Last week’s published numbers indicate a national unemployment rate approaching 9.5%. Bad news, right? Or, maybe not as much as the the nightly news would have us all believe.
If you happen to be an executive or manager with strong Lean or Lean Sigma expertise (in other words, someone who can demonstrate the ability to make Operational Excellence happen in Corporate America), dust off that resume and get ready to take advantage of the developing talent war for professionals just like you. Oh, and if you’ve also had a chance to help incorporate a Green focus into the Lean equation, then we should probably talk right away…
And the message for all you hiring executives - CEOs, Presidents, and Vice Presidents of Human Resources - start planning now how you’ll go about filling your talent pipeline with the people who can bring these strategic and tactical principles, processes and techniques into your organization. Because that’s what your competitors are doing right about now.
Way back in May, 2009 this ominous news from BusinessWeek: ”In the midst of the worst recession in a generation or more, with 13 million people unemployed, there are approximately 3 million jobs that employers are actively recruiting for but so far have been unable to fill. That’s more job openings than the entire population of Mississippi.” No statistics, unfortunately, on how many of these unfilled positions were at the executive or managerial level.
My own unscientific research project over the weekend, focusing on Lean Leadership vacancies, turned up these well-known corporate names in search of Manager, Director or Vice President level candidates: Genzyme; Medtronic; Tyco Electronics; Florida Power & Light (FPL Group); Siemens Energy; Pentair Corp; Textron Systems; B/E Aerospace; Johnson & Johnson; Cooper Industries; Accenture; Merck; Ecolab; Baxter.
And of course Marvin Windows & Doors, for whom we seek a new Vice President of Manufacturing.
Whether as a potential new job-seeker or prospective hiring executive, will you be ready for this rapidly-approaching and dramatic shift in the American executive recruiting picture ?
I am.
This is Adam Zak, and that’s how I see it…