Search #3 by Jose Martins

Search The Global Executive Talent Quarterly from the AESC Volume 3

Industrial Sector Booms

A look at the AESC’s Q2 statistics

Improving the Quality of Life

Witt/Kieffer’s Chuck Wardell GLVFXVVHV WKH ¿UP¶V JURZWK

Client Centric 4GĪPGOGPV

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The Global Executive Talent Quarterly from the AESC Volume 3 Board of Directors

Aidan Kennedy, Chair

Jason Johnson, Vice-Chair Managing Partner, Asia Pacific CTPartners - Sydney Krista Walochik, Treasurer

President, Norman Broadbent - Madrid

Nairouz Bader, Board Member Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Vision Executive Search - Dubai Director, Odgers Berndtson - London

Table of Contents

Nikki C. Bondi, Board Member Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Advantage Partners - Cleveland Thomas T. Daniels, Board Member Partner, Spencer Stuart - New York

Anton Derlyatka, Board Member Senior Partner & Managing Partner of Talent Equity Ventures, Ward Howell - Moscow Thomas J. Fuller, Board Member Managing Partner, Epsen Fuller | IMD - New Jersey James Hickman, Board Member

Managing Director, Russell Reynolds Associates, Inc. - New Delhi

William M. King, Board Member

Chief Operating Officer & Senior Vice President, Korn/Ferry International - Los Angeles

Dinesh Mirchandani, Board Member

President, Boyden - Mumbai

Denys Monteiro, Board Member Chief Executive Officer & Partner, Fesa Global Executive Search Transforming Leadership - Sao Paulo Steve Mullinjer, Board Member

Regional Managing Partner, Heidrick & Struggles - Chongqing

Jean-Philippe Saint-Geours, Board Member

Partner & Chairman of AltoPartners, Leaders Trust International - Paris

Peter Felix, Ex-officio

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Quarterly Report

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Executives More Content with Work-Life Balance

But one-third would turn down a new job or promotion if it would negatively affect their work-life balance

Dedicated to Quality of Life

Chuck Wardell discusses Witt/Kieffer’s culture and the difference it’s made to their revenue

10 Video highlights of the 2014 Global Conference

Discussions with Forbes Senior Editor-at-Large, Geoff Colvin and Morgan Stanley Chairman and CEO, James Gorman

12 Spain’s Renaissance

While Spain has grabbed headlines for economic troubles and high unemployment rates, there are signs that there is now greater possibility for executive talent

14 Client Centric Refinement

How San Francisco’s search firms are innovating to meet client demand Accelarating the executive transition

President

Editor

Managing Director, Marketing

Senior Designer

Joe Chappell

18 Next Steps in Successful Placement

President, AESC - New York

Peter Felix

Robin Balfour, Board Member

Editorial Team

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Partner, CTPartners - London

Ben Ashwell Don Hailer

The Association of Executive Search Consultants www.aesc.org

20 Industry Trends in 2014 and Beyond

Phoenix’s Vera Klaus discusses on the recent changes she has observed in the executive search industry

22 Out of Office

Alfredo Jose Assumpcao, Chairman at FESAP Holding, has enjoyed a decorated career, including launching FESA in 1995. In addition, he is a writer, poet and musician, having released 11 books and five CDs.

Quarterly Report

Number of searches rises for the first time I n its second quarter report on the worldwide executive search industry, data from the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC) indicates quarter on quarter revenue growth of almost 10% and a year on year growth of 11%. The number of search assignments also increased – by 4% both year on year and quarter on quarter – representing a reversal in the recent trend of fewer assignments albeit of greater value. This cumulatively had a significant

effect on the revenue generated per consultant – as it was up 13% yearon-year and 16% between quarter one and quarter two of 2014. AESC President Peter Felix commented: “It is very encouraging to see continued improved demand for senior executives both on a regional and sector basis. This positive trend is indicative of economic recovery in the major economies of North America and Europe and the desire by Boards of Directors and top management to more actively engage in the search for

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the best talent to achieve growth and strategic development. “We expect this positive trend to continue as the emerging markets of the world enjoy faster economic growth, and competition for the best executives gathers pace.” The Asia Pacific region recorded the largest quarterly growth (5%), while North America (4%) and EMEA (3%) also recorded positive results in quarter two. Only the Central and South American region recorded a growth in quarterly activity (2%).

Strong Quarter for the Industrial Sector S ector trends highlighted particular growth in the number of new searches started within the Industrial sector, up 15% between quarter one and quarter two, and 6% year-on-year. Industrial is currently the largest sector for retained search activity, commanding 26% of the global industry. Kevin Logterman, Executive Vice President, Slayton Search Partners, says: The Industrial sector has experienced a resurgence in the past few years, we believe due to increased financial performance coupled with pent-up demand for executive talent. The increased demand for talent is particularly evident in two main functional areas: commercial (sales/marketing) and finance. From the beginning of the “great recession” to just recently, industrial companies focused on driving costs out of the business in the face of declining or lackluster sales growth. Recently there has been a significant shift as more companies are now investing in strengthening their commercial leadership teams. The numbers of searches have increased in the area of sales, marketing and product management.

Chief Financial Officer searches continue to grow in number, especially in the private equity sector. Within the portfolio companies there is an increased demand for experience leading the divestiture process, providing evidence that the industrial portfolio companies are growing their earnings and market value. This indicates that private equity owners are increasingly looking to near term liquidity events for their portfolios. Bruce Walton, Partner, Battalia Winston, says: Industrial production has always been a core driver of our economy. OffShoring chased cheap labor, but we are beginning to see industrial manufacturing

move back to the US, driven largely by increasing foreign wages and freight costs. The importance of delivery speed and customer responsiveness has also played a role. And we are adding technology (software, controls, etc.) to almost every industrial product we make. To date, the economic recovery has largely been about capital efficiency, not creating jobs. That is still the case. But as the economy improves, and more manufacturing comes back onshore, we’re seeing a growing demand for executive search. We think this is just the tip of the iceberg.

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In Focus

Executives more content with work-life balance But one-third would turn down a new job or promotion if it would negatively affect their work-life balance

he 2014 BlueSteps Work-Life Balance Report reveals that while senior-level executives are working more hours and in more locations than ever before, over half (52%) are satisfied or very satisfied with their work-life balance. Global executives work an average of 58.5 hours per week, with 39% working over 60 hours per week. In comparison, four years ago, 55% of senior-level executives did not believe their current work-life balance was satisfactory. The majority (81%) of executives consider work-life balance when deciding on whether they would accept a new position, while 31% of executives would refuse a promotion or new job offer if it negatively affected their preferred work-life balance ratio. Furthermore, over one quarter (28%) of executives rate their work-life ratio as more important than their potential earnings. Peter Felix, AESC & BlueSteps President, says: “Senior executives are clearly working out how to balance the extreme demands that globalization and 24/7 accessibility can make upon them. “Technology, while creating this accessibility, has also provided a form of liberation from the traditional workplace environments and the constraints on personal freedom that they can create. “With generational changes, corporations are also learning that they must make adjustments

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to the demands that they place on their senior executives and other members of staff. “The financial services world is currently publicly making such adjustments to the working lives of their interns and young recruits. Working smarter rather than harder makes real sense in the hugely different world of management that we all experience today.” The survey was conducted in April 2014 to July 2014 and received 571 responses from senior-level executives worldwide. Francis de la Cruz, former VP at J.P. Morgan and BlueSteps member, says: “The results of the BlueSteps WorkLife Balance survey are consistent with the trends among senior executives in finance. Telecommuting and flexible work schedules and locations are top of mind to senior investment bankers, hedge fund portfolio managers, and private equity professionals, especially when they are connected 24/7 anyway and readily accessible via phone or video when absolutely needed. “It is not uncommon for hedge funds to invest in installing Bloomberg workstations inside the homes of their portfolio management staff, giving their top performers added capability to track the stocks in their sector and make critical decisions while tending to their responsibilities at home.”

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In Profile

Dedicated To Quality Of Life Chuck Wardell discusses Witt/Kieffer’s culture and the difference it’s made to their revenue

here’s a buzz around Witt/ Kieffer, a feel-good factor that keeps getting better. In the last three years they have grown revenue by 54%, filled more than 94% of their searches and watched their quality scores keep rising. What’s more impressive is that they’ve delivered these results without aggressive expansion, new sector coverage or audacious international growth. Charles W.B. Wardell, III (Chuck to anyone who knows him), who joined Witt/Kieffer in 2011 as President and CEO, explains: “When I submitted my business plan to the board it was about doing more for our existing clients. Over the last three years we’ve had the same customers with the same executives. I didn’t buy anything and didn’t go out and hire any ‘rainmakers’.” When he joined Witt/Kieffer, Wardell’s resume was already very impressive: he was a decorated military veteran with extensive corporate experience including stints at American Express and MasterCard, who had more than ten years at Korn/Ferry and was a recipient of the AESC’s Gardner Heidrick Award in 2008 for his outstanding contribution to the executive search industry. But interviewing as a candidate

for Witt/Kieffer proved to be a formative experience on his future leadership style, a perspective he considers himself very fortunate to have been afforded. “In a major firm a senior job comes up probably every 15 years and they generally appoint from within,” he says. “For various reasons Witt decided not to this time. After a reasonable career I found myself on the other end of the search process.”

Lessons Learned

Interviewing as a candidate put Wardell in a reflective mood. One of his first actions as President and CEO was to write to candidates who had come second or third in recent Witt/Kieffer searches, all 2,600 of them. “If you’re not careful, for every candidate you place you can lose two or three other great people,” he says. The feedback was encouraging – Witt/Kieffer had a 92% positive reaction – but the research, coupled with his own experience, showed him where the firm could refine. “I made a lot of adjustments based on my own experience,” he says. “Whether that’s calling candidates back at a specific time to give them updates,

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ensuring that if someone has travelled a long way for a meeting it happens on time, or talking up front about qualifications and expectations because, no matter how well-written they are, job descriptions don’t always represent reality.” In the context of Witt/Kieffer’s strong performance over the last three years, it is worth noting that Wardell has pursued subtle tweaks not wholesale changes, a tightening of screws rather than significant overhauling. Part of this is due to the strength of culture and sense of heritage apparent when he joined Witt/ Kieffer. “For over 45 years our firm has been dedicated to improving the quality of life,” Wardell says. “We only have practices that enhance the quality of life [healthcare, education, not-for-profit]. So you have to design your firm according to the culture that you’re operating in. In my world, I’m not interested in the big, elbows-out $4 million producers so I don’t hire them.” It is important to Wardell that Witt/ Kieffer operates with integrity; regardless of whether you are a partner or a researcher, talking to a client, a candidate or a member of your team, you have to adhere to certain standards. He accepts

that, more than anyone else, he must set an example. One such illustration is the creation of a community service fund, intended to donate money and resources to good causes that are meaningful to Witt/Kieffer’s clients. “You can say what you want but over a long period of time the firm takes over the culture of the people running it,” he explains. “I believe in quality of life internally. I’ve set the business up this way because I want people to be able to go home, to enjoy their families and to be at soccer games. I don’t take every nickel out of the place, but invest in my people. It shows in how we treat our clients.” Wardell is quietly confident: modest, yet proud. He doesn’t often acknowledge his intelligent observations with any kind of fanfare, almost slipping them under the conversational radar for you to reflect on later. But it is clear that he is gratified with the culture he has fostered at Witt/Kieffer – he explains that in the last three years no search consultant has left Witt/Kieffer unless they have been asked to leave: “It feels like every search firm in the world has called us, but we haven’t lost anyone.”

Making the Most of Client Relationships

With a steady ship and an engaged workforce, Witt/Kieffer has been able to meet Wardell’s initial challenge of furthering relationships with existing clients. This closeness has not just led to more assignments, but also the trust that Witt/Kieffer can deliver at a much higher level. “One of the things that I am most proud of is that our quality scores are higher than ever,” Wardell says. “We do good work and are asked back because of that.” While the industry as a whole has been pushed further up the value

chain in recent years, and this trend has been positive for industry-wide revenue, it is worth noting that the average growth isn’t anywhere near the 62% growth that Witt/Kieffer has seen in the same period. For Witt/Kieffer to reach this level of client satisfaction required another subtle tweak, for which Wardell called on his military experience. “What I learned in Vietnam,” he says, “was that if you needed a bridge blown up, you called in the expert. We were a team made up of experts. When you look at our world, it is much easier to build teams if you bring in that strategy. The expert in a particular niche is the head of the search, there’s no competition. Maybe someone has to step back but there’s no concern about being elbowed out of the trough. We put the best people on the field.”

“Strangers Hiring Strangers”

Another reason that retained search firms have found themselves executing more senior searches is due to the rise of in-house resourcing departments. Much of this was borne out of financial necessity in a post-2008 economic environment, but the increasing sophistication of the in-house function – coupled with the proliferation of tools such as LinkedIn – means that it doesn’t look like the trend will abate any time soon. So how have Witt/Kieffer actually furthered their client relationships at a time when some commentators on the industry are suggesting that search firms now compete with their clients’ in-house teams? “We haven’t found LinkedIn or Facebook to be a handicap at all and we haven’t found ourselves competing with our clients,” Wardell says. “At the level we work it’s effectively strangers hiring strangers. The arbitrator who makes that happen is the outside consultant.

Chuck’s Advice For Candidates

Do your homework on what firm has the expertise for what you do. Then drill down through their website to find out which specific partner is in your field. Write a letter to that partner that demonstrates your skills. Oftentimes someone will call you. But the scattergun approach of writing 100 people doesn’t work. If I get a letter addressed to Charles I don’t answer it, because everyone calls me Chuck.

If you’re an in-house recruiter and your placement bombs, it affects you.” Wardell does acknowledge that there is an increase in the number of searches that now get referred to the purchasing department. For many, this presents a challenge as it portrays executive search firms as unfamiliar vendors, rather than professional services firms. While acknowledging the challenge, Wardell looks at this dynamic slightly differently: “When the purchasing department gets involved many times it helps to validate the search. A lot of searches can start and stop and go back and forth. But if a search goes through these channels we know it is going to happen.”

Incremental Gains

Witt/Kieffer’s impressive growth isn’t down to any one metric or change – it’s a collection of incremental gains. But the glue that holds these developments together is the firm’s culture, its commitment to improving quality of life. And this isn’t just a catchy tagline; it’s something that clearly means something to Witt/Kieffer’s staff, clients and candidates.

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uring this keynote session at the 2014 AESC Global Conference, held in New York in March, James Gorman describes the economic landscape as he sees it, saying: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The business community is wired to look forwards, but for the last couple of years we have been carrying around a lot of scar tissue. Finally we are starting to look forward again.â&#x20AC;? Watch the video to see Gorman and Geoff Colvin discuss the potential signposts of positive economic growth, as well as Gormanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s personal story of joining Morgan Stanley in December 2006, a time which he describes as â&#x20AC;&#x153;a real bubble environmentâ&#x20AC;?.

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ow on earth do I come to a meeting of executive search consultants with a title for a talk called â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Talent Is Overrated?â&#x20AC;&#x2122;,â&#x20AC;? Geoff Colvin starts. In this session, Geoff Colvin discusses why it is important to think about talent as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;worldclassâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, because the war for talent is more global than it has ever been before. Watch part one of Geoff Colvinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s session, and check out the remaining segments of his session on YouTube.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

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Retained Search in Spain

Spain’s Renaissance While Spain has grabbed headlines for economic troubles and high unemployment rates, there are signs that there is now greater possibility for executive talent

ack in 2008 and 2009, Spain was hit particularly hard by the Global Financial Crisis. It had invested significant amounts in property redevelopment, and when the recession hit the consequences were great. The country, along with many other Southern European countries, struggled with high unemployment rates and public unrest, before being caught up in the Eurozone Crisis. Alejandro Gortari, Partner, Gortari Associates TRANSEARCH, describes the environment for search during this time: “During 2009 the market suffered a drop of about 50% of its activity,” he says.

“As the number of firms and consultants remained, the level of pressure in the business increased significantly…Due to the high rate of unemployment, many companies have been able to recruit good professionals without requiring the services of external consultants.” But there are signs that the economy is beginning to bounce back. Recent statistics from the Spanish Labor Bureau reveal that unemployment fell faster than expected in the second quarter of 2014, as the number of employed people grew by 402,400. As it stands the unemployment rate is 24.5%, meaning it is still one of the highest in the developed world, but

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with a net gain of 19,400 jobs in the last year, it appears that Spain is emerging from a six year economic slump.

“The Need to Grow and Innovate”

Jose Medina, Managing Partner, Odgers Berndtson, says: “The main drivers and indicators have been that, after a double recession between 2007 and 2014 and maximum reductions of resources pointing to lean and mean organizations, there is now the need to grow and innovate. There is obviously a need for executive talent.”

Luis Truchado, Founder of Eurogalenus and Partner, AIMS International, agrees, explaining that in some respects the economic conditions since 2008 have led to greater clarity of when retained search should be used and what the benefits are. “We are now seeing a recovery and some clients are coming back,” he says. “We have to understand that they may stay with contingency recruiters for midlevel but for senior searches they need a consultant and all the extra value. We’re now getting the most conscious clients – those who appreciate the value of retained search. In the past we would have been offered some mid-level searches that were very tempting, but that is no longer happening.” This trend is not unique to Spain, or Southern Europe; the AESC’s ‘State of the Industry Statistics’ (see page four) reveal that the average fee per assignment is rising on a global level, as search is typically moving up the value chain and being used for more challenging, and global, roles. Gortari explains: “Clients have recently been

requiring more searches and there has been an increase in fees. Companies are now searching for managers with new ideas for business growth, in order to focus on mid-term plans, rather than the short-term. These changes have forced search firms to adapt their business model. They have answered by promoting other services, such as assessment, management consulting and board services.”

“The Quality of Life Here is Very Attractive”

So with demand returning for searches, how easy is it to find candidates with a commercial mindset who are capable of driving sustainable growth? Did the economic slump lead to a talent drain from Spain? “I think a talent drain did take place,” Medina says. “But I think it was mainly with the young professionals, who relocated to Germany, the rest of Europe

and America. I don’t think that they will return any time soon.” However, Truchado says that if there was a talent drain, it didn’t affect retained search consultants as much as it may have done for contingent and in-house recruiters. “Senior level executives didn’t suffer quite so much in the crisis,” he says. “The quality of life here is very attractive. I know so many expatriates who come here and plan to stay for five years, but end up staying for 15.” So while the conditions appear to be in place for continued activity in 2014 and growth in 2015, the AESC’s Spanish members are still cautious about exaggerating the positives. “This is not a boom,” Gortari says. “Our clients are requiring a high quality service, and we have to offer a bigger added value to match their expectations.” Truchado agrees, saying: “We are not back to pre-2008 levels, but we are doing much better than in recent years. We have to be very careful in calling it a resurgence for the industry – we prefer to say it is a renaissance.”

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Search in San Francisco

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Client Centric 4GĪPGOGPV How San Francisco’s search firms are innovating to meet client demand

an Francisco has been a much-admired city for a long time. America’s spiritual home for the technology sector is perhaps best known worldwide for the explosion of consumer technology companies like Facebook, Apple and Google that have changed our lives so significantly. High profile CEOs like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg have placed the image of engineers in hoodies and sandals who are capable of changing the world firmly in the public psyche. There are plenty of clichés about working in San Francisco that appear to differentiate it from most other major cities – whether its offices adorned with bean bags or corporate campuses where almost all lifestyle needs are met. But with such widespread innovation occurring, are retained search firms expected to match this modernization? “Search in the Bay Area is unique,” says Kate Bullis, Managing Partner at SEBA International. “It is an extremely strong market when it comes to opportunity, but it’s also a market of terrific talent, and not just in engineering. Some of the greatest innovation in sales and marketing is happening here.” Bullis also explains that San Francisco’s technology sector learned the lessons of the dotcom crash in the early 2000s, suggesting that there is less froth now because many businesses understand that they need to make products that are essential, rather than nice-to-haves. She says this maturity led to an extra caution and agility when the Financial Crisis of 2009 occurred: “The technology sector was quick to respond and tighten the purse strings. As a result, it took some time to come back but, boy, did it!”

Is Innovation An Expectation?

It doesn’t take long for innovation in the consumer sector to change people’s expectations of enterprise services – for instance, look at how human capital management software had to very quickly integrate social media plug-ins, refreshed interfaces and mobile apps to engage users who were being turned off by outdated systems. So with so much recruiting technology available that supposedly makes finding candidates easier and faster, is there a similar level of expectation on search firms?

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John Ferneborg Snr, Senior Partner at The Ferneborg Group, says: “There is no question that in the last five years everyone in the search industry has had to work a little bit harder. The pace of activity has picked up. The name of the game is communication. We are expected to stay in touch with our clients and candidates much more regularly. But the search profession is still highly regarded.” Bullis agrees, and explains that by being in more regular contact she is able to strengthen her relationships: “In the past we used to have weekly calls where we would report on our progress to our client. Now there is much more communication in between. I don’t keep hours, but because of that I end up advising more than I would if we were just talking once a week.” Another often-quoted trait of San Francisco’s technology companies is that employees are less willing to adhere to traditional hierarchical management

structures. An argument can be made that this is a more egalitarian workforce where status is determined more by knowledge and integrity, rather than strong networking. In this environment, search firms have to work hard to remain relevant and find hooks to keep their clients engaged. Vito Bialla, Founder and Partner at Bialla and Associates, says: “In addition to our search business we have an LLC and we manage investments. I have several clients that say they appreciate this side of our business because they know that we understand fundraising. There is an instant compatibility and they know they can call us for advice. It’s fun to be tied to clients in a closer way.”

“Very Active In-house Functions”

An outsider may suggest that the growth of in-house resourcing teams has driven a stake between search firms

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and their clients, but surely if this were the case it would be the most acute in California, the state that is home to the likes of LinkedIn, Oracle and a host of human capital management software providers. “Technology companies like Cisco, Apple, Microsoft and Electronic Arts have very active in-house functions,” says Nadine North, Managing Partner at Taylor Winfield. “Search firms have to understand this and they have to try that much harder to develop relationships in the C-suite so that they will get the call when an issue arises.” In the AESC’s recent report ‘The Client Speaks’, respondents indicated that the in-house function is most likely to compete with contingent recruiters, suggesting that the battleground between the two is at the $200-300k level. With global industry revenues rising and search firms in California recording strong growth, there is little evidence to suggest that in-house functions pose a threat to retained search firms with a strong reputation and a track record for operating within the ethics that the AESC represents. Ferneborg Snr says: “We work with companies that have their own internal functions, but the way we present ourselves is that we are not here to replace your in-house department, we are here to supplement where needed. We focus on the difficult and the discreet needs when they occur.” Bullis agrees, explaining that she doesn’t have any difficulty describing why she can deliver better results than an inhouse department: “It makes more sense for a candidate to return my call, rather than a call from a technology company, because I can entice them to look at a range of opportunities. Unlike in-house teams, search firms have access to much more than one client.”

“Women Are Still Being Discriminated Against”

In keeping with the theme of California, and particularly San Francisco, fostering innovation and forward thinking, last September the California State Assembly passed Resolution SCR 62, which urges all publicly held businesses to address gender imbalance on their boards over the next three years. While it is not a law, it is intended to influence the composition of California’s boardrooms, suggesting that a board of nine or more members should have at least three female directors by the end of 2016. For boards with between five and eight seats, a minimum of two women should be present, while boards with four or less seats should contain at least one woman. “Women are still being discriminated against,” says Bialla. “I have heard some very senior venture capitalists say that they are concerned about female candidates having children. But there’s a lot of great progress being made and there a lot of incredible female CEOs.” Of course, the technology sector boasts some of the most influential female executives in the world – including Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer, IBM’s Virginia Rometty and Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg. But, in spite of these high profile individuals and the range of diversity-led pressure groups across the country, the United States still lags behind Europe in terms of making a concerted difference to counter gender discrimination. “I’ve witnessed clients interviewing women differently to how they would interview men,” says North. “The interviewer may talk about how a woman is dressed, which is most likely an

unconscious bias. The value proposition of hiring a search firm is broadening your network and bringing new talent to the table.” One of the challenges in the technology sector is that historically there have been fewer women who have enrolled in engineering and computer sciences classes at college, meaning that the talent pool is already uneven from an early stage. That said, at the board level, clients must surely be more concerned with a candidates’ leadership skills, than where they started their career. Lou Gerstner, who famously transformed IBM’s fortunes in the 1990s, was serving as the CEO of RJR Nabisco – a food and tobacco company – when he was approached about the IBM job. “We must dig deeper and wider so that the pool of candidates is as diverse as possible,” Ferneborg Snr says. “If that

takes work, it’s what we’re being paid for.” There is clearly more to be done, but the search community appears committed to making a difference where they can, in searching for more diverse candidates. After that the responsibility ultimately rests with the client and who they decide to appoint. And perhaps this is representative of the search industry in San Francisco overall – it appears to be working hard to stay ahead of the curve, trying to anticipate client need before it evolves. By supplementing the core values of search with subtle tweaks, these firms are not so much innovating, but refining. As Bullis says: “Recruitment technology will continue to get better and more targeted. But nothing will ever replace the advisory and personal services of a retained search firm. Our industry will continue to grow.”

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