August 1, 1996 – the day we opened our search firm. The original team, Ken and Mary Abeln and I (David Magy), had a plan for creating a high quality retained search firm with multiple goals/objectives. At the end of year 14, we look back and smile (for the most part). Our goal of creating our team-oriented firm where each of us can be directly involved with our clients and candidates has been more than realized. From the team of 6 that now make up Abeln, Magy, Underberg & Associates . . . . .

Let’s start with thank you!

To our clients, past and present, we thank you for your support and business. Our business, literally and figuratively, is nothing without you and we know that incredibly well. Thank you seems inadequate – but thank you none-the-less.

To our candidates, past and present, it has been a pleasure to get to know you. Each of you have amazing talents. We wish we could select and place more of you. Your understanding of what we do and our goal of ‘fit’ with the client is appreciated.

14 Years of Trends

Since August 1, 1996, we have been through a few major economic cycles. History is an interesting teacher. That said, I wish we had a crystal ball.

• What goes down, must go up. We are all immersed in today’s economic turmoil. Watching the stock market and earnings reports on a daily basis will make a person become insane. What has remained constant is that companies now and always need good talent. Their pace changes depending on the economic time, but talent needs remain.
• Technology versus culture. Technology has impacted us greatly, but people still have to connect in a meaningful way. Our communications go faster with all of the technology available to us. Regardless of how quickly we can e-mail each other, cultural fit still wins out as key to any hire.
• The War for Talent is a long war. The original work was done in 1997 (some say 1996). Two major recessions and our ever lengthening life span has impacted this topic in many ways. Regardless, the War for Talent is best won with proactive strategies regardless of your belief in the studies. There is one truth – baby boomers will retire and there are not enough people to replace them in our current market.

The list is much longer – more coming in future Blog entries.

Happy New Year!

As we enter year 15, let us wish you all a fantastic 2010/2011 and great business and career success. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you!

David/Christi/Rick/Mary Lee/Ken/Debra

This past May 28th, there was a fascinating article in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal titled, Industry Game Changer. I’ve read the article a few times – and feel a need to respond (on our Blog).

In January of this year, we had a Blog entry titled Is LinkedIn the new Monster in the room? The implication when I read the above-referenced article is that all search is being replaced by Social Networking – specifically LinkedIn.

Page #1 does not tell the entire story

Studies show that most of us, in this very busy world of sound bites, do not read entire articles anymore. (Most resumes are written with bullet points – we do not read paragraphs anymore.) If a person only reads the first paragraph or the first page of the article, they will miss some of the more pertinent (and balanced) points made. Page one leaves the reader with the impression that LinkedIn (and other social networking sights) is simply replacing search.

Is EVERYONE on LinkedIn?

We decided to do a quick check – looking at our list of clients and seeing if their officers are on LinkedIn. Our initial findings were very interesting.

• a large percentage, but not all people at the director and below level, are represented (i.e. – have a LinkedIn profile)
• many profiles are incomplete – with just the person’s name, company name and title listed; it is not uncommon for profiles to have just 1 connection
• the percentage of employee profiles at the Vice President and ‘C’ level drop off significantly

We call it search, not find

Finding a name on LinkedIn is different than searching for and/or having access to all candidates. One of the sayings commonly used at our firm is, “there is a reason they call it search.”

Over the past few months, we have seen a tremendous uptick in retained search – and have performed a number of successful searches for a range of client organizations. We have used existing networks, identified new networks likely to yield winning candidates, pre-qualified likely candidates, encouraged still cautious applicants, performed reference checks, and have positioned the ‘upside’ of the client organization and open opportunity to currently employed leaders. We have celebrated and congratulated our clients who have worked closely with us to successfully recruit strong, capable and sometimes guarded new candidates. Over the past 14 years in the retained search field, we have been able to distill a few thoughts about the most successful searches and why they have worked exceptionally well.

Some things work better than others

In general, search works best when you (as the talent management or functional leader) have developed a realistic game plan taking into account your organization’s overall reputation, financial standing and ability to offer a competitive package and compelling reason to join your organization:

• a pre-approved budget for search
• positive, concrete ideas about the role it seeks to fill and about the kinds of background and experience that will work well in the position
• analyzed your and other leader’s networks and professional contacts and understand where it can be helpful to your retained search firm
• internal politics have been reconciled before initiating a search
• salary, benefits and relocation have been fully discussed and agreed upon
• you provide direct, clear and uncensored feedback to the search firm through out the process – with a clear emphasis on getting candidate feedback

Feedback please

Have you worked with a retained search firm of late? What worked for you and what didn’t? Could the search process have been more efficient/effective had you reviewed and followed the list above?

Let us know – david@abelnmagy.com or rick@abelnmagy.com