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.
"Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it can be recalled and perhaps remedied."
— Pearl S. Buck(1892-1973), American writer, Pulitzer Prize in Literature winner
ExecuNet Exclusive: More Than Half Of Employers "Trading Up" For Top Talent
Executive Recruiters See Companies Trading Up On Talent
How They See Employers Leveraging The Current Economic Environment
"Trading up" with new hires for existing jobs
55%
Not filling open executive positions
22%
Adding new executive-level jobs
11%
Freezing executive-level hiring
8%
Eliminating executive positions
4%
Source: ExecuNet Recruiter Confidence Poll 10/09
More than half of 172 executive recruiters who participated in ExecuNet's most recent Recruiter Confidence Poll believe companies will leverage the current economic environment by "trading up" with new hires for existing management roles by year end. Some 55 percent of recruiters saw companies trading up in October, the highest number recorded in 2009 and more than double the figure registered by the same poll in February, when only 26 percent of recruiters saw employers beefing up their executive bench strength. "While we expect the executive employment market to rebound at a slower rate when compared to the recovery that occurred after the last recession in 2001, fewer companies are planning to trim leadership staffs in 2010 and many are using the opportunity to get talent on-board that will help them come out of this downturn profitably," says Mark Anderson, President and Chief Economist of ExecuNet.
What Inspiring Leaders Do
The real difference maker between high performing business executives and all the rest is their capacity to inspire and motivate others to higher performance, says John H. "Jack" Zenger, CEO of Zenger Folkman Co., a leadership development and productivity-focused corporate training firm based in Orem, Utah.
Zenger, the author of The Inspiring Leader: Unlocking The Secrets Of How Extraordinary Leaders Motivate, spoke recently at the Human Resources Planning Society (HRPS) conference in Chicago. He said that while there is no clear agreement on what charisma is, extraordinary performance in a leadership role requires an individual to be a role model, a change champion and also an initiator.
He explained that the word 'charisma' originates from the Greek word for "gift," and that while some executives have it and have a capacity to incite passion in others, others simply need consider how they can spur others to do better and to do their best.
Zenger said setting stretch goals is critical to achieving greater team results, as is providing a clarity of vision and direction for each member of the team to follow and emulate.
Communication is another key consideration when it comes to moving groups to elevate their performance. Also essential is a commitment to develop people not only to improve their own capacity for higher performance but also for raising team standards and contributing something greater than what they might have had the leader not committed to their professional growth.
The Politicization Of American Business: What Leaders Need To Know
Companies in every industry will feel the increasing effect of government interventions in business affairs as Congress wrestles with a variety of complicated but too big to ignore issues ranging from unemployment and healthcare to executive compensation, energy policy and the status of the U.S. dollar.
That was the consensus view expressed by a variety of speakers at the recent World Business Forum — sponsored in part by ExecuNet — that featured speakers from Bill Clinton to George Lucas to T. Boone Pickens.
The 42nd President of the United States said the increasing interdependence of nations means that leaders in government and business must collaborate like never before to address startling global inequities in education, income and healthcare. "We live in incredibly unstable times … New challenges will present new problems, and they will require new alliances and new commitments on the part of governments and businesses to solve them," Clinton said.
Yet, Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs added, the economics of a crowded and inequitable planet currently positions the financial and healthcare sectors as the biggest lobbying groups in Washington, and so long as that remains the case, legislators and business leaders may have no appetite to tackle major global challenges that run counter to the interests of special interests.
For his part, oil-man-turned-natural-gas-promoter T. Boone Pickens said business and government leaders must confront the sustainability of the country's long-standing dependence on foreign oil before profits and people are crippled by staggering energy costs.
The future of business will intersect with the future of government policy, added Dennis Nally, chairman and CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Ltd. But, he added, all sides must address the loss of trust that eroded confidence in the other parties to growth and sustainable development. If governments don't trust businesses, businesses chafe at government, and the public doesn't trust anybody, Nally said. The only way to achieve the results desired by all sides is to forge new relationships and look to solutions rather than roadblocks.
Key Takeaway:Political skill and consensus building in external environments will become even more important to the corporate agenda and an even bigger prerequisite for senior-executive leadership in the future.
Where The Jobs Are: A Look At Management Talent Demand By Industry
ExecuNet has been tracking executive recruiters' attitudes, experiences and forecasts about the functions and industries expected to lead the way in management hiring in the foreseeable future.
The industries recruiters expect will generate the greatest growth in executive-level hiring through the end of 2009 include:
Healthcare
Clean/Green Technology
Energy/Utilities
Pharmaceuticals/Medical Devices/Biotech
Environmental Products/Services
"Recent hiring activity indicates the recovery will be based on business re-investment and global economic growth," says Mark Anderson, President and Chief Economist of ExecuNet.
Assessing A Frustrated Workforce
Author Pearl S. Buck once said, "To find joy in work is to discover the fountain of youth." If that's true, it seems more people in the business world are aging faster than they realize.
No one among my wide network of friends may know that more than Dr. Beverly Kaye, founder and CEO of Career Systems International, who likewise presented to the recent HRPS conference in Chicago and whose enthusiasm for studying workforce engagement is simply infectious. Kaye's firm helps organizations maximize the strategic engagement, development and retention of key talent.
She told the conference delegates that four of every five employees say they have more abilities than they are currently using in service to their employers, and most people simply want to learn, grow and contribute no matter what their function or level in the enterprise.
But to effectively assess the workforce frustration being felt across a wide range of organizations today, Kaye said, one must consider the groups of employees who've been impacted most directly by the recession. They are:
POBBO — Pushed Out But ... Better Off
SOBBO — Staying On But ... Building Options
HOBBO — Hanging On But ... Bummed Out
Dr. Kaye, the author of three books on career development, talent retention and workplace satisfaction, said companies must assess which key leaders fall into the latter two categories and identify opportunities to win back their trust, loyalty and top performance.
Presented by: Richard Finnegan, President of Finnegan Mackenzie, Founder of the Retention Institute
As the economy continues to improve, more executives plan to explore new career opportunities, according to our latest in-depth survey of over of 1,600 employed business leaders.
So what can businesses do now to make sure their best performers stay and engage them from Day 1? Attend this 30-minute Power Break with Dick Finnegan to learn:
Actionable agenda items you can employ to identify at-risk management executives and deploy resources to keep them
What you should do now to avoid a mass exodus from key management roles
How to initiate a winning retention strategy that begins with recruitment
You'll also have the opportunity to engage with the presenter in a Q & A session during which he'll take on one or more of your organization's lingering retention challenges.
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.
"Just wanted to let you know how thrilled we are with the results/response we got from posting our Director of Sales and Marketing position on your website. We had been trying to fill this position for 6 months...After posting the job with ExecuNet, we actually filled the job within 45 days. Thanks again."
- Linda Feldman
HR Consultant
Pallet Management Systems, Inc.
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.
