Make sure your senior management is up to the task

Peter Felix, CBE, President, The Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC), looks at how company leaders can benefit from the experience, objective advice and industry knowledge that an executive search consultant can offer senior staff

Organizations around the world are facing talent management and acquisition challenges of a very different kind to those of 18 months ago. Until the financial tsunami hit in October 2008, many industries and regions of the world were dealing with a severe talent shortage driven by two major trends – the changing demographics of the developed economies and the growing demand for executives in the emerging markets. There were just not enough skilled and talented executives to go around.

These trends still exist and will reassert themselves as we come out of recession, but organizations have been left with new challenges when it comes to assessing, retaining and attracting senior executive talent. Many organizations today are among the walking wounded. The rigors of the recession have decimated white-collar and blue-collar ranks, leaving those in senior management to make do as best they can, often with severely reduced resources. This places huge demands on these key people – some of whom will respond well, but others who will not.

In some organizations, a “wartime” process of assessment of key staff has been underway in the past six months in order to decide who should receive “field promotions” and who should either be relieved of duties or shunted sideways. This has been – and is still – a tough time for executives on both sides of that decision. But issues have to be confronted, otherwise an organization may fall behind in the “New Normal” that confronts all of us.

Although not completely out of the trenches, companies are in a better position now to take strategic action. The wheels of business are back in motion and companies are lifting their hiring freezes in order to do an executive search and address new business objectives. Last year ended on a positive note, with increased hiring at the senior executive level. The Association of Executive Search Consultants 2009 year-end State of the Executive Search Industry Report revealed that the fourth quarter saw a 7.3% annual increase in executive search started (rising from Q4 08 to Q4 09) and also a significant improvement in the revenue declines we saw in late 2008 and early 2009.

While retained executive search consulting is gradually witnessing a rise in senior executive search activity in many parts of the world, it is exercized with more caution than in the days of pre-recession hiring. Overall, however, organizations are moving back into hiring mode and investing in an executive search. On the candidate side, the recession has taken its toll and has left many senior executives looking, actively or passively, for new opportunities. Levels of dissatisfaction at the senior level are high; a recent survey by BlueSteps, the Association of Executive Search Consultants online career management service for senior executives, showed that 41% of respondents are dissatisfied in their current position and 70% are now actively looking for their next role. But this level of “availability” of top talent will not last and we will inevitably revert back to the global talent shortages seen pre-recession. So how can an executive search consultant help with these challenges and opportunities? Whether you are in actual hiring mode or not, the answer is that executive search consultants can offer you a wealth of experience, objective advice and industry knowledge.

Many company leaders are wrestling with challenging decisions about people priorities, lay-offs and restructuring; a difficult and stressful business that offers many traps for even the most gifted of senior executive. We can all use advice and a helping hand and the seasoned executive search consultant is available to offer just that. Ask your executive search consultant to help on strategic human-capital decisions that will help position you well as you come out of recession. Those arrows in the executive search consultant’s quiver are not just marked recruitment: they include succession planning, bench strength assessment, senior executive counseling, on-boarding, retention and employee value propositions.

Of course, executive search consultants need to be paid, but they don’t always need rewarding in pure recruitment fees. Sometimes, recruitment transaction pricing can get in the way of true consulting relationships. So reach out to your trusted executive search adviser and ask what they might be able to do to help you with your current situation – you may not be aware of the various services they offer in addition to recruitment.

Use The Association of Executive Search Consultants as a reference to maximize your search firm partnerships, stay abreast of current trends in senior executive recruitment and to help you find a search firm in our global directory. Our new website: www.executivesearchconnect.com offers exclusive executive search industry information and tools to connect you with the best retained executive search firms around the world.

back