Tips from Executive Search Pro
Written by Mary Welch Tuesday, October 26 2010
Snapshot: Sharon Hall
Sharon Hall is a member of three of Spencer Stuart’s global practice specialties – human resources, consumer goods and services, and the diversity practice, which she co-founded in 1999. She managed the Atlanta office for five years and has served on Spencer Stuart’s global board of directors.
She spent 10 years at Avon Products and began her career at Procter & Gamble. Sharon graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science from Morris Brown College and received her MBA from the University of Southern California.
Womenetics: What is the key to being a successful executive recruiter?
Sharon Hall: People considering a career in search need to be self-starters, subject matter experts (in their respective spaces), driven, flexible, fast on their feet, and travel ready. Also, a broad network of high-level executives with whom real relationships are maintained is important for both identifying and recruiting professionals, as well as for business development. A platform of differentiation is important; executive recruiting is quite a crowded sector. As a search consultant, one always has to be able to answer the question, “Why are you the best person to recruit for this role/company/industry?” A strong reputation for high quality work and consultation is absolutely critical to success – one or two poorly executed searches and your reputation in this business is pretty much over.
Womenetics: What is the biggest mistake people make when looking for a new job?
Hall: Not aligning their expectations with the dynamics of the marketplace. This not only increases the frequency of disappointment, it also sneaks into the communication loop in interviews and follow-up conversations in unfavorable ways. In times as desperate as these, people are single-minded about finding work.
After a few months of brutal prospecting and interviews, job seekers reach a point of desperation that drives an expectation that THIS next job is theirs. Meanwhile, there is no correlation between one’s need for a job and the chance that they will actually get the job.
Further, candidates are competing with people who have far more experience than the job requires, which makes it even more difficult. It is important to maintain a productive mindset during a job search. Indeed, the interviewers and recruiters who candidates interact with are doing so for the first time; they cannot absorb the sins of the interviewers and recruiters who rejected the candidates in previous dialogues.
Find other ways to burn off that steam, keep a realistic mindset with regard to the realities of the current marketplace, and the job search will run far more smoothly.
Womenetics: What is the biggest mistake people make when working with an executive recruiter?
Hall: Seeking out recruiters who do not work in their industry/functional spaces. It is important to find recruiters who work in the industry/functional spaces candidates seek to penetrate; otherwise, not much happens and both recruiter and candidate are disappointed.
For example, a recruiter who places only CFOs gets a call from a CIO candidate. The candidate is not happy that the recruiter is not engaging and frustration builds. The job seeker does not realize that the recruiter cannot even respond to the several hundred CFOs trying to get his attention, and these are people he needs to interact with since he works in that space.
Thus, the CIO will never get any attention from the CFO recruiter (and for good reason). Those seeking employment should target their résumés to the desks of recruiters who specialize in their respective functions (finance, IT, marketing) and their respective industries (high tech, retail, professional services). This way, the job seeker is approaching a recruiter who spends all of his/her time trying to find that same job seeker. Now, everybody’s happy.
Womenetics: What skills or positions are most in demand now?
Hall: The market is quite quirky at present. Thus, there are very few patterns with regard to which sectors or companies are actively hiring. Hiring is occurring in fits and starts as some key positions are filled with an emerging internal executive on his/her way to job elimination/severance. Or, positions evaporate in budget meetings even before they are filled. Then, there are a select few companies that are actively hiring to take strategic advantage of the talent on the market. What’s hot? Digital anything and everything, board directors, CFOs, diversity candidates, those candidates with global experience/perspectives, and up-and-comers.
Womenetics: What have been the keys to your success?
Hall: I always know why I am where I am. I have specific objectives for each and every job I’ve ever had, and when those objectives are not being met I don’t waste time in seeking the more appropriate platform. Secondly, I never ever compete with others; only with myself. I find that competing with your colleagues is not typically a winning proposition; it is distracting, can be unproductive, and typically narrows one’s vision to oneself. Competing with myself means I always try to do more and do it better than I did in the last job or the last project.
If I’ve outdone myself, I count it as a success and keep looking forward. This helps me maintain a positive outlook, keeps me productive and focused. Finally, I make certain to keep some fun in the work and the workplace. Truly, life is way too short not to have fun along the way, and we spend so much time working that there is a need for fun in the workplace; I bring it.
Womenetics: Overall, how is the job market from your perspective?
Hall: Overall, there is activity in the marketplace, and it is noticeably more than we saw in 2009. We also see that clients AND candidates are more selective than they have ever been. So, companies are not just hiring the best candidates; they are hiring only the stars, and they are happy to wait for them. As well, the best candidates are not jumping at every job just because they are in the market; candidates have been burned and they are not amenable to replicating those experiences. Networking is working. The internet is working. And the recruiters are working.
Womenetics: Do women approach a job search differently than men? Should they?
Hall: No they do not, and we need not approach job search differently from men. Men can sometimes have more immediate and more confident expectations about getting the job (and these expectations do not serve them well). Women can be more passionate and personal about it (and this does not always serve them well). But, there are many exceptions to both generalizations and the differences in approach are fairly minor.
Womenetics: Does a person find an executive search firm; or, does the firm the person?
Hall: The search firm finds the person. For retained search a good rule of thumb is that we find people for jobs, we do not find jobs for people. Client companies pay the bills, and they drive the action outward into the marketplace. We engage with people who are seeking work, but that is a by-product of our focused mission as search consultants.
Womenetics: What is your philosophy to life?
Hall: I am a simple individual.
Family first.
Work hard/play hard; work first/play later.
If we’re not having fun, why are we doing it?
Help others without regard to payback. It’s more rewarding; it’s more fun. And, thinking about payback will just cause frustration and risk losing the intrinsic reward of helping in the first place.
Always know why you are where you are – is my mantra.
Womenetics: What do you do in your spare time?
Hall: I am extremely passionate about cooking. I even host cooking parties. I also love movies. I love books as well. I rarely get to the latter two passions.
Womenetics: What are your future goals?
Hall: I have met all of the personal goals I have set for myself. And truly, at my age of 53, I am right now developing my next set of personal goals. I’ll let you know once they’re complete. Of course, the permanent goals I share with all women include: losing weight, taking up yoga, getting more sleep, but, then there is reality.
Mary Welch is a freelance writer for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Dawson Times, Plan Your Meeting magazine, and Atlanta Business magazine. Previously, she held many positions with Leader Publishing, including editor-in-chief of Atlanta Woman, editor of Business to Business magazine, and editor of Catalyst magazine. As editor of Business to Business, she assigned, edited, and conceptualized a series that was awarded Silver in the 2005 GAMMA Awards for Best Series. Welch was a reporter for the Atlanta Business Chronicle for eight years and freelanced for publications including Glamour, Advertising Age, South, Georgia Trend, and Oz. From 2000 to 2003, she served as vice president of media relations for Bank of America, during which time she authored Forever Green: A History and Hope of the American Forest with Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell.
