Employers Competing for Executive Talent and Compensation is Rising

Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) is an economic indicator that looks at job expectations, vacancies, compensation of new hires, and competition for recruits. Featured recently on the SHRM.org site and quoted by ExecuNet in its latest executive compensation survey, the latest figures seem to bode well for executives in career transition.

As the supply for talent tightens and demand increases, more and more organizations are using employment contracts, guaranteed bonuses and severance, and stock options to recruit candidates. Forty-five percent of packages offered in 2006 included a guaranteed first-year bonus, versus 27% in 2005. Thirty-nine percent included signing bonuses in 2006, versus 34% in the previous year. Stock options and equity were included in 50% of offers for 2006, in contrast to 42% in 2005.

Clearly companies are finding that they must raise the stakes in order to attract talent in an increasingly hot executive job market in which recruiter activity has increased for ExecuNet's network by more than 20% this past year. During 2006, most executives held expectations of a 15% or more increase in compensation should they change jobs.

Insider Tips on Working with Executive Recruiters

I recently attended a seminar sponsored by Career Masters Institute and presented by Shelly Goldman (a published recruiter and career coach) providing insights into how to work with recruiters in your executive job search.

I came away with confirmation of much of the knowledge I have about recruiters, and some things that were startling revelations. Here are some points that executives in career transition will want to keep in mind:

• A retained recruiter typically will NOT recommend a candidate for interview for several positions at a time, whereas a contingency recruiter will.
  
  
• Retained recruiters normally work at executive level exclusively, while in general contingency recruiters also work extensively with more junior level candidates.
  
  
• Contract-based firms and staffing services may be a good solution for a candidate with a great deal of movement in the career background, but they do not work extensively with senior level positions.
  
  
• Internal recruiters have a thankless job and are overwhelmed with candidates to interview and screen for referral to the next level in the process. It is important when talking with an internal company recruiter not to give away your salary requirements and defer this discussion until an offer has been extended. There is only one reason these internal recruiters ask for salary requirements--to screen candidates OUT.
  
  
• Conversely, you MUST reveal the salary range you are looking for to a contingency or retained recruiter. They do not want to waste their time with a candidate who is going to turn down the best offer a company is willing to make and will drop you from consideration if you are stubborn on this point.
  
  
• The best ways to find a recruiter to work with are through referral or by contacting one with whom you have worked before, perhaps for filling positions on your staff or in a previous career move.
  
  
• Before speaking with a recruiter, prepare a list of questions for them to see if they really understand your market, industry, and function, as well as to see if there is rapport and you feel you can trust them.
  
  
• Determine if the recruiter is networked well. If they have strong relationships with their hiring companies, they may actually "market" your resume even when there is no specific position available at the moment.
  
  
• You must have prepared a 30-90 second response to the "Tell me about yourself" question, and you must NAIL it when the recruiter asks it.
  
  
• Do not expect loyalty or follow-up from recruiters. It is not unusual to hear from an enthusiastic recruiter and then never hear from him or her again (especially true with contingency firms).
  
  
• Sometimes recruiters will throw your resume into a mix of ones referring to the hiring company, not because you are the strongest candidate but just to have enough candidates to refer. Both retained and contingency firms will do this.
  
  
• It is an absolute MUST to build ongoing relationships with recruiters, even when you are not actively engaged in executive job search. If you are not right for a position proposed, think about passing along referrals.
  
  
• It is ABSOLUTELY OK and even necessary to work with more than one firm.
  
  
• If contacted by a recruiter scanning job boards, before answering any questions about salary, find out if they are retainer, contract, contingency, or internal. Your answer is dependent on what type of recruiter you are talking with.
  
  
• There is no such thing as guaranteed confidentiality. Reputable recruiters and firms will attempt to keep your search confidential, BUT, see the first sentence in this bullet.

Turnoffs and Show Stoppers:

• The candidate refuses to share his or her compensation requirements with a retained or contingency recruiter.
  
  
• LYING to the recruiter. Just don't do it.
  
  
• Circumventing the recruiter and going directly to the hiring company to handle things that should be handled by the recruiter. For example, do not talk compensation requirements with the hiring company or increase the requirements you had told the recruiter. Also, scheduling of the next interview should be handled by the recruiter.
  
  
• Sending your resume to a recruiter and following up with a phone call (unless you obtained that recruiter's name through a referral). Imagine how many calls a recruiter would get when they receive dozens to hundreds of resumes A DAY!
  Exception: It is okay to follow up with recruiters who are internal to a company, but not too frequently. One follow up after sending a resume is fine.
  
  
• Accepting jobs and then deciding not to start... leveraging one offer against another.
  
  
• Poorly written executive resume or other documentation.
  
  
• Failure to send a strong and targeted cover letter.
  
  
• Inability to verbalize precisely what want.
  
  
• Negativity.
  
  
• Contact information that is not up-to-date and accurate. Must include e-mail address and phone numbers, and check e-mail and voice mail frequently throughout the day.

A Valuable and Free Online Job Resource

As an executive you are most likely familiar with The Ladders, a premiere $100K+ employment search website. (If not, I encourage you to check it out!) You may not be aware that The Ladders offers a series of free webinars annually that feature the latest in online recruiting, job search best practices, and contemporary perspectives on recruiting by top recruiting experts. The good news is that if you missed this year's "Seek Week," you can still listen to the archives at this link:

The Ladders Seek Week Archives

The line-up for 2007 is:

Making Passion-Driven Career Decisions: How to Achieve Success On Your Own Terms
Speaker: Richard Chang, CEO, Richard Chang Associates; author: "The Passion Plan" and "The Passion Plan at Work"

The Resiliency Factor: 4 Foundations for a No-Fail Search
Speaker: Susan Britton Whitcomb, Executive Director, Career Masters Institute and President, Career Coach Academy; author: "Job Search Magic"

A Simple Click Is Never Enough
Speakers: Gerry Crispin, CareerXroads and Mark Mehler, CareerXroads

Getting What You Want at Work: How to Incorporate Your Personal Needs in Your Professional Career
Speaker: Tory Johnson, CEO, Women For Hire; workplace contributor, ABC's Good Morning America

Ask a Recruiter (Almost) Anything
Q&A Panel Discussion with top recruiters
Speakers: Wendy Dembin, National Sales Recruiter, Talent Management COE, Pitney Bowes; Russell Murphy, PHR, Recruiter, Circuit City Stores, Inc.; Brian Toland, Executive Recruiter, Microsoft Corporation; Lisa Anderson, Director, Strategic Staffing, Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Archives from the 2006 Webinar series are also available at:
http://www.theladders.com/seekweek

Get insider tips on executive job search strategies, executive resumes, working with recruiters, building and leveraging your network, etc. You won't want to miss out on the invaluable advice of executive recruiters, hiring executives, career professionals and others that is free for the asking through this website!

Is Age Discrimination a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?

A December 28 article in eWeek.com reported that almost 40% of those in the employment market believe that their age rather than economic forces is keeping them from landing a new position. Another 6% feel that other forms of discrimination are presenting obstacles in their search. But as John A. Challenger of Challenger, Gray & Christmas (a global outplacement consulting firm in New York) points out: "Age is typically a self-made obstacle. There is no doubt that age discrimination still exists, but the rate at which people over 45 are finding jobs is not consistent with a widespread problem. The problem we find with many older job seekers is that they enter the process with preconceived, negative notions about their age and employers' reaction to it, and it seriously affects the way they perform in an interview."

I agree with Mr. Challenger, and believe that drastic measures used by some to disguise age in executive resumes is counterproductive. Is age discrimination in executive employment real? To a certain extent, but assuredly not at the level imagined by some executives. For accomplished and capable individuals, any minuses in the prospective employer's perception that could be attributed to the age factor are generally counterbalanced by the pluses of maturity, experience, and leadership skills that are not to be found in younger candidates.

Worker Exodus in Progress

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Wall Street Journal's CareerJournal.com recently published results of a poll indicating that in excess of 75% of employees are currently actively engaged in job search. HR professionals responding to the survey indicated that on average 12% of their work forces had voluntarily resigned during 2006. It appears that employees sense that the employment market is now healthy enough that they need not remain resigned to indefinite employment that is not to their liking.

Reasons cited by employees for wanting to move on included salary/compensation (30%), better opportunity elsewhere (27%), dissatisfaction with the career development potential at their current job (21%). Is it time to polish up your executive resume and test the waters?

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