Our Latest Thinking
Access dozens of thought-provoking and insightful news items from Hunt Scanlon Media’s flagship human capital archives. Each article, Q&A, trends & rankings report, and case study – along with expert commentary – provides executive search consultants and talent acquisition leaders cutting-edge and up-to-date market intelligence. Here is some of our latest thinking.
Clear Expectations, Communication Are Key to a Strong Search
For J. James O’Malley, a partner with TalentRISE in Chicago, it is essential that search firms look closely at the needs of their clients and emphasize communication on both sides to achieve the best outcome for everyone. Having worked as an HR executive and as a search consultant, Jim knows the challenges companies face in
To Cut Risks, Boards Demanding More from Search Firms and CEOs
In the volatile, ever-changing landscape of today’s business world, companies are under intense pressure to make the right choices about their leadership. Between competition, customer demands, and shareholder expectations, the marketplace provides little forgiveness for mistakes, and the consequences of bad decisions can be onerous. For boards of directors, solid succession planning becomes critical, says
A Lesson In the Making of Great Leaders
With the advent of technology touching most every aspect of our lives, it’s easy for executives of all stripes to lose sight of what modern tools can and can’t do for their organizations. The best leaders understand that as powerful an impact as technology and the information it yields can have on their business, it’s
When Recruiting Demands Insight into People and Process
There’s much to be said for the impact of technology on the executive search industry over the last 15 to 20 years. Starting with the Internet, new tools have transformed the field, rewriting many aspects of the hiring script – from how candidates are found, to quickly connecting with them, to interviewing them through innovations
Bridging the New Talent Gap
For Clark Beecher and Tim Reagan, one of the perquisites of having a client base that reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ in the consulting sector has been the opportunity to watch how leaders at those businesses go about their work and then use what the pair have learned to enhance their own organization. “We have
How to Build a Career In the Digital Age
The digital revolution has affected industries virtually across the board. Media and communications organizations, in particular, have undergone significant transformation over the last two decades, and have faced significant issues along the way. While many companies are still grappling with how to use digital technology to their best advantage, the future is already knocking at
Recruiting Boutiques Claim Their Own Turf Against Big Firm Rivals
For small to mid-sized search firms, it can be tough to convince set-in-their-way Fortune 500 companies to choose them over their big league rivals, especially when it comes to CEO assignments. Still, boutiques have made tremendous progress in recent years and in many cases are staking out territory in which the largest firms can’t easily
Millennials Take Note: Here’s Why Global Exposure Is Now Your Most Important Trademark
According to recruiters on the hunt for global talent, search assignments are reflecting a greater demand for candidates with international experience and the ability to speak multiple languages. For companies, leaders with a global background are highly desirable: They bring a more expansive network to the table, can take on broader responsibilities, and become highly
Why Working for a Non-Profit Might Be Your Next Career Move
In the not-too-distant past, few executive search firms built their businesses around serving non-profit organizations. These days, as the sector expands, well outpacing for-profit enterprise growth over the last decade, non-profits have become one of headhunting’s hottest markets. Working in the sector is finding greater appeal among business leaders and employment opportunities at non-profits are
As Big Search Firms Expand, Smaller Specialists Thrive
Oftentimes when big companies grow bigger, they come to dominate the landscape and plow under their smaller rivals. But the executive search industry is witnessing something quite different. These days, the big search firms’ drive for ever-greater profits actually seems to be feeding the success of their boutique competitors. Alan J. Work, president and founder
Why Recruiting Is an Ideal Career Path for Women
The boards of directors for publicly owned search firms continue to skew toward older males, with no change in sight anytime soon. That hard truth, however, does little to dim the enthusiasm that Amy St. Denis holds for executive recruitment as a career choice – or her belief in the potential for women to succeed
Disruptive Technologies Raise Demand for ‘Outside’ Leaders
It’s no secret that the Internet and upstart or disruptive technologies, like e-books, have generated so much upheaval and uncertainty in the publishing world. For all of the benefits that technology has brought, including instant and widespread distribution, publishers continue to struggle to find a business model for new media that actually turns a profit.
What Will the Successful Executive Recruiter Look Like In 2020?
Last August, I sat down with Mark Oppenheimer, managing partner for the Americas at Marlin Hawk, to explore the evolving relationship between CHROs and executive search firms. Back then, Mark made the point that CHROs were in the driver’s seat and that executive recruiters needed to shape up to meet their increasing demands. In his words,
Recruiters Turn to Specialization to Find Niche Talent
To keep pace with the evolving needs of diverse, multinational client companies, search firms must respond accordingly, says Geoff Hoffmann, CEO of DHR International. Their consultants must have a broad base of experience and a global presence. And specialization matters as much, if not more, than ever. “The generalist approach to executive search has been
With Biopharma in Overdrive, Recruiters Deliver On a Deeper Level
The rapid expansion of the biopharma industry has transformed the way recruiters do their jobs. The field is being driven by scientific discoveries that are opening doors to therapies and forms of care that were never available before now. Multiple companies specializing in particular scientific areas are racing to take the lead and establish dominance over one another. Given the entrepreneurial nature of the
The Challenges of Recruiting Big Talent to Small Companies
For small and emerging companies, timing is among the most critical factors in recruiting new talent. Many such businesses wait too long before pulling the trigger on adding to their executive ranks, says Jay Rosenzweig, founding partner of Rosenzweig & Company, a Toronto-based boutique search firm. At best, delay threatens to impede growth. Worse, if
Success In Recruiting Now Depends On Change and Innovation
Make no mistake, Steven B. Potter is bullish on the executive recruitment industry. But his outlook is tempered by an acute awareness of the challenges and pitfalls that lie ahead. Most notably, he says, the search business has long suffered from a lack of innovation. With 33 years in the field, the managing director of
Delivering More than Candidates to Asset Management Clients
Derek Braddock and Bill Matthews, founding partners of search firm BraddockMatthews, regard their work on behalf of clients in the asset management sector as something much more than merely filling open positions. When companies enlist their firm, they get depth of service on multiple fronts, from industry experience to working relationships to a committed partnership that
Modern Day CHRO: Consigliere to the CEO
These days finding the right chief human resources officer (CHRO) can be a challenging proposition for a recruitment firm. As businesses have become increasingly holistic, the CHRO role has evolved away from just administrative and transactional responsibilities. Indeed, the job now plays an integral, strategic part in driving a company forward. One finds CHROs in
Do You Have a Chief Risk Officer Onboard? If Not, You Will Soon…
Despite worrisome breaches in recent years, corporate America has a limited grasp of the growing and continually evolving threat of cyber incursions. Massive security lapses have left companies vulnerable and seemingly defenseless. And the ever-expanding convergence of web, cloud, social, and mobile technology makes the dangers greater than ever. Most companies, according to Jeremy King,
Game Changer: How One Recruiting Boutique CEO is Fueling Growth
For more than a decade, steady growth has been a way of life at ZRG Partners. Earnings alone, without taking on debt, carried the Rochelle Park, NJ-based executive search and human capital management firm a long way as it won more clients, acquired operations, and made inroads into new territories. But as the mid-sized firm
A Life Sciences Boutique Digs Deep for Its Position In a Global Market
One of the hallmarks of outstanding companies is that they have a knack for being one step ahead of others in understanding where the market and the innovations that drive it are headed. It’s not clairvoyance so much as an immersion in their field, knowing its inner workings, identifying trends early, and building relationships. For
Want a Career in Executive Recruiting? Here’s How to Make the Transition …
Managing director Jeff Ashpitz has spent the last 17 years with Strawn Arnold & Associates, a leading life sciences recruiting specialist based in Austin. But it was his earlier corporate experience in life sciences, which lasted nearly 30 years, that set the groundwork for a storied career in executive search. How Jeff made the transition
What Attracts Top Talent to Companies? This Might Surprise You…
Finding your company’s next generation of leaders is becoming an increasingly challenging and complex proposition. According to a number of studies we have conducted at Hunt Scanlon Media, transformational leaders – change agents who can realign, reorient and overhaul a company’s mission and culture – are now the most in-demand wedge of any professional group.
How One Canadian-Based Recruiter Is ‘Building a Better Mousetrap’
When we think of recruiting in North America, the focus shifts right to the United States. The East Coast – dominated by Wall Street’s talent needs — is crawling with headhunters focused on serving the financial services sector, the search industry’s largest. High tech, life sciences, and the bustling world of retail and fashion all
A New Way to Build Great Management Teams
It is a complex time to be in the talent management business, whether you’re serving the needs of clients as an executive recruiter or you’ve been charged with reclaiming the oversight of your company’s talent initiatives in-house. I see it as one of the most destabilizing periods in this field in generations. And whenever there
An Insider’s Look At Recruiting Talent In the Investment and Wealth Management Sector
In all the excitement of finding faster and more efficient ways of identifying top talent what is getting lost is how important executive recruiters are to the business of building world class teams of people. LinkedIn and other social media identification platforms might be the rage today, but headhunters I speak with on a daily
What CHROs Need and Expect From Their Executive Recruiting Partners
Today’s CHROs face an enormous challenge. As catalysts for change, their goal is to evolve companies away from hierarchical command & control models toward more collaborative models that drive innovation, engagement and customer service. People – and particularly new blood – are critical to their game plan, yet many CHROs are disenchanted with the outdated
The Critical Impact of CEO Succession
For CEO succession planning to be truly impactful in today’s complex corporate environment, companies require a greater understanding of the distinctions between seeking top leaders from outside the organization or when promoting from within is the best option. Global executive search firms like Egon Zehnder, with extensive business expertise in CEO succession and executive talent management
Righting the Ship
Some of the greatest stress that a search firm can experience comes in helping to fill a position that a client company had previously filled on its own but that soon proved to be a mistake. It’s bad enough for a company to misstep once in a top-level hire. For it to happen again can be
Clear Expectations, Communication Are Key to a Strong Search
For J. James O’Malley, a partner with TalentRISE in Chicago, it is essential that search firms look closely at the needs of their clients and emphasize communication on both sides to achieve the best outcome for everyone. Having worked as an HR executive and as a search consultant, Jim knows the challenges companies face in
To Cut Risks, Boards Demanding More from Search Firms and CEOs
In the volatile, ever-changing landscape of today’s business world, companies are under intense pressure to make the right choices about their leadership. Between competition, customer demands, and shareholder expectations, the marketplace provides little forgiveness for mistakes, and the consequences of bad decisions can be onerous. For boards of directors, solid succession planning becomes critical, says
A Lesson In the Making of Great Leaders
With the advent of technology touching most every aspect of our lives, it’s easy for executives of all stripes to lose sight of what modern tools can and can’t do for their organizations. The best leaders understand that as powerful an impact as technology and the information it yields can have on their business, it’s
When Recruiting Demands Insight into People and Process
There’s much to be said for the impact of technology on the executive search industry over the last 15 to 20 years. Starting with the Internet, new tools have transformed the field, rewriting many aspects of the hiring script – from how candidates are found, to quickly connecting with them, to interviewing them through innovations
Bridging the New Talent Gap
For Clark Beecher and Tim Reagan, one of the perquisites of having a client base that reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ in the consulting sector has been the opportunity to watch how leaders at those businesses go about their work and then use what the pair have learned to enhance their own organization. “We have
How to Build a Career In the Digital Age
The digital revolution has affected industries virtually across the board. Media and communications organizations, in particular, have undergone significant transformation over the last two decades, and have faced significant issues along the way. While many companies are still grappling with how to use digital technology to their best advantage, the future is already knocking at
Recruiting Boutiques Claim Their Own Turf Against Big Firm Rivals
For small to mid-sized search firms, it can be tough to convince set-in-their-way Fortune 500 companies to choose them over their big league rivals, especially when it comes to CEO assignments. Still, boutiques have made tremendous progress in recent years and in many cases are staking out territory in which the largest firms can’t easily
Millennials Take Note: Here’s Why Global Exposure Is Now Your Most Important Trademark
According to recruiters on the hunt for global talent, search assignments are reflecting a greater demand for candidates with international experience and the ability to speak multiple languages. For companies, leaders with a global background are highly desirable: They bring a more expansive network to the table, can take on broader responsibilities, and become highly
Why Working for a Non-Profit Might Be Your Next Career Move
In the not-too-distant past, few executive search firms built their businesses around serving non-profit organizations. These days, as the sector expands, well outpacing for-profit enterprise growth over the last decade, non-profits have become one of headhunting’s hottest markets. Working in the sector is finding greater appeal among business leaders and employment opportunities at non-profits are
As Big Search Firms Expand, Smaller Specialists Thrive
Oftentimes when big companies grow bigger, they come to dominate the landscape and plow under their smaller rivals. But the executive search industry is witnessing something quite different. These days, the big search firms’ drive for ever-greater profits actually seems to be feeding the success of their boutique competitors. Alan J. Work, president and founder
Why Recruiting Is an Ideal Career Path for Women
The boards of directors for publicly owned search firms continue to skew toward older males, with no change in sight anytime soon. That hard truth, however, does little to dim the enthusiasm that Amy St. Denis holds for executive recruitment as a career choice – or her belief in the potential for women to succeed
Disruptive Technologies Raise Demand for ‘Outside’ Leaders
It’s no secret that the Internet and upstart or disruptive technologies, like e-books, have generated so much upheaval and uncertainty in the publishing world. For all of the benefits that technology has brought, including instant and widespread distribution, publishers continue to struggle to find a business model for new media that actually turns a profit.
What Will the Successful Executive Recruiter Look Like In 2020?
Last August, I sat down with Mark Oppenheimer, managing partner for the Americas at Marlin Hawk, to explore the evolving relationship between CHROs and executive search firms. Back then, Mark made the point that CHROs were in the driver’s seat and that executive recruiters needed to shape up to meet their increasing demands. In his words,
Recruiters Turn to Specialization to Find Niche Talent
To keep pace with the evolving needs of diverse, multinational client companies, search firms must respond accordingly, says Geoff Hoffmann, CEO of DHR International. Their consultants must have a broad base of experience and a global presence. And specialization matters as much, if not more, than ever. “The generalist approach to executive search has been
With Biopharma in Overdrive, Recruiters Deliver On a Deeper Level
The rapid expansion of the biopharma industry has transformed the way recruiters do their jobs. The field is being driven by scientific discoveries that are opening doors to therapies and forms of care that were never available before now. Multiple companies specializing in particular scientific areas are racing to take the lead and establish dominance over one another. Given the entrepreneurial nature of the
The Challenges of Recruiting Big Talent to Small Companies
For small and emerging companies, timing is among the most critical factors in recruiting new talent. Many such businesses wait too long before pulling the trigger on adding to their executive ranks, says Jay Rosenzweig, founding partner of Rosenzweig & Company, a Toronto-based boutique search firm. At best, delay threatens to impede growth. Worse, if
Success In Recruiting Now Depends On Change and Innovation
Make no mistake, Steven B. Potter is bullish on the executive recruitment industry. But his outlook is tempered by an acute awareness of the challenges and pitfalls that lie ahead. Most notably, he says, the search business has long suffered from a lack of innovation. With 33 years in the field, the managing director of
Delivering More than Candidates to Asset Management Clients
Derek Braddock and Bill Matthews, founding partners of search firm BraddockMatthews, regard their work on behalf of clients in the asset management sector as something much more than merely filling open positions. When companies enlist their firm, they get depth of service on multiple fronts, from industry experience to working relationships to a committed partnership that
Modern Day CHRO: Consigliere to the CEO
These days finding the right chief human resources officer (CHRO) can be a challenging proposition for a recruitment firm. As businesses have become increasingly holistic, the CHRO role has evolved away from just administrative and transactional responsibilities. Indeed, the job now plays an integral, strategic part in driving a company forward. One finds CHROs in
Do You Have a Chief Risk Officer Onboard? If Not, You Will Soon…
Despite worrisome breaches in recent years, corporate America has a limited grasp of the growing and continually evolving threat of cyber incursions. Massive security lapses have left companies vulnerable and seemingly defenseless. And the ever-expanding convergence of web, cloud, social, and mobile technology makes the dangers greater than ever. Most companies, according to Jeremy King,
Game Changer: How One Recruiting Boutique CEO is Fueling Growth
For more than a decade, steady growth has been a way of life at ZRG Partners. Earnings alone, without taking on debt, carried the Rochelle Park, NJ-based executive search and human capital management firm a long way as it won more clients, acquired operations, and made inroads into new territories. But as the mid-sized firm
A Life Sciences Boutique Digs Deep for Its Position In a Global Market
One of the hallmarks of outstanding companies is that they have a knack for being one step ahead of others in understanding where the market and the innovations that drive it are headed. It’s not clairvoyance so much as an immersion in their field, knowing its inner workings, identifying trends early, and building relationships. For
Want a Career in Executive Recruiting? Here’s How to Make the Transition …
Managing director Jeff Ashpitz has spent the last 17 years with Strawn Arnold & Associates, a leading life sciences recruiting specialist based in Austin. But it was his earlier corporate experience in life sciences, which lasted nearly 30 years, that set the groundwork for a storied career in executive search. How Jeff made the transition
What Attracts Top Talent to Companies? This Might Surprise You…
Finding your company’s next generation of leaders is becoming an increasingly challenging and complex proposition. According to a number of studies we have conducted at Hunt Scanlon Media, transformational leaders – change agents who can realign, reorient and overhaul a company’s mission and culture – are now the most in-demand wedge of any professional group.
How One Canadian-Based Recruiter Is ‘Building a Better Mousetrap’
When we think of recruiting in North America, the focus shifts right to the United States. The East Coast – dominated by Wall Street’s talent needs — is crawling with headhunters focused on serving the financial services sector, the search industry’s largest. High tech, life sciences, and the bustling world of retail and fashion all
A New Way to Build Great Management Teams
It is a complex time to be in the talent management business, whether you’re serving the needs of clients as an executive recruiter or you’ve been charged with reclaiming the oversight of your company’s talent initiatives in-house. I see it as one of the most destabilizing periods in this field in generations. And whenever there
An Insider’s Look At Recruiting Talent In the Investment and Wealth Management Sector
In all the excitement of finding faster and more efficient ways of identifying top talent what is getting lost is how important executive recruiters are to the business of building world class teams of people. LinkedIn and other social media identification platforms might be the rage today, but headhunters I speak with on a daily
What CHROs Need and Expect From Their Executive Recruiting Partners
Today’s CHROs face an enormous challenge. As catalysts for change, their goal is to evolve companies away from hierarchical command & control models toward more collaborative models that drive innovation, engagement and customer service. People – and particularly new blood – are critical to their game plan, yet many CHROs are disenchanted with the outdated
The Critical Impact of CEO Succession
For CEO succession planning to be truly impactful in today’s complex corporate environment, companies require a greater understanding of the distinctions between seeking top leaders from outside the organization or when promoting from within is the best option. Global executive search firms like Egon Zehnder, with extensive business expertise in CEO succession and executive talent management
Righting the Ship
Some of the greatest stress that a search firm can experience comes in helping to fill a position that a client company had previously filled on its own but that soon proved to be a mistake. It’s bad enough for a company to misstep once in a top-level hire. For it to happen again can be
