Who Are We?
What Makes Us Different?
How Much Will it Cost?
What Do We Do When You Retain Us?
How Long Will it Take?
Questions You Should Ask.

Bialla and Associates, Inc., is a nationally recognized, retained executive search and management consulting firm with a practice specialized in consumer-oriented businesses.

We excel at sourcing executives for positions where marketing leadership is required within a given industry. Our recruitment of executives ranges from CEOs and heads of businesses, to functional areas such as head of marketing, sales, finance, HR, and legal, as well as outside directors.

Marketing and advertising, as business disciplines, have evolved to their highest level of sophistication in the consumer goods and services sectors.

Our industry orientation, therefore, requires both a thorough understanding of these business sectors, and the experience and ability to evaluate the quality, performance, and potential of the best executive talent.

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When selecting an executive search firm, clients often wrestle with many issues: should the firm be large or small; specialized or general; does it matter where it is based; and who will handle the search? Most importantly, you need to know what competitive advantages our firm offers. What conflict of interest issues are there, where are you off-limits, how important am I to you as a client? All valid questions.

Our firm is small by design and with a team of roughly ten experts we can swiftly mobilize a search into action and with great precision. The people you meet initially from our firm are the same ones who will conduct your search. One partner will have primary responsibility for the search, but all of our staff and resources will actively contribute to the effort.

One thing we don't do is hand off searches to junior associates. That's because we value quality over economic expediency. Only partners handle searches. That way, we can ensure the best results.

Being somewhat specialized allows us to understand your needs more quickly. Being consumer-focused, yet diversified in industries, allows us to draw from a wide array of well-developed candidate sources, nationally as well as internationally. Our networks stretch throughout the world, with some of our staff having resided overseas.

Perhaps the primary reason for our successful track record is our nearly 40-year tenure in the search business, combined with our search consultants real world business experience in a variety of industries. We understand our clients' businesses because we've held positions similar to the ones we're filling.

We also are able to source from a wide variety of companies because, unlike many of the large publicly-held search firms, we are not blocked by numerous client conflicts. This means we can recruit freely from a wide field of companies and candidates.

Finally, we don't add surcharges, mark ups or additional fees for administering your search like some other search firms. This means you know what you're paying for upfront. No surprises come later.

Net, our firm's experience and structure benefits you by improving the chances of success, not only in finding, but also in attracting, the best possible candidate from a wide pool of available talent.

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We are a retained search firm and approach your business as management consultants. Accordingly, we bill you over the estimated duration of the assignment.

Our fees are competitive: 33 1/3% of the candidate's estimated first year compensation. This is paid in three equal installments and is adjusted to actual compensation upon completion of the assignment. We offer our clients the option of a fixed fee that is negotiated before we embark on an assignment.

We guarantee the candidates we place for one year. In the unlikely event that our candidate resigns or is terminated due to poor performance, we will replace the candidate for no additional fee, except expenses incurred.

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Our search process is simple and straightforward.

Step 1: Meet with you and those members of your team you think appropriate to develop a full understanding of your management style and company culture as well as the position's job responsibilities and reporting lines. We then draft a position description including job responsibilities and candidate requirements for your review as well as a target list of companies we intend to source from.

We target Step 1 to be complete by the end of the first week of our being assigned your search.

Step 2: The next step is to research and identify potential candidates using Bialla's proprietary database, our extensive personal networks and other proprietary methods to target companies and key industry executives most appropriate for your search.

This includes initial contact and qualification of potential candidates, meeting them in person to further qualify them, blind referencing those we think are strong contenders and presenting them to you along with their resumes via a candidate write-up in person, or if you prefer by phone or email.

Because we are experienced both in your industry and the particular function for which you are hiring, our candidate flow often begins by the second week of our being assigned your search. We can also handle your search on a confidential basis if circumstances require.

Step 3: When you are ready to begin interviewing candidates, we can help you qualify and sort through those candidates we've presented in terms of their experience, fit and suitability. We also assist in scheduling candidate interviews to help with the process.

Step 4: When you are ready to extend an offer to a candidate, we handle reference checking and degree verification as well as advise you on the offer negotiations. If you prefer, we can even handle the offer negotiation ourselves. Once the candidate has accepted we can also assist with transition management.

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The industry standard is 90 days but being satisfied with the standard has never been a goal at Bialla.

We've completed searches in less than 30 days. We've also had searches take longer than 90 days. The length of time of a search is generally in the hands of the client. What often takes time are the logistics: travel, some educational interviewing by the client, and managing time.

Because we are specialized, we require less time to learn your business, which makes the search process go faster. That means a typical search for us takes 60 to 90 days to complete.

Our approach is to put the most qualified candidates in front of you as soon as possible. We don't wait until we have a list of ten pre-screened people to begin submitting candidates. In many cases we start submitting candidates for your review within the first two weeks of the search.

Because we pride ourselves on being fast and nimble, beating the standard is part of our job.

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What do you know about my business? My industry? My competition?
Who will conduct this search and specifically, who will be assigned to it?
What relevant experience do they have?
What is your current search load?
Where will you look towards finding this person?
What is the average time it takes you to fill a search?
What is your success ratio in filling searches?

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