Posts Tagged ‘Executive Recruiting’

Your After-the-Recession Executive Recruiting Plan

Posted in Adam Zak, Compensation, Employee Engagement, Lean Business Strategy, Lean Executive Search, Lean Recruiting on April 12th, 2010 by LeanThinker – 2 Comments
Recession Tight Money

Did things get a little tight for you as well?

Is it official?  Is the “Great Recession” over? Should we be launching new executive leadership hiring initiatives now? Are we sure? When will we be sure?  

No, I don’t know either. But at some point this year, or early next, the answer will be a resounding “yes.”  And a good many industrial sectors in North America will start innovating, investing, growing and profiting again. But only if they have the right executive leaders aboard, doing the right things, in the right places, at the right time. And there’s the potential problem. The recession of 2008/2009 changed expectations, motivations and loyalties for many of your existing executives, and those you’ll want to recruit in the future. The “old normal” is no more and it’s been replaced by a “new normal” – the new realities of executive life – which will demand that you revisit how your recruit, reward and retain your senior and mid-level executive teams.   
 
What’s Changed During the Last Two Years? 
 
For better or worse, a large number of recession-weary corporations simply failed to express their love and appreciation to the leaders who were quite literally saving their hides during the downturn. These formerly-loyal executives will be among the first to head for the exits. They’ll be looking for a new place to call home, a company which can demonstrate to them that it will do what’s necessary to develop, engage and retain  - and yes, pay – them.  According to one recent national survey, as many as 30% of executives currently employed are actively looking for positions outside their organizations right now.  And almost half are at least thinking about leaving their present jobs. This shock will be sudden, unanticipated (well, except for the fact that I told you here) and coming to your organization soon. 
 
A great number of “Baby Boomers”  delayed their retirement, or deferred changing to a more leisurely lifestyle of fewer work hours and more free time, because of major savings and investment losses they incurred during the last two years.  As I write this the Dow Index has broken through the 11,000 mark, and investment experts are predicting sustained investment gains for at least the duration of 2010.  These Boomer executives will breathe a sigh of relief, exercise their stock options and say adios sooner than you probably suspected. Sunny days ahead for them, but maybe not so great for you.  
 
Many of the “in transition” executives whose resumes will continue to fill your Outlook™ inbox, like Manna falling from heaven, are already well past their expiration date. This scarcity among plenty scenario exists because the companies which previously employed these executives did not invest in training and developing them, or encouraging them to build career skills with which they could continue to create corporate value. Or maybe, they weren’t making the grade to begin with, and it took a recession for their employers to finally do something about it. Translation: either way, most of these folks don’t have the requisite skill set and talent to build sustainable value for you either.  
 
What Now, Then? 
 
Let’s focus on recruiting. If your “Plan A” for 2010 and beyond is to move ahead doing the things you had always been doing to recruit top-flight executive talent, I suggest you consider a back-up game plan.  Let’s call it “Plan B.”  
 
First, smile, and consider that your competitor may have screwed up even worse than you did.  OK, maybe you didn’t screw up all that much. But I can’t tell you how many times during the last 18 months I’ve heard stories of a senior executive rallying her troops with the highly motivational and inspiring battle cry “Just be glad you’re one of the few we decided to keep on the payroll around this place.”  So at least keep that mindset clearly in front of you as you examine some ideas for creating a “Plan B.” 
 
“Plan B” Ideas 
  1. Turn your competitors’ mistakes to your advantage. There indeed are exceptions to every rule and there’s always an exception for why someone might be an executive “in transition” (see above). Voluntary departures, particularly from your competitor companies, may have the potential to become attractive executive hires for you. Put together an intelligence network and do some sleuthing. Figure out why they left, turn it around, and make it a selling point when you go after these individuals.  A common concern I’m hearing is that many companies simply did not communicate effectively about belt-tightening measures. This had the effect of blindsiding mid-level leaders to the point where they unintentionally misinformed and misled their rank-and-file, and lost “face” and trust with these team members. Demonstrate how this will never happen as long as you’re in charge and you’ll win their commitment.
  2. Do even more to become the employment brand of choice. Start thinking about your prospective executive candidates as you would of potential customers for your products and services.  Customers have unique feelings and attitudes about what they buy from whom. Chances are very strong you spend tremendous marketing resources figuring this out. Do the same kind of analysis for the executives you want to hire. Explore why they choose to work where they currently do.  Assess and define what they would find in your organization that would make you a potentially attractive company to work for – for them. Translate this information into a message that is in turn appealing and unique to each individual you want to recruit (no batch mass-marketing here; this is tailored one-piece, just-in-time communication flow).  Hint: strong leadership is something which most executives and line workers absolutely crave. Find a way to communicate that this is part of the foundation which underlies your corporate culture. You’ll attract the world-class winners you seek.
  3. Plan for the Expected. Visualize for the Unanticipated. It’s hard to maneuver a decelerating aircraft carrier even if you prepare to dock well in advance. But just think how incredibly demanding it must be to turn one around on a dime.  Similarly, preparing an executive recruiting and succession plan is difficult enough in a stable and orderly business environment. Now imagine reacting to an out-of-the blue marketing threat from a major competitor, or responding to a newly discovered technological innovation, or perhaps a particularly attractive acquisition opportunity.  It’s only with deeply concentrated forethought and almost prescient insight that any organization could possibly hope to be thoroughly prepared for such scenarios on a moment’s notice.  And there are very few SWOT oracles around anymore these days.

But visualizing such unanticipated events, and building “executive talent supply chains” or pipelines around them, is a strategic investment which makes a lot of sense for the market leaders of tomorrow. Become just such a strategic talent thinker. Create virtual “Dream Teams” for existing and anticipated leadership roles within all of today’s major revenue-generating business units, as well as those with the potential to eventually supersede them. Fill the pipeline with names and dossiers of “A-players” who will be eager to take your phone call on the day your CEO comes to you and says:  “I want you to ramp up a critical recruiting effort for this deeply hush-hush business venture I’ve been covertly negotiating for months. Let’s get started now!”   

And you’ll be ready… 
 
That’s the way I see it.  Adam Zak

Recalibrate Your Executive Search Expectations

Posted in Adam Zak, Leadership, Lean Business Strategy, Lean Executive Search, Lean Recruiting, Operational Excellence, Simple Excellence on January 31st, 2010 by LeanThinker – Comments Off

Within the last 12 months some top HR leaders in North America, and even the CEOs of two of the largest global retained executive search organizations, have publically declared the traditional executive recruiting model broken and badly in need of repair. 

A recent survey conducted by one very large jobs board indicated that among their respondents, “…almost half don’t use external agencies at all…” and that their results and interviews with experts indicated “…a move away from over-reliance on external recruiters…”  Perhaps a self-selected survey sample, but none-the-less, informative. 

And finally, author and search industry insider Joesph Daniel McCool, in his July 2008 interview with HR Magazine, apparently finds a “real disconnect” between executive recruiters and hiring organizations, claiming that “corporate satisfaction with executive recruiters has fallen under 50 percent for years.” 

Other industry pundits portray a more optimistic future for executive recruiters, and certainly our own small boutique firm has never been busier. But I do believe that a transformation is indeed necessary and already underway within my profession.  Because there is a disconnect between what executive search clients want and what executive search clients are getting. The transformation is being driven, in other words, by the recalibration of clients’ (customers’) executive search expectations

During my executive candidate interviews one of the most critical questions I ask is a very simple one: “What do you want?”  From that one question, and during the process of subsequently clarifying its response in the most detailed fashion, I obtain the clearest possible vision of what this talented individual expects to achieve in his or her next executive role, career and lifetime, and also from our immediate relationship. 

As HR professionals in conversations with our external search partners, how often do we ask ourselves this same question, to clarify exactly what we want?  Because, after all, whether it’s a retainer, contingency or some hybrid fee structure, the least important thing we ought to be thinking about is the manner in which we’re going to pay.  What we expect from the relationship is much more critical. So here’s a short list of issues (questions) we should be pondering:

  1. As an executive search customer, am I truly seeking a relationship, or do I just want to get this transaction done?  What’s the difference, really, for me personally, and for my organization? Have I considered the implications of my decision?  Have I communicated this with my stakeholders?  Have I been honest and transparent about this with the firm I’ve selected for this task?
  2. How will I assess the value I receive from my executive search partner during the course of the search engagement?   Do I just want to recruit absolutely the right person for this role, or do I need something else? Can I clearly define and communicate what that “something else” is? Is my search partner capable of delivering on this expectation?  Will they want to deliver on this expectation?
  3. If the search does not conclude with an actual placement, will this have been a total waste of time and money?  Under what circumstances could the search still be considered a success?  Will the other elements of my value expectation (as considered above) have been delivered? What does the future of our relationship look like with our search partner?
  4. If the search ultimately proves that our internal candidate is really the best of the best after all (think Bank of America, December, 2009), will I and we (our organization) still have gotten what we wanted? How so? If not, why not – after all, the vacant chair has been filled? Has this been a positive experience with our partner firm, or a negative one?  What does the future of our partnership look like? 

Perhaps I’ll add more questions in future posts. For now let me conclude with some observations related to the accounting and legal professions.

All of the major and mid-market accounting firms in the U.S. today are very capable when it comes to preparing corporate tax returns and performing financial audits for their clients.  And they consider this their bread-and-butter business.  And how about law firms?  Certainly they can handle product liability lawsuits and the patent infringement issue that pops up from time to time.  But is this all that these professional service firms do for their clients?  What else do they offer, can they offer? What else are they doing to deliver value?   Is there some structure within which both they and their clients can derive the long-term, mutually beneficial value that both ultimately desire?  And how does this relate to your strategic executive recruiting game plan? 

Tune in next time for an introduction to the concept of trusted search partner.  So for now, that’s the way I see it. Adam Zak…

(Author note: this blog post was originally published last week on the new Human Capital Institute’s (HCI) Talent Acquisition Community blog.  I’ve been invited to write a guest posting which will appear on the HCI site every couple of weeks or so.  Please be sure to visit the HCI Web site for lots of other great articles related to talent acquisition and many other topics on the cutting-edge of HR thought leadership).