Solutions

Executive Search

The companies that will prevail in the next decade will be the ones with the best people. Those that fail will do so because they underestimated the competitiveness of the most intensive war for talent in the history of American business. The Emerging War for Talent For every two Baby Boomers who retire in the next 15 years, there will only be one college grad to take their place. The Y2K shortage of legacy programmers was only a taste of what's to come. Already, competition for seasoned professionals with leadership skills and wisdom is rapidly escalating. How competitive will it get? According to labor economist Anthony Carnevale, former chairman of President Clinton's National Commission for Employment Policy, "By comparison, what employers experienced in 1999 and 2000 was a minor irritation." An even starker picture is painted by Nicholas Eberstadt, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute. To find a mismatch between successive generations as deep as what lies in store in the United States, you have to go back 650 years, he told Business 2.0's Paul Kaihla. When, beginning in 1348, the Black Death wiped out 30 to 50 percent of Europe. The Breakdown Of Tradition Historically, executive search has been dominated by major multinational firms, with numerous offices and thousands of clients. Large boutique operations, with multiple clients in fewer verticals, also have abounded. But as Forbes reported over a decade ago, since clients are off-limits as sources, both approaches are inherently flawed: "The largest firms – those with the most clients – are handicapped in doing the very job for which they are hired." (One boasts of serving nearly 5,000 clients.)  This model proliferated during a period when identifying the top IT performers at companies, divisions, and departments was a legitimate challenge. A search firm's intelligence-gathering capability and network of contacts were acceptable trade-offs against limited selection. Even then, clients had to figure out for themselves how to land prime candidates.  The Internet Age has brought new imperatives. Today, identifying the best performers in almost any sector is a straightforward process. But endeavoring to be everything to everyone limits the pool of available candidates exponentially. We think clients deserve better. The David Reff & Company Solution Companies determined to succeed in today's market must ask – and answer – three critical questions: What sources are available to us, and which are off-limits? Are we getting outstanding talent to listen and respond? Are we a company superstars are compelled to join? David Reff & Company offers a quantum leap beyond traditional executive search. By design, we limit ourselves to CIOs, CTOs, and other senior IT executives. So we can engage almost anyone in the industry on your behalf. We also provide expert consulting to enable you to not only interview top talent, but make the hire. David Reff & Company was created for one purpose: to provide IT organizations with the search, recruiting, and attraction resources needed to flourish in the 21st century.