Heather Newill Director of the Arts, Entertainment & Media practice at Friedlander Sachs Human Capital and Recruitment Consultants, gives guidance on effective executive recruitment.
Recruitment and Retention
?The hardest thing to see is what is in front of your eyes? Goethe
Over the years as a consultant, I have spent many hours in the offices of some of our leading national arts organisations and have continuously been surprised that not more care is given to the recruitment process, considering the cost and long-term implications it has.
The best retention strategy typically starts with the most effective recruitment strategy. These practical do?s and don?ts represent a simple guide to how best to achieve success.
1 Don?t rush into advertising as soon as a senior executive resigns. Use the opportunity to reassess the role and the contribution of those around it against long-term strategic objectives. Review, assess, consult and then implement any change, making and communicating contingency plans.
2 Prepare a new job description, or contribution summary, that clearly indicates how this role will contribute to the organisation and what the responsibilities and expectations are. The importance of the right brief cannot be underestimated.
3 A personal profile is essential. Invest time at the start of the process to build consensus around the competencies that need to be evident in the appointee. Compile a weighted criteria sheet against which to assess applicants fairly.
4 Your appointment panel should consist of no more than six people and should represent your culture, values and equal opportunities policy, reinforcing them at every stage. The panel will need to be in complete agreement on the candidate profile to ensure commitment to the process and ownership of the final appointment.
5 Think of the advertisement as a unique marketing opportunity that captures the essence, energy and passion of what you do. It should send a positive and effective message to the market.
6 In the war for talent, knowledge is power. Research the market. How competitive can you afford to be? Salary levels in the arts have changed in the last five years. Manage your stakeholders? expectations!
7 The primary objective of recruitment is to appoint the most appropriate person wherever and whoever they are. For senior executive positions, consider the help of a search consultant in addition to advertising, as an external search will greatly augment the candidate pool. Increasingly the best arts leaders are found through headhunting rather than from a generic advertisement.
8 Plan your interview carefully and spend time in advance preparing relevant questions that will ensure you receive the information you require. Remember, an interview is not an interrogation; it should be a cleverly engineered communication process that encourages dialogue.
9 Ensure that you make an appointment at the end of the day. Allow time for debate and work towards consensus. Second interviews rarely add anything other than to reinforce your initial decision.
10 Respect candidates? confidentiality. This is a small industry and a high profile applicant?s position can easily be compromised through thoughtlessness.
11. Make an offer quickly to the chosen candidate and reject the unsuccessful candidates straightaway. Always offer feedback on why they did not succeed, however difficult. This is so rarely done, but it makes such a difference to how candidates perceive your organisation.
12. Set clear deliverable targets for the first year against which the appointee can be measured and rewarded. With well-managed expectations, a clear personal development plan and a job description that allows for flexibility, the likelihood of retaining your new executive will be greatly increased.