Need to Recruit New Senior Executives from Outside
<p><strong>Radnor, Pa. — June 20</strong><br />Most U.S. companies will be looking outside their organizations for their next generation of leaders, according to a recent survey by Salveson Stetson Group, a full-service executive search firm.<br /><br />More than 60 percent of companies surveyed project that fewer than half of their succession needs can be filled by their current internal talent.<br /><br />"These results confirm the tightness of the labor market at the professional and executive levels," said John Salveson, Salveson Stetson Group co-founder and principal. "As the majority of baby boomers begin to seriously consider retirement, corporate America will be scrambling to replace their knowledge."<br /><br />Companies should prepare to conduct an external search for talent — even if the need is years away — by taking these steps:</p><ul><li><strong>Assess your internal "bench strength." </strong>Senior-level leaders should pay close attention to their talent bench, said John Touey, Salveson Stetson Group principal. "Engage in activities that not only promote the development of current employees but also build their networks outside the organization."</li><li><strong>Identify potential "talent gaps." </strong>Organizations need to become more proactive in understanding the quality of external talent. "A rigorous evaluation of current talent will discover where gaps lie between availability and need," Salveson said. "After they are identified, be aggressive in finding and courting the superstars within your industry and/or functional areas to fill any 'talent gaps.'"</li><li><strong>Anticipate changes in customers. </strong>"While assessing future leadership, companies should also be thinking about how their customers will change over the next several years and installing diverse leadership into a diverse marketplace to ensure you are seeking out talent that can successfully manage future challenges," Touey said.</li><li><strong>Build relationships over the longer term. </strong>Track potential candidates to replace current executives over the longer term before you actually need to hire successors. "Charting this over the longer term will give companies better access to external talent and decrease the risk associated with bringing in senior executives from the outside," Salveson said. "Who would be a better chief financial officer for your organization — someone whose progress you have been following for two years, or someone you interviewed for just two hours?"</li></ul>
