Why The Barrett Group Is Incomparable

Prospective clients often ask, “How does The Barrett Group compare to the competition?”

The reality is, there is no true comparison. With an unparalleled approach that sets us apart from traditional career services, The Barrett Group has redefined career management and the very meaning of career success over our 30-plus years in business. How do we compare? Simply put, The Barrett Group is in a league of its own. Here’s why.

Not an Executive Recruiter

Forbes magazine has cited The Barrett Group since 2020 as one of the leading executive recruitment firms in the US. TBG—that’s what WE call The Barrett Group—is very pleased with this designation, which is based on peers’ and recruitment professionals’ assessment.

From their perspective, the effect of TBG is to help executives find new roles—and this we do, probably better than anyone else on the planet. However, TBG is not an executive recruiter.

From our perspective, recruiters comprise just 10% of the available executive job market.

A recruiter (for example, Heidrick & Struggles, Spencer Stuart, Egon Zehnder, Korn Ferry, etc.) is hired by an employer to find candidates who fit a specific role and compensation package.

Clearly, that is a B2B business model. TBG on the other hand is strictly B2C. Executives hire us to support their career change initiatives.

The Value of Clarity

TBG’s unique five-stage program includes the Targeting step, also known as the Clarity Program, Packaging or the Personal Branding step, Market Access, Interview Preparation and Offer Negotiation, and, lastly, the Onboarding step.  

No other recruiter or career management firm offers anything like the Clarity Program, a service that routinely receives a 97%+ “excellent” rating. Clients utilize it to take into account their personalities, current whole life circumstances, and longer-term objectives to arrive at a holistic and ideal target role or roles for their career change program.

Specialists in the Unpublished Market

During the Market Access stage, TBG helps clients enter and participate effectively in the recruiter market. However, this process step also opens up the online or published market to clients, where another 15% of them land, by equipping them with the insights, tools, and techniques to avoid gatekeepers, whether algorithmic or human, and actually get through to decision makers.

Lastly, fully 75% of our clients land in the unpublished market, which represents TBG’s primary focus. Accessing this huge market is beneficial to clients because often the roles are not even fully defined when they are discovered, which means there is little or no competition. The compensation is also often not yet set in stone, so there is more leeway and upward compensation negotiation potential.

Individualized Support

Occasionally, TBG hears from prospects about the offers they are receiving from companies who call themselves our competitors.  Additionally, we have on occasion conducted due diligence on such companies to consider acquisition. None have measured up so far.  

These other firms tend to support one client with one career consultant. That career consultant does everything: writing, research, coaching, negotiation, etc.

TBG, by contrast, supports each client with a team of six experts: a Clarity Coach, career consultant, researcher, writer, interview coach, and negotiation coach. The career consultant is the central point of contact but does not have to do all of the work and can rely on experts in each field, connected by our unique technological configurations and processes.

TBG, therefore, has higher capacity during periods of peak demand, more flexibility and, as a result, the company achieves a much higher degree of client success.

Results

Competitors in the career management space are typically specialized in the recruiter market or the published market. But no one commands all three market segments as does TBG, as evidenced by client track records.  

See our recent Chairmen's Blogs and Success Studies to get a feel for all the clients who have landed executive roles, including multiple C-level, SVP, and VP titles in a broad range of industries on at least three continents—all while adding tens of thousands of dollars in compensation and benefits.  

We are so confident in the effectiveness of our approach that we publish the results of client interviews, offers, and landings every week, protecting our clients’ identities in the process, of course. 

Another reason TBG is incomparable is that we are completely virtual and have been since 2017.  Utilizing a unique mix of technology and automation tools, TBG qualifies prospects and serves clients seamlessly and worldwide, though our focus is currently on the US, Europe, and the Middle East. Being virtual has great benefits from a flexibility perspective. TBG was an early adopter and therefore avoided any related issues as the pandemic interrupted other business models.

Authority

Specialists in the executive market should understand what is going on in the various industries in which their clients land. How many executives are there? How many changed jobs? Which companies act as “donors” while which are more actively growing and acquiring talent at any given time?  

No other company of TBG’s size provides more or better information to prospects and clients about industries, companies, and specific executives that is as relevant to the prospect’s or client’s stage in the process. A great example our Industry Updates, exclusively available from TBG at www.careerchange.com.

Reputation

TBG’s reputation is a further point of incomparability. Ever since the implosion of the Haldane company in the 1980s the career management industry has struggled to maintain a positive image in the public’s mind.  

Many competitors overpromise and underdeliver, creating negative reviews on the internet and forcing companies to actually change their names periodically to escape their reputations.

TBG has operated under the same name and brand for more than 30 years—a testament in itself to the unwavering dedication and care we bring to religiously serving clients with the highest standard of excellence. This commitment has earned us accolades, such as that from Forbes magazine, as referenced above, and an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau.

Client testimonials and Success Stories round out the picture of TBG’s unique reputation in the industry.  

To protect our good name, TBG also implemented a quality assurance function in 2021 that continuously reviews associates’ performance on a range of qualitative and quantitative measures that helps the TBG team stay focused on quality. No other organization in the career management industry has an organizational unit focused as specifically on assuring quality. 

People

Undoubtedly, our team’s performance is the soul of TBG’s success. And, being virtual, the company utilizes virtual means to maintain open communication channels and esprit de corps.

For example, on the most recent (quarterly) All-Team Meeting, more than 50 associates from four continents participated for 90 minutes as the company management brought them up to date on the business’ performance. The group was then invited to participate in a workshop utilizing six smaller “Zoom rooms” to review various aspects of our recent performance and interactively generate ideas for how the company can improve efficiency and reduce clients’ time to market. Our team engaged energetically and produced more than six pages of thoughts and proposals.

TBG management treasures and actively utilizes these contributions from its TBG “brain trust,” and high morale in the company reflects this appreciation.

How does TBG compare to competitors, you ask?

For all the reasons above, we are incomparable. Like no one else in the business, we make it our job to help you find yours.