People Mapping and Executive Research

• Blake Roberts

• Collins Consulting Group

• b.roberts@collinsconsulting.com.au

Discussion Points

• What is an ‘Executive Search’ firm?• The ‘Executive Search’ Process – A General Overview• Types of information required• People Mapping• The Rise of Social Networking• Future Developments• Outcomes & Conclusions

What is an ‘Executive Search’ firm?

• Reasons to start a recruitment process:

- Replacing a staff who has left

- A new niche area requires talent not currently available internally

Type of Recruitment Firms:

• There are three broad recruitment catagories:

- Volume Recruitment (Advertised)

- Contingency Recruitment (Ad-Hoc)

- Executive Search (Retained)

Execuctive Search Process:

• An introduction to People Mapping

• The information required by a client:- Industry Specific

- Biographical

Industry Specific:

• What are the clients business drivers for the hire?

• Who are the clients competition in this sector?

• Where else could the require talent exist?

Biographical

• Who are the best people in a particular role?• How long have they being performing this role?• Where are they working now?• Where did they work previously?• What did they do?• Who do they know or recommend• Are they open to opportunities?

Mapping the landscape for internet gold

• Quick and Easy Searching –

• Conference attendee lists & biographies

• Company websites & company documents

The Rise of Social Networking:

Famous for 15 minutes…..

• Facebook, Twitter, YouTube,

• Industry specific social networks:

- Alumni groups

- Industry Associations

Example Social Networking sites:

• LinkedIn – www.linkedin.com• Advance.org – www.Advance.org

Advantages to Executive Research:- Global Reach- Regularly Updated- Free to subscribe- Multi-industry coverage

LinkedIn

• Basic information:

- Career History

- Educational Achievements

- Recommendations

- Group Memberships

- Career aspirations, hobbies & interests

Advance.org

• Two main advantages of the information found on Advance.org:

- Members have their own networks which can be used

- Members may be open to opportunities back in Australia

Digging Deeper: Vertical Searching and Cached pages

• Advantages of using cahced pages on the internet:

- Colour coding search terms

- HTML version availability

- Historical storage of web pages

Vertical Search Engines:

• Examples of Vertical Search engines:

- Zoominfo www.zoominfo.com

- Xing www.xing.com

- Spoke www.spoke.com

- Namyz www.namyz.com

The Future of People Mapping

• Organisational chart websites:

- www.cogmap.com

• Relational and visual databases:- Facebook’s connection visualisation software

- Wotnews.com’s “Boardroom Connections”

Outcomes: What does the client want that the internet can provide?

Information to be presented:

- Who are the best possible candidates?

- What is their current role?

- What is their back ground?

- Will they move?

Outcomes II: What can’t the internet provide?

• Questions that also need to be able to be answered from a people mapping process:

- Do they have enough experience?

- Will the candidate be a good cultural fit?

- What sort of manager are they?

- What is their reputation?

Conclusion

• People mapping is crucial to successful executive search

• Social Networking sites have revolutionised information collection

• Needs to combined with a consulting process

• Ultimately hard data is only half of the results needed.