Get Networking if you want to make it to the board

Having the right contacts is crucial if you want to make it to the top of the management ladder.

Research from the Recruitment Confidence Index (RCI) has found that when it comes to recruiting executive directors:
more than one in five firms (22%) use informal networks
two in five (39%) use internal promotion
more than one in three (35 per cent) use head hunters
only just over one in five (22%) use national newspapers.

Effective networking is also key for top bosses looking to secure a non-executive directorship. The RCI has found that nearly one in three firms (30%) use nominations from the board to find non-executive directors (NEDs). In addition more than two in five use a mix of informal networking and what they call ’the personal approach’.

Commenting on these findings Virginia Bottomley, who heads up the Board Practice at Odgers Ray & Berndtson the head-hunters which sponsored the research, says:

All too often people under pressure recruit in their own image. The challenge is to look through the window rather than at the mirror. Access to the broadest range of candidates using a variety of recruitment techniques is the best way to ensure diversity amongst NEDs. Working the network is simply not enough. In many ways, the public sector has led the requirement for more due diligence and transparency in the recruitment process. For corporations to succeed in a fiercely competitive world, it is essential that a choice of talented individuals with integrity and differing skills and perspectives is available.

Andrew Kakabadse, Professor of international management and development at Cranfield School of Management, said competition to recruit effective directors and NEDs is often fierce: People are using the network, but that does not mean they are misusing it. They are using it to get the best person, rather than to secure a job for their mates.

He continued: The pool of top talent is getting tighter and recruiting at this level is very risky. Employers cannot afford to get it wrong which means they have to be sure that the directors they recruit will fit the organisation.

Steve Playford, group head of recruitment advertising at the Daily Telegraph said: That’s where national press advertising still has a role to play. We can help organisations cast the net wider when it comes to sourcing candidates for the board, especially if firms are looking to attract strong board level skills from outside their industry.

The RCI’s research also asked employers about the skills they look for in executive directors, the selection techniques they use to recruit them, and the training they provide for execs and non-execs on the board. It found that:

Most employers use a mix of one-to-one and panel interviews to select executive directors. Only just over one in four (28%) use testing and one in seven (15%) use a formal assessment centre.
Nearly half of respondents (46%) said business strategy was the most significant training need among their executive directors, but only two in 10 (41%) provide their directors with a formal development programme.
Nearly half, 46%, provide no formal training for their non-executive directors.