Did you meet your peers before you signed the contract?
As you can see from this graph below, the people you spend most of your adult life with are your partner and your co-workers. So you better like them!
Connectivity is critical to our well-being and happiness.
Human beings are a social species, wired to connect.
According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, besides food, water, and safety, love and belonging are the most important needs we must fulfill. This includes our desire for interpersonal relationships, intimacy, to connect with others, and to be integrated into a group.
When these needs are met, our overall well-being improves, and we live a more fulfilled life.
The 2021 World Happiness Report found that people who experienced an increase in connectedness with others during the pandemic had:
✔️Greater life satisfaction ✔️More resilience ✔️Better mental health
Human connection also decreases health risks and improves physical well-being and longevity. Strong social connections strengthen the immune system and increase your chances of a longer life by 50%.
We find the contacts in our community who really enjoy their roles are the ones who get along with and respect their colleagues.
Given we recruit in the strategy and management consulting space, the caliber of their colleagues seems to be a big contributor to this as many of our candidates come from prestigious consulting firms where they are surrounded by like-minded individuals.
On moving into industry, a consultant needs to be able to work alongside many different types of stakeholders at all levels from the mailroom to the c-suite, this is great experience for them and invaluable for their growth. If they can prove they can influence at all levels they often thrive.
However, we find ex-consultants are happiest when the immediate team they are working with, and the leadership they report to, are made up of smart, dynamic, interesting, and ambitious individuals.
A big complaint we get from some strategy & management consulting candidates who have moved into industry is that they are missing the intellectual stimulation that they received previously in consulting and their pace of learning and growth is affected by this.
The industry clients who use our services ensure the quality of the individuals in their teams remains high. Their teams are made up of excellent talent which in turn attracts more excellent talent.
Many of our clients offer a peer coffee as they make offers, and some of our candidates insist on this which we encourage.
You may be bought into the line manager or interviewer but ensure you have the full picture so do proper due diligence on the tribe you are signing up to belong to. Did you meet your peers before you signed the contract?
WHAT HAVE BEEN THE TOP BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE GUESTS I HAVE HAD ON MY STRATEGY BITES PODCAST TO DATE?
Do you have a few minutes to read? No matter where you are or what you’re doing, reading can be a great way to expand your knowledge. My guests typically come from Management Consulting or the world of Strategy, and have succeeded in their chosen paths. So by spending a few minutes reading my blog or listening to my podcast, you can likely benefit in some way.
Managers are always looking for ways to improve their management skills. Instead of taking a course, why not read the best books on management? These books have been recommended by top consultants around the world. Find out which ones you should be reading!
🎆Toby Norton-Smith-Smith-MD of X15 Ventures 📕Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies by Tim Koller, Marc Goedhart, David Wessels
🎆Deanne Stewart -CEO of Aware Super 📕The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni & 📕The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate The Three Essential Virtues by Patrick Lencioni
🎆Jean Hayden – Strategy & Operations Director Google Cloud 📕True North: A Memoir by Jill Ker Conway & 📕Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro
🎆James Twiss – CEO – Beforepay 📕War & Peace Novel by Leo Tolstoy
🎆Diane Smith-Gander AO – ED & NED and Former McKinsey Partner 📕Mentally at Work: Optimising health and business performance through connection by Genevieve Hawkins & 📕Strategy Beyond the Hockey Stick: People, Probabilities, and Big Moves to Beat the Odds by Chris Bradley, Martin Hirt, and Sven Smit & 📕Not Always Diplomatic: An Australian Woman’s Journey Through international affairs by Sue Boyd
🎆Rob Marcolina Group Executive at Qantas 📕 The Ride of a Lifetime by Robert Iger
🎆 Joao Segorbe EGM Strategy & Corporate Development at AGL Australia 📕 The Signal and the Noise By Nate Silver
🎆 John Lydon Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company 📕 Humble Consulting: How to Provide Real Help Faster by Edgar Schein
🎆 Anthony Millet Global Partner at Antler 📕 The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
🎆 Felix S. Danziger at HDPartners 📕 Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations by Brené Brown
🎆 Adam Jacobs Co-Founder at Hatch 📕 The Consolations of Philosophy by Alian de Botton
🎆 Lucy Wark Founder at Normal 📕 Winners Take All by Anand Giridharadas
🎆 Stuart Fitzroy Managing Director APAC at Rokt 📕 Culture Code by Daniel Coyle
🎆 Joshua Taylor VP Strategy & Insights at PepsiCo 🎙️ Hardcore History by Dan Parlin
To listen to the full episodes of the Strategy Bites podcast click the link here in the comments or search “strategy bites” in your favorite podcast app.
Speaking to candidates, as I work in an Australia Recruitment Agency, in the last week has been an eye-opener for me!
It’s been over 3 months since Asha went on mat leave. Due to excessive amounts of caffeine I’m enjoying taking on her work and doing my best not to let her down!
Recently, I’ve been mostly working with senior candidates. So head-hunting less tenured candidates again has been interesting, especially in this market.
Senior strategy folks tend to be open-minded about the opportunities a specific role could bring them and curious about the broader market in general.
They see the value we bring long-term and build a relationship with us as that one role could change their lives.
They’re interested in the content of the roles, who they’ll be working with, what career options lie beyond the role and senior exposure available. All very important stuff to know!
Only then we have a conversation about salary.
By this time, we may have identified through the conversation, that this one role we had in mind may not meet their needs however we may have 3 others that do.
All of this can take as little as 15mins (caffeine dependant).
What’s surprised me in the last week is the number of more junior candidates who have responded to my approach with “how much will they pay me?”
Just that! 😲
This has really shocked me.
Whilst I understand the current economy means we all need to ensure we are being paid our worth, the lack of interest in the nuances of a role or more importantly the market holistically was concerning.
As experts in this space we;
a/ Know what market rates are
b/ Educate clients who are not aware of market rates to lift their bandings or lower expectations
c/ Don’t take on roles our candidates will not be interested in or who can’t pay market rates
d/Have a plethora of interesting roles at any given time, we just need to understand what “a good opportunity” means to you
With the market being talent short, you’ll always find companies that want to throw money at the problem if they cannot attract quality candidates at market rates.
I’d suggest you ask yourself why that may be.
I’ve spent hours speaking to strategy execs whilst recording the Strategy Bites podcasts, all of them point to reasons you should consider taking a role.
None have said they made any move for money!
The podcast I did with Joshua T. VP of Strategy PepsiCo a few weeks ago echos this, he says “slow down and ensure you enjoy the journey!”
This is the reason we started doing the podcasts, so less experienced consultants can get advice from senior leaders on how they should be thinking about their careers and the opportunities they are presented with.
We’re not here to push you into one role, but to give you options based on what makes you tick, and what is best for your long-term career.
Please, think beyond “what are they paying” and have a holistic conversation about you and your needs.
The firm that will pay you the most isn’t always going to value you the most!
Benefits of using an Australia Recruitment Agency? What can organisations do to boost the quality of their hires in this candidate-short market when using an Australia recruitment agency?
Easy! Ensure you are doing these 4 simple steps.
1. Work hard to attract them and then work even harder to hire them: Engaging people in the right way, making them feel your intention and energy goes a very long way!!
2. Truly partner with your Australia recruitment agency, trust them and take their advice. If in doubt ask your agent how best to partner with them to achieve your desired result based on their experience. So pick the right partner!
3. Move super fast! Don’t delay, move to fireside chats quickly and interviews even quicker if the candidate’s change readiness is clear.
4. Be a place where prospective candidates want to work. Be clear on your EVP, celebrate your companies’ accolades and achievements openly and on social media, but most importantly create a culture that lures the best your industry has to offer. Never ever become complacent just because you were once an iconic brand that attracted good people in the past. If you do this, you’ve already lost the talent war!
Advice on best practice shared by recruitment guru Greg Savage.
We are happy to say that gender diversity or diversity in our placements as Australia Recruiters is on the rise. This year, approximately 53% of all new hires were women. This is an increase from our previous years where women comprised 50% or less of each cohort. Additionally, we have seen a trend towards more companies emphasizing the importance of gender diversity in more senior roles.
Our placements of executives at the head and general management levels were 57% female and 43% male for the year.
We’ve noticed a trend of our clients wanting to see a 50/50 split on resumes. In fact, it seems like companies are looking for a more diverse pool of potential candidates. We recruit across all sectors and this is according to the market as a whole.
Diversity in our placements is a much more complex topic than gender alone. We are committed to providing our clients with a diverse shortlist of candidates, which is why we consistently encourage our recruiters to not only consider gender but also other factors such as race, ethnicity and religion.
Well done to the Oaktree team for striving hard with gender diversity in mind when shortlisting candidates for our clients.
If you are a hiring manager, I cannot stress enough the power of forging strong partnerships with your recruiter in this candidate short market!
This message was echoed by recruitment legend and guru Greg Savage in his blog yesterday where he quotes “The motivation and aspirations of ‘candidates’ have changed so significantly that in many cases, the ‘benefits’ that big companies offer, like brand and great offices, career opportunities and visibility, are just not that important to many.”
“There are limited candidates. These candidates have widely changing priorities.”
“People’s values have shifted. Their priorities have been re-calibrated. And this has collided with an evolving labour market where they have more choice than ever.” (Full blog link here).
The power of forging partnerships is fairly important nowadays.
Where clients continue to run old school processes, where they do not try to understand what candidates really want, do not give them a personalised interview process, or work hard to attract them, they can be often wasting their time even running a processes.
They will inevitably end up initiating their search again (thus wasting many man-hours of their team’s time), damaging their brand, and not getting the desired result.
Recruiters also do not want to run processes more than once, they need to get paid for their work and they are opting to prioritise clients that will take on board their counsel. They equally want to ensure their candidates are getting a good recruitment experience.
At the end of the day, recruiters are on the front line speaking to these candidates every single day.
It is a talent short market and due to the above recruiters will go above and beyond for the clients where candidates are likely to accept offers.
This often comes down to the attitude and appeal of the hiring manager.
Most of our clients have an extremely high bar for recruitment and we are lucky that the majority of our clients welcome the opportunity to understand how they can attract the best talent and run smooth processes and implement recruitment strategies to ensure success.
I would suggest for any hiring managers struggling to attract talent, partner with your recruiter to understand how you will become a client candidates want to work for and prioritise your recruitment process to get it right the first time.
If you want to read more articles like this, check out our blog pages here.
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