Abstract
This article explores how executive search consultants stimulate executives’ consideration of career opportunities at other employers. The study is based on a panel dataset of 3,582 executives invited to a job interview by a global executive search firm from January 2005 - May 2009. The results demonstrate that past interactions between executives and the search consultants had a delayed effect on consideration of career opportunities. The results contribute to research on executive careers by identifying past relationships with search consultants as a factor impacting rejection of new career opportunities. They also shed light on the relatively under-studied phenomenon of executive search firms.