A Facebook For The Seven-Figure Set

Heidrick & Struggles is hoping to attract C-level execs for its new site, promising privacy and the chance to look at candidates quickly

by Roger O. Crockett

A private social networking site for top-flight corporate candidates? Executive search giant Heidrick & Struggles is developing one, in an effort to streamline its recruitment of elite managers.

In beta testing now and set for commercial launch by the end of May, the site will make the 55-year-old firm the first big-time recruiter to adopt the kind of apps—forums for sharing ideas, photos, and videos for presenting personal information—offered by popular sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, the professional networking service.

Heidrick's site, to be run in partnership with software startup VisualCareers.com, aims to be a cut above LinkedIn, which now has 20 million users. It will focus on CEOs, COOs, CFOs, and the marketing and tech chiefs who work by their sides. And it will be private—just for Heidrick clients and candidates.

Is a business this traditional ready for Recruiting 2.0? Some in the industry are skeptical, arguing that top-level candidates, as well as employers, want personal attention, not home pages and instant messaging. "Most of the candidates at this level are not [actively] looking for a job," says Clarke Murphy, who co-leads the CEO search practice at Heidrick rival Russell Reynolds Associates. "So going through an online community to talk to them about why they should consider a job wouldn't work."

But Heidrick, which has a global practice, is betting the site will become a destination for candidates wanting to view presentations by employers—and for clients, especially those who need to assess résumés and references quickly. "With all the time zones around the world," says Heidrick partner Jeffrey Hunter, "it makes for a very effective gathering point."

The key, say Hunter and other Heidrick partners, is to offer greater privacy and security than the public Internet provides. The idea, says CEO Kevin Kelly, is to reduce the usual three- to four-month search time for high-level hires. "We're an old firm with an old business model," Kelly says. "I'm thinking about how we help redefine the industry to respond faster."

Crockett is deputy manager of BusinessWeek's Chicago bureau .