DESPITE what people tell you, ‘executive’ talent isn’t always the hardest kind to find. And that was never truer than now. As we’ve just mentioned above, there is some exceptional unemployed senior talent at the moment, not just in the technical market.
It’s not altogether surprising really – there are fewer jobs at the top of the pyramid. When companies close down and departments merge, senior folk find themselves on the street. Fewer companies means fewer CEOs. Simple.
For investors, private equity and other start-ups there never was such a good time to find experienced business leaders keen to put their skills to use. Equally, now’s the time to boost your board with independent non-executives. The new lore, if not the law, in corporate governance demands it.
Of course, organisations approach recessions differently and that’s determined to a good degree by how extended they became in the good times and which side of the cargo or ship supply and demand fence they’re sitting.
Some companies have used this recession to snap up top talent, some have hiring freezes and some have been doing high-level strategic planning and are investing now for tomorrow’s upturn. Spinnaker is fortunate to have some of the latter among its client base so we have picked up some very interesting senior assignments lately, particularly in the dry bulk freight market (see the article about not-so-stupid shipbrokers).
Does this point to a buoyant executive recruitment market overall? Probably not just yet. It’s certainly busier than it was, but we’d say that most companies are keeping their heads down and getting on with the job at the moment.
