Korn Ferry vs Berg

Who are Korn Ferry?

Korn Ferry is a global organisational consulting firm that supports some of the world’s largest firms with its talent strategies. Today it makes over $2.6bn in revenues and enjoys a profit margin in excess of 20%.

The executive search segment of the business earns $935m and makes a 27% profit margin that comes mainly from the USA

The average consultant will complete around 19 placements per year and take home a whopping $800k in total compensation (if we assume that the support team earn c$80k)

History of Korn Ferry

The company was founded in 1969 by Richard Ferry and was a small executive search firm with a focus on the Los Angeles market, quickly developing a reputation for excellence in executive search. Richard was known for the lengths he would go for great talent and one famous story involves Ferry flying to a candidate's hometown and showing up at their doorstep unannounced to convince them to join his company.

After spending time building its reputation Korn Ferry continued to grow and expand its services. In 1988, the company merged with Korn Associates to become Korn/Ferry International. This merger allowed them to expand its reach beyond the Los Angeles market and become more international. The company's revenues grew significantly as a result of the merger, and Korn/Ferry International became the largest executive search firm by revenues in the world.

In 2001, Korn/Ferry International acquired Lominger International, a leading provider of talent management solutions. At the time, Lominger was known for its research-based approach to talent management, and some employees at Korn Ferry were resistant to the acquisition, fearing that Lominger's methods would clash with Korn Ferry's more traditional approach - in the end the acquisition and integration proved successful and was the first in a line of acquisitions including PDI Ninth House, White Madd, Global Novations, and Hay Group.

In 2013, Korn/Ferry International underwent a rebranding effort and changed its name to simply Korn Ferry. The company also launched a new logo and visual identity to reflect its evolution and growth over the years.

Today, Korn Ferry they have more than 9,000 employees in more than 50 countries. Their service offering spans well beyond executive search, providing consulting on talent acquisition, succession planning, L&D and compensation analysis

Berg vs Korn Ferry

Reputation

Korn Ferry is one of the most prestigious people consultancies in the world. They provide a broad set of services for large multinationals which includes executive search, recruitment, and consultancy (which helps improve leadership performance).

Their business model focuses on large firms and given the average placement costs more than $100k, they are only accessible to these large firms.

Berg is a younger firm and is less well-known. The starting point of every great business.

Process

Both companies utilise a similar executive search approach. Korn Ferry has a large database because of its age which means they have a larger initial list to choose from. However, despite this large list, you must wait three weeks to receive a shortlist.

Berg has a smaller database but puts significantly more resources into each search. Using three times as many people, Berg will reach out to the market, engage passive candidates and deliver the first tailored list in 10 days.

Price

According to Korn Ferry's annual report, the average placement costs $109,000.

Berg is less than half.