Interviewing in Family Office Recruitment

Looking for advice from a team of family office recruiters on how to find the perfect recruit for your family office? You’ve come to the right place!

It can be challenging to find a person with the sensitivity to handle anything from family conflicts to unexpected deaths while also being able to maintain and increase profits for both present and future generations. How, then, can you find someone with the necessary abilities who will also integrate well into your family office and remain for a long time?

In this article, we’ll help you answer this question as you look for a recruit to become part of your family office.

Attributes to Look for in a Candidate 

When recruiting someone for your multi- or single-family office, it’s important to ensure that they have the qualities you’re looking for. Here are a few attributes to look for during your family office executive search:

The Right Skillset

Family offices will likely have different skill requirements, and a number of them provide specialty services. As a result, a candidate may have experience in wealth management, but they may work with family offices that require help with tax planning or obtaining financing from private banks.

There can be a significant disconnect if the recruit’s expertise and talents don’t match the needs of the family. Here are a few skills to look for:

  • Succession planning
  • Financial services
  • Wealth management
  • Adaptability
  • Problem-solving
  • Resilience
  • Versatility
  • Flexibility
Proven Track Record

Proven Track Record

Working with family members isn’t always easy, so hiring knowledgeable executive leadership professionals is essential. The successful candidate must have experience working with family offices and should understand the demands of working in these environments.

Cultural Fit

Another important thing to look for is whether the candidate is compatible with the family’s culture and environment. Culture fit is critical to the retention of candidates within family offices. 

Ability to Work Independently

While part of a team, the candidate must be proactive and resourceful. However, if there is no large team, it’s important that the candidate be able to work well on their own.

He or she should be able to function independently and provide excellent service to the family members. They shouldn’t require constant guidance from a coworker or supervisor, whether regarding wealth management, financial services, taxes, or anything else.

Interviewing Candidates for Family Offices

 Here are a few interview questions you might want to consider asking during the interview process.

1. Do You Have Experience with Multi-family Offices?

Whether you’re currently busy with multi- or single-family office recruitment, it’s important to ensure that the candidate has the experience to provide adequate wealth management and financial services to meet the needs of your family office. 

Serving a multi-family office will undoubtedly come with its challenges, so it’s important to ensure the candidate has the relevant experience.

2. Tell Me About a Time You Had to Deal with a Difficult Situation in a Multi-family Office. 

With this question, you can find out if the candidate can communicate well, deal with problems at work, and provide motivation during challenging times. These are arguably some of the most important characteristics to look for when finding someone for a family office. 

3. What Are Your Long and Short-term Goals? 

Family offices often look for people that will stay, not choose the job as the stepping stone to something else. By asking this question, you can gauge the candidate’s intentions and whether they will be a long-term asset to the family office.

4. What Are Your Strengths and Weaknesses?

This will help you determine whether the candidate is using a generic set of answers and whether they are being honest. It will also give you a chance to draw out examples from the candidate’s professional history and learn more about their personality, accountability, and ability to learn from their mistakes.

5. How do you stay organized?

Being organized is undoubtedly an important quality to have when working for a family office. This can help you learn how the candidate prioritizes different tasks and how they handle their workload if there are multiple tasks to be addressed.

6. What Have You Done to Improve Your Skills in the Past Five Years?

Growth is important in any role, and when determining whether a candidate would be a suitable fit, you must determine whether he or she is willing to learn, develop, and hone their skills. This is a great question to gauge their willingness to learn and grow.

Ability to Work Independently

Don’t Trust Your Intuition During the Family Office Recruitment Process

Like most people, employers frequently trust their instincts. However, it could lead to a major error in the recruitment process. Studies have shown that general intelligence tests are nearly as good as aptitude tests at predicting future success on the job, yet recruiters stubbornly rely on their gut feelings.

You will be prone to judge a candidate’s responses, regardless of what they are, in a manner that aligns with your initial impression if you find them to be likable. 

If the employer is biased towards women, for example, an interview will unavoidably lead to discrimination. In a way, promoting equality can be accomplished by relying less on assessments and more on historical performance.

The takeaway for family offices is simple: rely on less personal information and more factual data. 

Retaining Family Office Recruits

Talent retention is important for any family office. You might want to offer the following to ensure that workers stay for the long-term: 

  • A good working environment 
  • Bonuses 
  • Job stability 
  • Prestige

Moreover, staff members that are treated like members of the family tend to remain in their positions for longer. 

The Bottom Line

The truth is that family office recruitment isn’t a walk in the park. Fortunately, using these tips from a team of professional family office recruiters, you can ensure that you find the right candidate!

Alternatively, we recommend hiring a team of professional family office recruiters to ensure you find the right candidate.

For a free consultation on your family office hiring strategy, contact us at info@questorg.com or 212-971-0033.

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