Recruitment firms are being enlisted not just to find skilled candidates, but to make sure a wider range of people are considered for leadership roles.

Karen Greenbaum knows what it takes to hunt down top talent. For three decades she has been recruiting, advising and managing leaders, in a career that has taken her to the highest echelons of global consulting firm Mercer, top 100 law firm Nixon Peabody and boutique executive search company Pierce Consulting Partners.

But it was recruiting for the head of the Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants (AESC) that was her toughest assignment - this time she was the one in the hot seat. Before taking the top job at the AESC last year, she was not only shoulder tapped by an executive recruitment firm, but also faced a selection panel made up of leading recruiters.

"It was all search, all the time," she says. It's what you'd expect from the trade organisation that represents the firms that help corporate clients find top-flight talent for executive and boardroom roles.

The Chicago-based Greenbaum says there is a common misconception that by employing an executive search specialist you're getting access to someone with a Rolodex of likely candidates at their fingertips. "That is not at all what we do," she says.

It's about assessing talent, understanding the business environment of the organisation, making sure it will be a good fit for the candidate and helping bring that person successfully into the organisation, she says. "We really do search and it's very specific for the client, for the assignment." Signing on top talent will become increasingly competitive this year, says Greenbaum.

The AESC's annual Executive Job Outlook survey, set for release next week, shows 72 per cent of executives around the world are optimistic about job market opportunities. This is a "huge jump" from 51 per cent last year and 36 per cent in 2013, she says. Greenbaum says as growing economies create more opportunities for those at the top, the war for talent will become a reality for many firms.

"People are also looking around the world to fill top positions, not just locally," she says. New Zealand's quality of life is an advantage in this respect, Greenbaum says, making it an attractive market for local executives and those looking for opportunities in another market. Greenbaum is in New Zealand speaking with government officials and organisations working on board diversity.

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