Manage HR Magazine | Tuesday, December 28, 2021
“Executive search has provided a lifeline to many hiring managers, harnessing data insights and market expertise to assist them in selecting the best people in an increasingly competitive and uncertain employment market.”
Fremont, CA: With the advent of innovation and organisations transitioning to new operating models, the number of executive searches are expected to increase. With layoffs and budget freezes being unwelcome elements of the past year, executive search has provided a lifeline to many hiring managers, harnessing data insights and market expertise to assist them in selecting the best people in an increasingly competitive and uncertain employment market. Similarly, this emerging recruitment strategy has aided managers and C-level executives who lost their jobs during the pandemic in resuming their careers. Executive search provides organisations with a tangible competitive advantage in recruitment in today’s digitalised world.
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Emerging trends in executive search that are realigning the recruitment landscape and are likely to play out in the coming years.
1. Pipelining and Talent Pooling
However, for HR managers, recruitment on an ad hoc basis is not always an easy task. Building strong skills pipelines and talent pools is critical for a company’s recruitment prospects in an increasingly competitive candidate-led market. As a result, businesses can assure continued growth and the best possible environment for innovation by recognising talent early and balancing it with a strong employer value proposition (EVP).
2. Increased Flexibility
Prior to COVID-19, building flexible enterprises was already a developing trend, but it is now firmly at the forefront of all HR and hirers’ minds. Remote working is no longer viewed as an impediment to productivity, but rather as an opportunity, especially given that the majority of employees prefer some kind of flexibility in their work. Senior talent evolves as corporate executives seek new ways to engage remote or partially remote workforces. Leaders who can galvanise their workers are in great demand. However, as the cultural zeitgeist around work and employee welfare shifts, organisations are considered making these roles more flexible and appealing to recruits.
3. Technology at Rescue!
Traditionally, video interviews have become the norm in most businesses. This was created using a conventional approach, including one-way interviews, one-on-one interviews, or panel interviews. Most high-level candidates have been subjected to a variety of these as part of the interview process. In contrast, personality profiling and assessment technologies are becoming more popular. Organising group meetings and determining personality traits can be difficult or problematic, thus a variety of tech-based profiling and psychometric tests are now used — even more so than before the pandemic. Perhaps the most active technology-based trend in the executive search market is the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) to supplement and support the consultant’s skills. It enables consultants to quickly evaluate larger data sets, informing hiring decisions and allowing management to forecast company consequences.
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