The world of non-profits is different from the corporate world. In higher education, administrators face unique issues such as shared governance and the intricacies of tenure and promotion. Non-profits face constant funding challenges, and must navigate carefully with boards and volunteers. These challenges make for a unique recruiting environment where the culture and motivations of candidates are very different from those in the corporate world. This requires a search firm with diplomacy, communication skills and intelligence. It requires an understanding of the very different motivations of people in this field. Because Institutional Advantage specializes in higher education and non-profits, we connect with prospective candidates in this environment, identify and recruit the best, and ultimately attract them to your institution. Large search firms may have “big names”, fancy offices and slick marketing materials, but they also have overhead costs, stockholders, and quarterly earnings pressures. They need volume to survive, and this is often at the expense of individualized attention to the special needs of each client. Institutional Advantage is different. We limit our projects to ensure our clients receive the level of professional attention and service they deserve. Good search work takes time and effort to cultivate the best candidates; it’s not just pulling a “short list” out of a computer. We have the ability to devote ourselves to providing a highly tailored approach to find just the right candidates for your position. Focus also has positive implications for candidates, who find the added level of attention from Institutional Advantage helpful as they evaluate your institution. Executive search is not a science, although we certainly follow processes which help ensure a search is thorough and effective. Intuition about people, however, is a very important part of a successful search, and is a skill which Institutional Advantage’s clients value highly. Being able to quickly recognize and understand a client’s culture and personality, and then matching that to potential candidates helps Institutional Advantage identify those people who will have the best fit in addition to meeting stated criteria. These insights are shared with the client to help them make better decisions when trying to select among numerous otherwise qualified candidates. It’s impossible to know everyone there is to know in any given field, let alone in the wide range of disciplines that make up the non-profit world. The key to success is the ability to find out who is who, and how to access them. This is an area where Institutional Advantage is really skilled – crafting and executing a strategy to find and attract the best, in whatever field you need. Just finding the right person is not enough. Convincing that candidate to take the job, particularly when financial incentives are constrained, often requires delicate negotiation skills. Through careful candidate development, Institutional Advantage can present the opportunity to the finalist in the best way to bring the process to a satisfactory close. By acting as the intermediary in the end game, Institutional Advantage can reduce potential missteps and make sure you get what you need – a successful hire!