FEATURE
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c Executive is in a niche recruitment sphere. It’s the headhunter for leaders in businesses here across the private, public and third sectors. It has placed high profile executives at the helm of flourishing IT organisations and global financial firms. It has also sourced executives for roles in the South, GB and as far afield as China and the pandemic failed to slow down its momentum. “Quiet is not something we are familiar with,” MD Gordon Carson begins. “And now, more than ever, we are busy with lots of candidates looking to start the new year in a new role, while businesses are putting roles to market so there’s a lot of work to be done.” Besides a “brief pause” at the beginning of the pandemic, while the world tried to understand COVID-19 and its impact, it was business as usual for 4c and more. “There has been a lot of activity during the pandemic,” Gordon continues. “Many organisations have looked at their business in detail over the period and they’re evaluating what they have, looking at their management’s bench strengths and understanding what they need alongside dealing with all the traditional challenges that COVID has thrown at them. In many cases the pandemic has allowed businesses to identify skills gaps. “Then there are businesses who have noted personnel who perhaps haven’t stepped up to the mark during the pandemic and they are seeking to increase internal strength by bringing on a new executive. “Another area that is influencing our specific executive search market is succession planning, where businesses are looking ahead, generating a need for senior executives and working out who is coming behind and if they currently have the right people on the team to step up to those key roles when needed.” On the other side of the coin, Gordon says activity among executives has been disrupted by the pandemic, with more leaders leaving their careers earlier than anticipated, while others have reviewed how their current employer aligns with their own principles.
“I think many people are thinking there is more to life and the past 20 months have brought that to the fore. We’re seeing early retirement, job changes and more, and that’s created opportunity for us. “There have been very few people unaffected by the pandemic and that has created self-reflection.” Gordon says how companies managed the recession could prompt a higher retention in teams, while other firms may have lost leaders to self-employment, career changes and more. As a result of the latter movement, Gordon says today businesses are operating in a candidate’s market. He adds: “The pool is tightening and candidates are being a lot more discerning in their choice of employers.” 4c has been responding to the latter activity by pairing executives with businesses. It has a host of recognised names on its books, from those with ‘local knowledge and a global reach’ to soughtafter individuals. “We’re very proud to work with many of the leading organisations in Northern Ireland and have done for the last eight years and we have vast numbers of senior executives contacts that we keep in touch with.” He goes on to explain the 4c process: “When a client has an opportunity for a new role at a senior level, we will get them to really understand that role and the type of the individual they’re looking for. “We get to understand the culture of the organisation and the type of executive who is the right fit for that culture. There can be lots of fantastic executives out there but not all are right for every organisation and one of our key roles is to understand what is that fit to determine success.” 4c works with a segment of the market that Gordon refers to as “inactive” – the happy and settled executives who have no intentions of moving but can be sold a new position. “It’s a bespoke search that we do for each client. That is the differentiator between us and traditional recruitment. We are spending our time talking to individuals who are not necessarily looking for a move until we approach them.
“Twenty-five percent of the market is out there actively seeking a new role while a further 25% are passively seeking, keeping an eye out for the right opportunity. The difference between us and other agencies is that we spend the majority of our time on the remaining 50% – the inactive market. “And it’s that process that takes time.” The most buoyant markets for the team today are businesses with a sustained demand throughout the pandemic; from IT and software to food manufacturing and logistics. Such has been the demand for senior level roles that 4c has expanded, recruiting for its own business after launching a subsidiary recruitment arm under the name 7twenty Professional Search. “We’ve brought on that additional resource and expanded our own team in response to demand for these services in all sectors. 7twenty Professional Search is a wholly owned division of 4c Executive and it reaches out to individuals just below the executive level,” Gordon continues. “One of the first things we find when we secure roles for executives is they look around them when they enter a business and ask if the structure is fit for purpose and fit for future growth and that inevitably leads to a demand for further roles at that level reporting into the Executive level. We found that our clients were always asking us if we could fill those positions. They trust 4c and it made sense then for us to extend our service offering and branch out. “7twenty is a slightly different delivery model to 4c, a more streamlined version of the executive search process with a different fee structure, but it has all the same principles as 4c in that we reach out to that inactive market.” Reflecting on the year, Gordon adds: “We’re delighted to say we’ve been exceptionally busy. We’re planning significant further growth and look forward to the year ahead.”
“We’re very proud to work with many of the leading organisations in Northern Ireland and have done for the last eight years and we have vast numbers of senior executives contacts that we keep in touch with.” 66
