While much of this may seem like glorified scutt work, hiring experts say a lack of early preparation can throw a search way off course. Stephen McMahan, group president of Tampa-based staffing firm Kforce Inc., points out that most clients and candidates start out with conflicting goals. Candidates tend to seek job opportunities that offer professional and personal growth, as well as reasonable pay. Clients, on the other hand, want the best for less.

Ultimately, it's the search firm's job to bridge the divide. The bridging becomes a tall task, however, if clients and recruiters are going in opposite directions from the outset.

(To see why some internal department candidates are often passed over for a vacant CFO job, read "The Wrong Stuff.")

2. Stalking Horse, Hidden Point Man
To avoid problems down the road, hiring experts say employers should be watching for signs of problems at the beginning of an engagement. Two classic early signs of pending trouble: the appearance of a "stalking horse," and the disappearance of the person who signed the search contract.

A stalking horse is an unqualified prospect sent by the recruiter to the client. The purpose? To secretly test the accuracy of the candidate profile. While it may be helpful to a search firm, sending out a stalking horse is a lazy way of gathering information from the client — and underhanded, to boot.

Recruiters are quick to point out, however, that a stalking horse is not the same as a benchmark candidate. With a benchmark candidate, the search firm informs both the job seeker — and the employer — that the person is being brought in primarily to help refine the profile.

As for disappearing consultants: insiders say clients should be concerned when a high-level search firm executive makes a sales pitch, attends the contract signing — and then falls off the face of the earth when the search gets underway. Usually, the disappearing consultant fobs off client phone calls, requests, and other inquires to researchers or associates.

Averting the brush-off is not easy, but recruiters say clients should establish early on who will be the contact person at the search firm.

(Read more on customer-service snags.)

3. No Pushback
During the halcyon days of the new economy, a blue chip corporate client of The Directorship Search Group was eager to hire a technology specialist from Silicon Valley. But as Linda Ducruet, managing director at The Directorship, recalls, the search was doomed from the start.

Why? Because the client was offering a puny salary for the position. Worse, the client would not budge from that number — even after Ducruet informed the employer that proposed pay for the job was not even close to market rates.

Ducruet says her client was not happy with her frank assessment of the salary allotted for the job. But the search veteran maintains that it's a recruiter's job to evaluate the market — and to let clients know when their expectations are unreasonable.

In fact, forthrightness can be a sign a recruiter is truly paying attention. For example, McMahan says on several occasions he's caught clients asking for five years of experience "with products that have only been on the market for three years."

Of course, CFOs and HR executives may not be thrilled with tough questions coming from a well-compensated outsourcer. But Kenneth Greger, managing director of Portland-based search firm Greger/Peterson Associates, insists that a client should be suspicious of a recruiter who offers little or no push back during the course of a job search.

The consultant also rightly points out that top candidates generally have no qualms about asking corporate clients some thorny questions. That's particularly true if the employer is going through a rough financial patch, or has been involved in a financial scandal of some sort.

An employer who is caught unaware by such questions isn't likely to make a great impression on candidates. It's the recruiter's job to make sure a client knows the questions are coming — and is prepared to answer them.

Of course, it's not easy for a search firm to deliver bad news to a client. But Barry Honig, president of Honig International in Tenafly, N.J., says recruiters should offer frequent updates to customers — whether the news is good, bad or indifferent. What's frequent? Whatever the recruiter and the client decide, says Honig, although once-a-week phone calls, e-mails, or written reports seems to be about right.

4. Standard Fee, Substandard Guarantee
"The price [of a retained search] is fair, but it's still a sizeable investment," asserts Moyer of Moyer/Sherwood. Then again, he says, "no one uses search firms for the easy ones."

The hard truth is, finding the right executive to fill a top-level post can be an expensive pursuit. And despite the importance of finding the best candidate for a job, the cost of a search can be a big issue to most CFOs.

Generally, retained search firms adhere to the "one-third" standard, says John Mestepey, vice president at AT Kearney Executive Search. That is, search firms charge one-third of the candidate's first year's cash compensation, which includes salary and bonus. Most recruiters also tack on their own travel expenses and the travel expenses of candidates, as well as phone charges, overnight mail service, and dinner tabs.

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