’ limitations and internal conflicts that plague those companies, elongate search cycle times and frustrate corporate clients.
Here are excerpts from a recent conversation with Mr. Polachi about the idea behind this new global partnership of search firms.
Charlie, what led to the launch of Access Search Partners?
We wanted a select group of dedicated search firms who shared common values about client service and search execution. We had collaborated with the SPMB team in the Bay Area for years and wanted to extend our global reach. We identified quality firms in technology markets that were open to collaboration and that had good reach but weren’t so big that off limits and candidate contention became issues.
What are the benefits to clients?
All members of this team are experienced search practitioners who actually work on search execution: research strategy, candidate development — including calling sources and prospects personally, interviewing candidates in person, managing the client / candidate meetings, reference auditing, deal negotiation and most importantly closing the candidate. We all have great teams who provide leverage, but each partner is actively involved in the search. We collaborate on search execution and best search practices. Each firm has access to other Access Search Partners firm’s databases, providing broader access to quality candidates.
How’s this different from what other recruiting consortiums might provide?
First and foremost – leadership. We have a full time executive director in Hale Cochran, a former senior partner with Heidrick & Struggles and Fenwick Partners. He’s a search practitioner who manages to keep the Access Search Partners team focused and on track. We have regularly scheduled team calls and an annual conference. Most importantly, we all focus on the technology ecosystem – we are specialists in tech, we are not generalists.
How do you think Access Search Partners will grow in the future?
We will carefully, slowly and selectively add quality firms as needed. Our clients will tell us where they need and want coverage.
Contributed by Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor, Hunt Scanlon Media
