The Association of Executive Search Consultants, the trade association representing the retained executive recruitment industry, responded in a letter to Senators Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), highlighting the impact of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act (S. 744) on the executive search industry.

“While the AESC is not taking a stance in opposition to the general intentions of the Immigration Bill, we do believe that unintended negative consequences should be prevented if at all possible,” said AESC President Peter Felix. “Thus to include executive search firms in the provisions of the bill as labor contractors seems to be counter-productive and an unnecessary inhibition to the recruitment of foreign or U.S. senior executives from overseas into the United States. Such recruitment is conducted under special retained consulting contracts with client organizations and is performed on a highly selective and occasional basis. Thus, there is no risk of abusive or volume-based recruiting. To impose the regulatory provisions of the bill upon this important consulting service and thus potentially inhibiting the recruitment of the best internationally qualified executives for the benefit of the U.S. economy could be harmful, and  in our view, unnecessary. We are hopeful that the appropriate changes will be made to the bill.” 

Entertainment and tech sector lobbyists have achieved amendments to the Senate bill that will protect their industries from extemporaneous consequences such as additional fees or lowering the cap on highly skilled sector workers, according to the AESC, but the executive search industry has received no protections.