Firstly, apologies for not posting for a couple of weeks. BT managed to successfully mess up our telephone line and internet connection along with it for more or less a whole week! That technology for you – great when it works, disaster when it doesn’t. Nevertheless, via the magic that is the Blackberry, I’ve been able to keep up with life as we have come to know it!
I’ve been asked by a number of senior level execs that are looking for a move if I recommend any Headhunters in particular. The short answer is that I don’t, but that’s not because I don’t know any good ones, I know plenty, it’s just that it isn’t quite that simple. Just as many other professions such as Lawyers, Accountants and Medics are specialists in their particular fields, Headhunters also come in many guises. If you wanted advice on your personal tax affairs, you probably wouldn’t choose an accountant who specialises in corporate insolvency. If you’ve got a heart problem, you wouldn’t seek out the services of an obstetrician.
Headhunters specialise in particular sectors too such as Retail, Financial Services or Central Government, at particular levels such as Board appointments, skill sets such as HR, Asset Management and Marketing, or in contract types such as permanent or interim roles. So, there’s no real point in approaching a Headhunter to see if they would be interested in your profile if they, or their firm, don’t handle search assignments for people like you. The big firms like Egon Zehnder are global, have specialists in most industry sectors and handle a lot of assignments every year relatively speaking. A small, boutique specialist may only handle roles for asset managers and, given the high value of the commission they make on a successful placement, don’t really need to work on that many assignments to make a very comfortable living. However, the recession has impacted heavily on the search industry so it’s changing constantly and the old rules of engagement don’t necessarily hold true any more. Just as you, the prospective candidate, need to raise your game in terms of how you market yourself, so too do they.
The law of supply and demand also affects the way the recruitment business is conducted at just about every level. If there are lots of vacancies but relatively few qualified candidates and you happen to be one of them, expect to be courted and cosseted by those whose job it is too woo you away from your current employer. If there are few assignments and many well qualified (and many out of work) candidates (like the current situation) …………well, I think you get the picture!
The other point to remember is that employers pay Headhunters to find the right people not candidates. If they don’t have any assignments, no matter how brilliant you are, they won’t be able to conjure up an opportunity out of nowhere. Neither are they ‘career consultants’ available to give you lots of free advice on what you should do next and how to write your CV (although some will volunteer useful tips and insights). There are organisations that intimate that they can give individuals access to a magical source of ‘unadvertised’ jobs – they are all advertising heavily at the moment. It is true that up to 70% of the top jobs are never publicly advertised, however, there isn’t a secret database anywhere where they get stored either. You cannot pay someone to guarantee that they will get you a job (it’s kind of illegal anyway!). All they can do is give you (hopefully informed) advice on how and where to market yourself most effectively. Firms like this will often charge quite substantial fees; you may well feel that this is what you need and you can and will pay for this type of executive coaching. If not, you can find pretty much all the resources you need on the myexecutivecareer.com website for a mere £45, sort out your own career move and spend the money you save on a decent interview outfit and several very good dinners!
Whatever the climate, to succeed at securing your next executive role, you must ensure that you are a truly marketable commodity, that you have purpose and focus about what you want in your next career move, that you research your own channels of distribution thoroughly i.e. the right recruiters, in the right sectors and in the right firms, network in the right places and look for opportunities via the right media.
You can find a directory of executive search firms by sector and by specialism, sources of advertised and unadvertised roles and more useful insider tricks of the executive job market trade at myexecutivecareer.com.
Graduate career resources are all featured on mygraduatecareer.com including Emma’s latest download – ‘Ten Top Tips for getting the most out of graduate recruitment fairs‘.
Further free career advice and recruitment resources can be found on newlifenetwork.co.uk.
Have a good weekend!