Executive Search Consultant

Name: Corrado Menghini
Age: 38 
Degree: PhD in Business Administration
Profession: Head of Switzerland
Employer: Russell Reynolds Associates

Describe your job in a sentence.

We are a global executive search company and fill executive and board positions for our corporate clients.

What are the three main tasks in your job?

1. Sales - I generate business for Russell Reynolds.
2. Candidate search - I find the right candidates for our clients.
3. Leadership - I manage Russell Reynolds in Switzerland and am responsible for a good 50 people.

What do you think is the best / most exciting thing about this job?

The variety. No two days are the same, every hour brings new challenges and tasks and I get to meet a lot of exciting people.

What is the biggest challenge in this job?

The job is endless fun, so sometimes it can be difficult to separate work and private life and to allow yourself time outside of work.

What does it take to enter this profession or to be successful in it?

Curiosity, a certain entrepreneurial hunger, ambition and the ability to hold interesting conversations so that the other person doesn't fall asleep over lunch.

What promotion/further development opportunities are there?

The career can start in research (candidate search) or you can join directly as a consultant (candidate search plus customer care) and can then also include management functions.

What would you have liked to have known about this profession as a graduate?

The profession was completely unknown to me as a graduate, as it is a small industry that mostly only works with management / board members. The entrepreneurial aspect in combination with the analytical attributes is exciting and would have been good to know in my medium-term career planning at the time.

What advice do you have for students who are interested in this job?

Find out about the job online or do an internship. And it's never too late, you can also gain other experience first, we hire many people from large strategy consultancies, investment banks or tech companies.

In terms of your career, is there anything you would do differently looking back? Why?

I would certainly spend at least as much time abroad or even do one or two more semesters/internships abroad. On the one hand, it's a lot of fun and on the other, you take a lot with you for the future.

Is there anything else you would like to pass on to current students?

Pursue careers that you enjoy, not those that are expected of you. If you enjoy your work, you will automatically be successful. This certainly requires a certain willingness to experiment at the beginning, have courage.

As of March 2024