Coming out of one of the most serious downturns for the executive search profession since it first came into being more than 50 years ago, we see a very different landscape for executive talent to what we saw three years ago.

This has been brought about by the convergence of widely-differing forces, but has been on a scale comparable to the transformation of the executive workplace that took place during the recession of the 1980s and 1990s. Then, the buzzwords were downsizing, rightsizing, the end of loyalty cultures, and so on. Today, the buzzwords are corporate governance, 24/7 accessibility, life/work balance, security/risk evaluation and cash-based reward systems.

The severity of the recession had many executives running for cover and the security of a job. Unluckier brethren were laid off, particularly from hard-hit sectors of the economy such as technology and financial services, many of them possibly never to re-enter the full-time, salaried workforce.

Within the space of a few short years, while executives were hunkering down, groundswell changes have occurred that may well have an irreversible impact on the nature of the market for executive talent.

First of all came one of the prolonging causes of the recession itself – the Enron series of corporate scandals. Not just limited to the US, but almost like an epidemic spreading its feelers to a number of the developed economies around the world. The scandals and their resulting legislation became an enormous wake-up call, the diverse reverberations of which are still being felt.

The corporate governance revolution has transformed the US business environment from a risk-taking, perhaps over-carefree culture, to a more cautious, risk-averse culture, directly affecting motivation and attitude among boards of directors and senior management. The full impact of this cannot yet be assessed, but the executive search profession has already seen a huge increase in demand from boards needing help in both advising on board structures and performance, as with finding professional, non-conflicted candidates for board appointments.

The impact on the freedom of Chief Executive Officers, (CEOs), to lead and take difficult and entrepreneurial decisions without continual referral to the board is more difficult to assess, but may have the most significant long-term effect on the performance of organisations and the economy as a whole.

There is a very different landscape for executive talent than three years ago

Clearly, the days of the amateur board member with no discernible contribution to make, the overstretched CEO who has collected board memberships like trophies to display on his or her resumé, or the friend of the CEO are numbered. Instead, boards are not only looking at their responsibilities more carefully, but they are out seeking board talent in the market on a scale never previously seen – and supply is limited.

The risks and rewards of public board appointments seem much less attractive in the wake of the scandals. Clearly, more risk and work must be reflected by greater reward. We are already seeing significant increases in director compensation and the clearer definition of roles and responsibilities. However, risk to reputation and exposure to lawsuits is another matter.

This development in itself offers opportunity for the search profession, but it also offers opportunity for the executive who has the potential and interest to serve on a board and the willingness to become a "professional” in that regard. This is, at least, one positive outcome of the era of scandals.

But, second, the past few difficult years of recession have served to exaggerate, highlight and alter forever the dynamics of the executive’s working environment and the impact of technology on the executive’s way of operating. The laptop, then the e-mail and now the Blackberry handhelds have put the average senior executive into “real time “ mode in a way never before experienced, or even anticipated. Executives are now contactable and, depending upon their own disciplines and self-management methods, available on a “24/7” basis. The creation of that euphemism in itself reflects a huge change in the competitive world and the pressure to keep up.

There seems to be little doubt that the exigencies of the recession plus the development of these executive tools have pushed executive productivity to new, but possibly unsustainable heights. I believe that there will be an inevitable pushback to counter the invasion that the executive’s job is now having upon lifestyle and work/life balance.

There is anecdotal evidence that many executives are also dispirited by the compensation exploitation of the past few years and, at the first realistic opportunity, will be ready to move to a new opportunity offering better rewards.

Organisations may find it difficult to attract talented executives

Since the “War for Talent”, described by McKinsey & Co, has not gone away, but has just been quietly resting during the past few years, one might expect to see a bidding war for great people beginning again. And once the talented executive has a choice, then he or she will call the tune based upon clearer understandings of risk, and reward, and organisations with a balanced approach to work/life balance may find themselves more attractive.

Third, in the realm of security and career investment, organisations may find that it is difficult to attract talented executives to take on difficult foreign assignments. Once the conventional wisdom was that an international assignment was essential to career advancement to the top ranks. Although this was never proven by evidence, it is today a serious question mark and shows little sign of improvement. Organisations seem reluctant to invest sufficiently to compensate for the perceived – and often very real–security risks and the negative career impact that a foreign posting can have. Re-entry has not improved in the average corporation and there are few that have dedicated career development strategies that are built around overseas assignments.

Fourth, it is clearly more difficult in the post-recession, post dot com era to entice talented executives with stock options. Packages need to reflect tangible benefits and built-in security against the exposures of new governance structures and an aggressive shareholder and media environment.

Now that the executive talent merry-go-round is once again building momentum, we can expect to see significant movement in the market and a much busier executive search profession. Already, member firms of the AESC are reporting an outlook at least 10% beyond their annual targets, and, in some cases, monthly performances that are reaching record levels.

But the environment is tougher, candidates will be more selective and all concerned in the recruiting process-employer, candidate and search firm – can be expected to perform much higher levels of due diligence than in the past.

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