The masters of the hunt

When a major appointment in the UK television business is under way, the headhunter charged with delivering the ideal candidate often takes on a mythical status – temporarily, at least. In 1999, when the BBC's search for its next director general often threatened to erupt into all-out farce, it was Milena Djurdjevic, then a partner at the global search firm Heidrick and Struggles, who was the stealth worker in Greg Dyke's appointment.

And when Channel 4 was looking for a chief executive to replace Michael Jackson, Gill Carrick, a veteran media headhunter with Whitehead Mann, became almost as important a figure as some of the would-be contenders flagged up in the press. Mark Thompson, hidden away as director of television at the BBC, cannot have been too hard for a headhunter to spot, but Channel4, like the BBC, clearly deemed headhunters necessary.

For now, ITV is officially improvising with joint chief executive officers – one from the Carlton camp; one from Granada. Its last chief executive proper, Stuart Prebble, quit in the wake of the ITV Digital débâcle, and an attempt to woo Dawn Airey, soon to be ensconced at BSkyB, ended in failure. So it is left to Airey's former employer, Channel 5, to provide the latest drama.

The headhunting firm instructed to seek out the right person to take the fifth terrestrial channel forward is Leonard Hull, headed by the former financial journalist Carol Leonard. And, in line with all major headhunters' fees, Leonard Hull can expect to get a third of the successful candidate's first year of earnings for its efforts. A string of names has been punted by the press, but with 5's majority shareholder, RTL, and Leonard Hull both saying nothing, there is no obvious front runner.

A complaint often heard in the TV industry is that the same old list of names is wheeled out by the press in the event of any high-level job vacancy. Although that is partly down to sluggish journalism, it is also a reflection of the industry's conviction that anyone with the potential to step up to the plate is already working within the sector – and known about.

Carrick, who has been practising her trade for 22 years, declares that notion "a nonsense". She points out that for the recruiting body to know someone from the conference or cocktail circuit – or from their own publicity – is less than half the story. "They won't know them from an operational point of view or know about their management style," Carrick says. "You need an intermediary to check all those points."

Andrew Zein, managing director of the production house Tiger Aspect, home of the Mr Bean franchise, agrees. "There are issues of corporate governance in these post-Enron times. Also, it can be slightly incestuous to shuffle the same deck of cards, and that's where headhunters come into their own," he says. "You have only to look at Carlton and Granada to see how much the share price is affected by the management. You don't just want to leave it to an internal, 'Does anyone know anyone who can do this job?' type of scenario."

Peter Bazalgette, chairman of the production giant Endemol UK – which makes Big Brother – and a member of the board of Channel 4, echoes that view. "If you're appointing a senior figure, you need to approach it in a very disciplined and forensic way," he says.

Contrary to popular belief, that means a lot more than calling round the usual suspects and asking for their opinions on the talent. "Most serious headhunters don't work that way," Carrick says. "You have to do due diligence on the people you are aware of by checking out their track records and operating-styles and by talking to an enormous number of people who have worked with them. It's like doing a piece of audit work."

TakeChannel 5. As a headhunter, Carrick sees it like this: "You have to ask: what is facing an organisation such as Channel 5? What are you asking this individual to come in and do? Chances are, you're not going to look for someone with an editorial profile, because you've already got one of those [the director of programmes, Kevin Lygo]. And you've already got somebody who handles the sales side [Nick Milligan, acting chief executive and director of sales]."

The situation is complicated: Milligan is vying for the top job, while Lygo sits on the board and has input into the decision-making process. Another of the potential candidates, Malcolm Wall, chief operating officer at the minority shareholder United Business Media, is a non-executive director.

"There are times when form overcomes substance," Carrick says. "People are very good at presenting on the casting couch, but on closer examination there are those who come through the due-diligence process and confirm all the good things that have been said about them – and others who are a little lighter against their own hype."

Bazalgette says that the process is exacerbated by the media's intense navel-gazing. Although he has been named in connection with the Channel 5 post, Bazalgette is keen to point out that he has "neither been approached by Channel 5 nor sought the job." He says: "When all that blather is going on, it's quite difficult to keep a clear head."

Jane Root, controller of BBC2, says that she prefers to "court relentlessly" people she already knows. After all, she says, "That's what Michael Jackson did to me, to get me to come to the BBC."