In today’s environment, employers and headhunters have a vested interest in working even more closely together than in the past in the process of hiring a new executive. The recruitment of high-level managers faces several challenges. Here are some ways to enrich this valuable collaboration.
The weight of demography
According to an article published on Radio-Canada’s news website, many executives are thinking of leaving the ship. Digital transformation, exhaustion, teleworking, work-life balance, changes in values in society are all contributing factors to their departure. The labour shortage caused by demographics and exacerbated by the pandemic is accelerating their retirement. It’s a kind of domino effect.
While some had long predicted the likelihood of a pandemic, no one knew exactly when it would strike. On the other hand, the “demographic break” is a well-documented phenomenon for years, but has often been considered “distant”. Well, now here we are!
Observers such as Simon Savard, senior economist at the Institut du Québec (IDQ) recall in an interview that the aging of the population will remain an essential phenomenon for the next 10 years and that this will have a major impact on employment.
In short:
- Over the past 10 years, according to Statistics Canada data, the working-age population – aged 24 to 64 – has grown by 8% across the country, while the population aged 65 and over has jumped by 42.3%.
- For the next 10 years, there will be a significant increase in the number of people aged 65 and over who retire. The labour pool is very limited and will remain so;
- To believe that the issues of labour shortages will disappear by eliminating government aid to people is unrealistic. The aging of the population was there before the pandemic and will remain so.
A domino effect
In this gloomy environment, it is not surprising to see that a quarter of Canadian executives are considering resigning, according to the study published by Lifeworks Wellness Solutions and Deloitte Canada. We can talk about scarcity or shortage of bosses.
Optimists will say that there are still 75% of executives who remain. But the remaining 75% will still have to do the job of 100%, which may complicate things.
So who are these executives who, despite the winds and tides, remain in control of their ships?
These are the resilient executives.
Would you like to hire one? Do not raise all your hand at the same time.
Let’s move on to the era of collaborative hiring.
Collaborative hiring
Resilience is a psychological phenomenon that consists, for an individual affected by trauma, to take note of the traumatic event in such a way as not to live in misfortune or to rebuild himself in a socially acceptable way.
In last September’s blog, I made a comparison between the real estate market and the recruitment market. Today, to hire a successful executive, you have to offer “globally” more. This means not only basing the offer on remuneration, but also on remuneration.
In this “inflationary” context, the added value of the headhunter in the search for high-level leaders and managers is important. His expertise allows companies to identify the right motivations in an interesting candidate. He will be able to act as a spokesperson for the employer and convince thanks to the right arguments. But to do this, he needs the close collaboration of the employer throughout the hiring process.
In the summary document entitled: The External Recruiter: Role and Responsibilities in a Value Creation Process, the Ordre des conseillers en ressources humaines agréés (CRHA) presents the main responsibilities of each party with a view to creating common value. These are excellent prerequisites to consider to improve any hiring process.
For the human resources professional and manager, it is important to:
- develop a partnership approach with its external recruiter;
- involve managers who recruit upstream and make them responsible for their recruitment choices;
- establish a management process with a clear and transparent mandate;
- to know your company, its culture and its values and to have a clear vision of the talents you are looking for beyond the key competences.
For the external recruiter, it is important:
- clarify its intervention from the outset and be transparent;
- not to confuse the coaching of candidates with the act of recruitment;
- ensure the client’s engagement in the hiring process.
It is by acting in this way between hiring partners that the headhunter and the employer will be able to create value in the company.
Going in search of the resilient framework today requires more than ever teamwork.
The attractiveness of a company
I invite you to see the headhunter as an independent partner of your company, an independence that is essential to his work and therefore to your success.
Of course, the headhunter must exercise his independence of action in compliance with a professional ethic guaranteeing good results. His in-depth knowledge of the market and the recruitment process is his best asset.
This freedom of action allows him to go further. For example, he will be able to make a more complete profile of a candidate. But it will also be able to draw the portrait of the attractiveness of your company. This work will allow him to offer the most attractive incentives for a candidate in terms of his working conditions, leadership or remuneration for example.
This “diplomatic” role is not an arbiter role. It is the customer, therefore the company that decides. But she decides with full knowledge of the facts. Companies that refuse any a priori negotiation take risks.
Convincing a middle or senior manager to move is not an easy task in the current context. Changing jobs is a rational choice based on personal motivations. This is a serious reflection.
Essential ingredients
“There’s no point in running. You have to start at the right time. ” says the Fable of the Fountain. This is even more true when the executive search process is even longer than usual.
The work of a headhunter like Recruscope is increasingly essential to companies that have positions to fill at the level of their middle and senior executives. An experienced recruiter will take the time it takes to deal with three important challenges that complicate the hiring process: attrition, strength of conviction and specialization.
- Attrition. The pandemic has caused attrition and more staff who have left their jobs need to be replaced at all levels of corporate decision-making;
- Strength of conviction. Courted candidates are much less likely to leave their positions and it takes more work to come up with an equivalent list of potential candidates and good arguments;
- Specialization. Technical or specialized positions are in high demand and complicate research work.
Regardless of the challenges you face in your organization, do not hesitate to contact Recruscope to discuss your hiring project at the executive level.
Listening, openness and transparency are values that we cherish. They are also the essential ingredients of any successful collaboration.
