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Our company

Who we are. Where we come from.

ifp is one of the largest independent consultancies in the German-speaking world for the search, selection, assessment and development of middle and senior managers. For eleven years in a row, ifp has been on the FOCUS list of the best executive search firms.

When ifp was founded in the 1960s, we were the only executive search firm in Germany to base our work on psychology. To this day, we have remained true to this visionary idea. Psychology is part of our DNA – just like our values, our clear convictions and the independence of our consultancy. They still form a solid foundation for our lively personal networks and the development of our company.

60 years of experience
as a medium-sized
family business.

Almost half of our
clients are former
candidates who place
their trust in us.

Living agility.

When Horst Will founded ifp in 1964, he was one of the pioneers of a young, emerging industry. Today, we are one of the oldest and most established executive search firms in the German-speaking world.

60s

Company founding

Four young musicians from Liverpool sing “All You Need is Love”, the Berlin Wall goes up on the night of 13 August 1961, the moon landing heralds the future and everyone is in an Afri-Cola frenzy. Employing mainly qualified psychologists as consultants was visionary in the 60s.

How successful executives turn out to be often depends more on their personality than on their specialist knowledge. It was with this idea in mind that Horst Will founded ifp in December 1964, making him one of the pioneers of a young industry which was only just beginning to take root. Half a century later, a mere handful of the players from those early days would still be present in the market.

For Horst Will, one thing was clear from the very start: ifp was going to provide a special consulting service for assessing executives, and it would go beyond simply searching for specialists. To account for the relevant personality aspects of each executive, ifp established its own professional analysis model. And, always keen to improve, the company became its own most stringent quality inspector. Before long, the assessment process took on a meticulous structure. It was also backed up by the latest aptitude diagnostic instruments including all adjustments to future progress, and, to this day, remains our “trademark”.

70s

Sturm und Drang

Willy Brandt’s genuflection in Warsaw goes down in history, the terror of the RAF keeps the nation on tenterhooks, people now wear flared trousers and Pop Art celebrates consumerism and everyday culture. Shared success is what binds us together.

The most unusual of tasks make human resources consultancy one of the most versatile of professions. This was certainly the case for ifp as we began receiving assignments from more and more sectors, after having initially focused only on the insurance field. And it’s why our consultants were constantly facing new challenges – like joining police officers on their nightly beats in order to develop a recruitment strategy for the police force.

Horst Will tried out all kinds of things. The visionary entrepreneur soon established additional business units beyond ifp, some of which turned out to be highly successful.

80s

Internationalisation

The second oil crisis leads to a global recession, Michael Jackson does the moonwalk, everyone is turning the Rubik’s Cube and the Chernobyl disaster shows us our limits. ifp grows and establishes the partner level. We have access to more than 30 markets before the World Wide Web goes online.

This enabled us to tap into more and more human resources markets in a collaborative manner, whether for the search and acquisition of international executives or to fill key positions in German companies abroad.

Job ads by the broadsheet: ifp gained widespread recognition through advertising in all the major newspapers. However, relying on this search method alone turned out to have its limits. Which is why ifp developed its own systematic approach to researching executives, contacting them directly by telephone and recommending them to clients. This was extraordinarily successful – and multiple spectacular search mandates ensued: for instance, a contract to participate in the preparation of ESA’s D2 Spacelab mission and to select suitable astronauts. Our methodology defined our core service for our future development, along with our dynamic ability to adapt to the changing conditions of the times.

Concentrated expertise: Thanks to our sector teams, clients and candidates, we were able to find even more focused skill sets. We set up the first ifp sector teams for the insurance field as well as for banks and building societies, laying the cornerstone for our current market position.

90s

Concentration

Germany celebrates reunification, the film “Titanic”, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, wins eleven Oscars, Dolly the cloned sheep is born and Michael Schumacher drives away from everyone. Executive search becomes the focus of our consulting services.

With a focus on our core business, we decided to spin off our successful diversifications as independent companies. Our segmentation by individual industries grew to include additional core areas. The respective industry teams grew into incubators: our clients and candidates in equal measure appreciated the concentration of specific knowhow along with the long-standing contacts to key players and decision-makers we had to offer them.

1996

Change of generation

Deutsche Telekom is floated on the stock market, the last French atomic bomb test takes place on the Mururoa atoll, mobile phones get smaller and smaller and, thanks to the German spelling reform, shipping is now spelt with three f’s (Schifffahrt). When it comes to owner-managed family businesses and succession, there is no more authentic expertise.

Founder Horst Will began the process of handing the business over to his son. Jörg Will, who’d learned about ifp from the bottom up after completing a banking apprenticeship and university degree, acquired his father’s company shares and took over the management of the consulting firm.

00s

Management diagnostics

The world falls apart on 11 September 2001, the euro is introduced, Germany experiences a summer fairytale during the World Cup and Angela Merkel becomes the first woman to lead the country. New millennium, new prospects: Executive Search and Management Diagnostics become independent divisions at ifp.

The call of the market brings about entrepreneurial transformation. One of our Executive Search core competencies – assessing the job-related personality of a candidate and establishing whether an executive possesses the required profile – saw an increasing demand around supporting personnel development. This is why we pooled our expertise around the identification, assessment and retention of top performers and talent within the company. Management Diagnostics became a legally independent ifp unit.

10s

Diversification

Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg founds Fridays for Future, more women speak out about sexual harassment under #MeToo, Alexa becomes an assistant in millions of homes and Lana Del Rey storms the charts with “Video Games”. Nine industry teams become permanent fixtures at our recruitment consultancy.

Over this decade, we continued to expand our business in a systematic way. Additional industry foci were created, and ifp set up new industry teams. Our clients continued to be impressed with our profound understanding of their specific requirements and the way our consultants managed to meet these requirements in the companies’ own market and corporate environment.

Networking was everything and everywhere. Our consultants developed deep personal networks within their respective industries, and thanks to teamwork, the range of opportunities grew exponentially.

2014

Anniversary

Gerhard Richter is regarded as the world’s most important artist, 17-year-old children’s rights activist Malala Yousafzai receives the Nobel Peace Prize, Germany wins the World Cup for the fourth time and the thermometers in Berlin show record temperatures. To mark our fiftieth anniversary, we take a look at the future.

ifp turned 50 – an impressive milestone which, of course, called for a celebration. But where would we possibly find something to everyone’s liking in December? The choice fell on Mallorca, where the ifp team spent a fantastic weekend together.

20s

Sustainability

England leaves the European Union, the United States experiences a post-election storming of the Capitol, Daniel Kwan’s science fiction comedy “Everything Everywhere All at Once” wins seven Oscars, and Open AI releases the app ChatGPT. ifp takes on new challenges.

More than ever, the question is this: what do we need to do today to be successful tomorrow? The impact of the pandemic, the changing demands of the world of work, digitalisation and AI, as well as our customers’ desire for speed and flexibility, require a critical review of the status quo. Changing employee needs for more freedom, purpose and personal development, as well as a generational shift in several industry teams, are also causing us to question familiar routines and rethink processes.

Adaptability is becoming an essential virtue – staying true to who you are, yet continually responding to changing demands, needs and opportunities. In the face of increasing complexity and dynamism, there are now many more ways to get there. Hybrid ways of working – unthinkable just a few years ago – along with more personal responsibility and even more trust have emerged as important elements of our step into the future. With surprising effects: whereas in the 2000s, for example, 90 percent of all partners and colleagues formally addressed each other by their surname at ifp, using first names has become the norm. Finally, the proportion of women has also increased significantly in recent years. Young female partners bring a breath of fresh air and ensure that female leadership has become part of our everyday life. To reflect all these changes in our communications, we’ve finally said goodbye to our old brand identity and given our company a new, clear and uncluttered look.

Our commitment

An important part of our daily work is to provide guidance and assistance to people in their professional development. In addition, we seek to contribute to the development of other areas of society through our expertise. This is why we have supported and encouraged young people for many years now by offering them exciting opportunities.

We’re only as good as our people.

Whoever joins us today will help decide what ifp will look like tomorrow. Every single employee is the face of our company and ensures that we can continue to provide our clients with the best possible advice.

Would you like to work with us?

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