RecruitSmart Today
A bi-weekly source of market intelligence and insight that executive-level recruiters in the corporate and search firm environments leverage to advance best practices in executive talent management.
Shaped by the voice and perspective of our widely respected industry analyst, Joseph Daniel McCool, RecruitSmart Today delivers trend and data analysis that you can use to benchmark best practices in executive-level recruiting, retention, compensation, and other key human capital functions.
We're confident that once you realize the value of RecruitSmart Today, you'll find reason to leverage the exclusive, members-only ExecuNet resources that other executive-level recruiters are leveraging to boost their human capital advantage. Whether it's our exclusive job posting, candidate search, and networking resources, or the periodic RecruitSmart Insider intelligence briefings available only to our members, you'll soon discover how ExecuNet members are keeping pace with the issues, trends and data that are driving executive talent management.
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but seeing with new eyes."
— Marcel Proust (1871-1922) French novelist, essayist, and critic
ExecuNet Exclusive: More Recruiters See Talent "Trade Up"
Recruiters Say More Companies Eyeing Better Talent, Fewer Cutting Jobs
How Executive Search Consultants See Employers Leveraging Current Economy
Adding new executive-level jobs
2.8%
"Trading up" with new hires for existing roles
46.1%
Freezing executive-level hiring
15.9%
Not filling open executive positions
22.8%
Eliminating executive positions
12.4%
Source: ExecuNet.com
Executive recruiters are increasingly confident that client hiring organizations are leveraging the economic downturn by "trading up" with new hires for key executive-level roles. ExecuNet research reveals that 46.1 percent of executive recruiters who responded to a recent poll believe their clients are improving leadership bench strength by hiring business leaders they believe can outperform incumbents in a variety of management functions. Only 12.4 percent of responding search consultants see companies eliminating executive management positions, down from a high of 20.2 percent earlier this year.
Why The Time For Retention Is NOW
If companies truly understood the cost of losing high performers — particularly at the senior-management level — they would invest far more to keep them, according to Dick Finnegan, president of Finnegan Mackenzie, the retention firm.
Finnegan, the author of a forthcoming book on retention best practices, says that losing a good performer hurts companies more in challenging times because:
Lean departments have cut to the bone so there is nowhere to assign extra work
Remaining employees look up to their peers and might follow them out the door
Poor performers might slide by and occupy a needed job because managers are reluctant to fire them and potentially lose a position
Re-assigned business leaders take on new and larger teams and need full support from their newly-acquired best producers
"Those companies that have conducted layoffs must make decisions about survivors, too," Finnegan tells the RecruitSmart Today. "Some employees are better than others and merit special discussions and commitments to ensure they stay. This is especially true for companies that announce they will ‘reduce staff by attrition.’ By taking no efforts to lock in high performers, they presume all employees are equal and passively watch the parade to the exit door until their [attrition] goals are reached."
Bottom-line for senior-management, Finnegan adds: "CEOs should drive retention in the same way they drive quality, service and safety. And all executives should solidify their commitment to retention by adding it to their bonus plans with their Boards."
"The global war for talent will be won by corporations that recognize money is not the ultimate weapon..."
That's how Jim Wexler, executive vice president of digital media consultancy BrandGames, views the paradigm shift that corporate talent and communications managers will need to understand in order to connect with a new generation of candidates in the months and years to come.
"The old paradigm is, ‘Imagine your life in our company.’ Today, it has become, ‘Imagine our company in your life,’" says Wexler, whose comments were featured in a recent ExecuNet summary of the Kennedy's Recruiting 2009 Conference in Las Vegas.
That means an increasing overlap between recruiting and marketing, he predicts, and a change in the way organizations interact with candidates, even before they become candidates in a formal sense.
In order to attract top talent, companies will have to increasingly put the focus on marketing and selling their job opportunities and unique organizational values to knowledge workers and executives who will have lots of career options and who see little separating their professional and personal identities given the rise of social networks.
Successes From Searches: Our Experience With ExecuNet
"We are an Executive Search and Management Consulting firm and we specialize in CEO and CXO searches across a number of industries. Since 1996, we have used ExecuNet as a powerful tool for sourcing candidates.
"Because a critical success factor in the search business is both speed and quality of response, we employ ExecuNet first, particularly when the requirements of the position(s) are complex.
"Our experience as an ExecuNet Member has taught us a great deal in how Customer Service SHOULD function. For example, ExecuNet has assigned an Account Manager for us. This is not, by itself, uncommon. What is atypical is the level of pro-activity taken by the Account Manager on our behalf.
"We've had two recent experiences wherein our Account Manager went far beyond what was expected in order to post complex jobs in a very short period of time. Further, ExecuNet views itself as a "full service" firm, and our experience bears this out.
"Whether dealing with Account Management, Billing, Customer Service and even Dave Opton, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, we have always been able to get immediate answers and prompt follow-up.
"I've not recently seen a benchmarking study in the area of Customer Service, but we would be quick to recommend ExecuNet for inclusion in such a project. It's our belief that ExecuNet would emerge in such a study rated favorably with organizations such as L.L. Bean. In our opinion, ExecuNet represents The Gold Standard in Customer Service. Thank you."
— Steve McGrath, President, McGrath & Associates
Deep Workforce Cuts To Moderate By Year End
Despite the impact of the weak economy, many companies remain focused on their most valuable employees.
More than one-third of organizations globally (37 percent) say they will continue to hire key talent even as they reduce their workforce overall, according to a recent survey by Mercer, a global provider of consulting, outsourcing and investment services.
Roughly another third of organizations (35 percent) plan to hire talent to replacement levels only, while 15 percent expect overall workforce reductions and 12 percent expect to expand their workforces through the end of 2009.
The Mercer study also shows that organizations are beginning to use or consider alternative work arrangements to control workforce costs. Ten percent globally have already instituted voluntary reductions in hours with a corresponding reduction in pay, while 12 percent have instituted such a program on a mandatory basis.
Nearly an equal number of organizations are considering similar actions in the remainder of 2009, yet the popularity of these programs varies by industry. Twenty-nine percent of manufacturing firms have instituted mandatory reduced hours compared to 13 percent of technology/computer services firms and 3 percent of finance/banking firms.
Going Beyond The Data: Global Survey Reveals Shift In Workforce Plans
The headline above a recent Manpower survey about the health of the global employment market noted "continued weak hiring" but also tempered that sobering third-quarter outlook with optimism in the news that more employers are retaining their current workforces.
"Compared to three months ago, a greater percentage of the world’s employers are telling us they will make no changes to their workforces, suggesting that the worst could be behind us," says Jeffrey A. Joerres, chairman and CEO of Manpower Inc.
"In the United States, the cautious hiring pace will remain a challenge for job seekers as employers continue to adjust and align their workforces throughout the year to ride out this downturn and prepare for growth on the other side," he adds.
Employers in 11 of 34 countries and territories surveyed expect some positive hiring activity in the coming quarter. While employers in all countries and territories are reporting weaker year-over-year business forecasts, outlooks have improved from three months ago in 12 countries. Although weaker than historical patterns, third-quarter hiring plans are strongest in India, Norway, Poland, Peru, Singapore and Taiwan and weakest in Ireland, Spain, Greece, Romania, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom.
So what, exactly, can we take from this hiring barometer? Note that companies may be beginning to understand how their future performance hinges on what's left of their workforces. They recognize they can't begin to explore new opportunities, if they’re concurrently stepping back from a human resources perspective.
Sure, we can expect prolonged unemployment, but maybe this and other measures of hiring activity are finally signaling a shift from retreat to retrenchment as companies look over the horizon, past the troubles and pain they've experienced the past several months.
2009 Executive Job Market Intelligence
Our 17th Annual Executive Job Market Intelligence Report captures the latest trends and developments in senior-level hiring, compensation and executive search.
"First we'd like to thank you, we have spoken to numerous quality individuals as a result of our posting on your site. In fact, we have brought two key leaders on board from ExecuNet responses!"
The worst recession in decades is taking its toll on the executive employment market, but there appears to be some light at the end of the tunnel. Recruiters are finding industry experts and business referrals largely by networking, according to ExecuNet's 17th annual report.
