The financial sector forms the foundation of New York’s executive-recruiting industry. Twenty firms on Crain’s list of the largest executive recruiters specialize in accounting, financial services or hedge funds. The Bachrach Group (No. 5), long a financially focused recruiting firm, recently expanded into industries where other recruiters don’t have a large presence, including construction, engineering and manufacturing.
“We started out as a boutique finance and accounting firm 40 years ago, and in the past two years we’ve changed the model of how this company works,” said Anthony Fanzo, a partner at Bachrach. “Executive search is now our biggest growth area.”
Data points 76.2%—Average percentage of billings from retained searches*
article continues below advertisement 67—Number of New York-area recruiters hired by the top 25 firms in 2016, a 4.6% increase from 2015
103—Number of U.S. recruiters hired by the top 25 firms last year, a 4.2% increase from 2015**
*Among the 17 firms to provide this data point.
**Excluding DHR International, which didn’t provide a 2015 U.S. recruiter figure.
From 2014 to 2016 Bachrach increased its New York billings from about $24 million to $42 million, and upped its recruiter count from 54 to 95. The growth is largely due to a newfound ability to train inexperienced recruiters.
“In the past we steered away from going with a lot of rookie recruiters,” Fanzo said. “But we now have the resources to get these younger recruiters trained and up to speed. We have weekly classes and more senior-level recruiters that help with training.
“In some agencies, it’s sink or swim,” he continued. “They’ll hire someone, sit them down, tell them to make a phone call. But they don’t know what to do. We’re constantly coaching and trying to put people in position to maximize their earnings potential.”
In the last six months, Bachrach launched a fast-growing division that recruits human resources executives for companies.
The more that firms have their own internal recruiters, the less they’ll need to turn to executive agencies. But Fanzo said he isn’t concerned that his recruiters will be poached by the companies Bachrach serves.
“There’s a mantra that recruiters don’t leave the agency side to go internal,” he said. “Internal recruiters have a limited career path with a ceiling. A good agency recruiter is making a lot of money.”
The financial sector forms the foundation of New York’s executive-recruiting industry. Twenty firms on Crain’s list of the largest executive recruiters specialize in accounting, financial services or hedge funds. The Bachrach Group (No. 5), long a financially focused recruiting firm, recently expanded into industries where other recruiters don’t have a large presence, including construction, engineering and manufacturing.
“We started out as a boutique finance and accounting firm 40 years ago, and in the past two years we’ve changed the model of how this company works,” said Anthony Fanzo, a partner at Bachrach. “Executive search is now our biggest growth area.”
From 2014 to 2016 Bachrach increased its New York billings from about $24 million to $42 million, and upped its recruiter count from 54 to 95. The growth is largely due to a newfound ability to train inexperienced recruiters.
“In the past we steered away from going with a lot of rookie recruiters,” Fanzo said. “But we now have the resources to get these younger recruiters trained and up to speed. We have weekly classes and more senior-level recruiters that help with training.
“In some agencies, it’s sink or swim,” he continued. “They’ll hire someone, sit them down, tell them to make a phone call. But they don’t know what to do. We’re constantly coaching and trying to put people in position to maximize their earnings potential.”
In the last six months, Bachrach launched a fast-growing division that recruits human resources executives for companies.
The more that firms have their own internal recruiters, the less they’ll need to turn to executive agencies. But Fanzo said he isn’t concerned that his recruiters will be poached by the companies Bachrach serves.
“There’s a mantra that recruiters don’t leave the agency side to go internal,” he said. “Internal recruiters have a limited career path with a ceiling. A good agency recruiter is making a lot of money.”
A version of this article appears in the February 6, 2017, print issue of Crain’s New York Business.
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