Recruiting Is Harder As Companies Get Savvy About Retention -- So Retailing Searches Need More Time ... More Calls ... More Ingenuity

Furniture World Magazine

The search business has never been better, but recruiting has never been harder, especially in the direct-to-consumer field, according to Mary Jane Schermer, director of the retail practice for Chicago-based search firm Cook Associates. "Retail companies are doing well and executives are less motivated to change." said Schermer. "But, more important, since retailers have gotten smarter about how to hold on to top performers, luring them away has gotten a lot more difficult." Schermer explained that several trends are complicating retail search: "We're into the longest hiring boom in memory. While hiring by traditional retail organizations may be flat, recruitment by direct-to-consumer companies has been vigorous. The result is that competition for the best merchandising people has never been so intense, and that talent pool is actually getting smaller. At the same time, job candidates' expectations have never been higher. Some get calls from search consultants every day - and many only want to hear about dot.com opportunities. Meanwhile, retailers are fighting to retain their key people." Financial incentives to retain performers have gotten more common as well as more sophisticated, observed Schermer. "In the past, most retail companies gave a year-end bonus, but today there are short, mid and long-term incentives, complicated vesting rules, structured stock option programs, cash, and other incentives spread out over the year." CEO as "Chief Recruiter" For their part, prospective employers now have to pull out the stops to attract the best candidates. "In this seller's job market the days are long gone of being able to get by with offering candidates just 20 percent more," said Schermer. "In fact, to offset incentives candidates would otherwise lose, companies increasingly offer generous signing bonuses. Such bonuses are now given in about 75 percent of searches, up from half five years ago. Companies must now sell themselves more than they ever did previously. Candidates with the fight combination of ambition and savvy seek the night boss, the fight colleagues, the fight retail environment and flexibility ... in addition to financial considerations. CEOs have to get personally involved and take on the role of 'chief recruiter. Moreover, executive search consultants have to become more enterprising, Schermer said. "Since we get more no's, we have to make three times as many calls as before ... dig deeper and look more widely, often outside the retail industry, and not just at the top competitor companies. We've got to be open to candidates from companies we might not have considered in the past. And despite these obstacles, client companies want performance from us quickly." Surprisingly, one thing that is not frustrating search professionals is counteroffers. "Counteroffers are made 90 percent of the time, but seldom accepted," Schermer noted. "Candidates realize things won't ever be the same, however generous a counteroffer. No longer would they be trusted and part of the team or inner circle. Companies seem to realize this too. They may counteroffer only because they don't want their people determining when they'll leave. So even if a counteroffer is accepted, the company will sometimes call a search consultant and say: 'We no longer trust this person. Let's begin a search for their replacement."' Established in 1961 and headquartered in Chicago, Cook Associates, Inc. is a retained search firm serving more than 60 industries nationwide. The largest independent search firm in Chicago, Cook also has offices in Atlanta and Boulder. Further information about Cook may be found on the web at www.cookassociates.com.