Executive search weathers storm despite collapse in some sectors

The COVID-19 lockdown has left some Australian CEOs with enough time on their hands to contemplate their next job.

Man in a business suit coat and swim shorts sitting in front of a computer, having a video job interview or working from home, EPS 8 vector illustration

The COVID-19 lockdown has left some Australian CEOs with enough time on their hands to contemplate their next job, according to Richard Elstone, a partner at executive search firm Amrop Carmichael Fisher.

He says one consequence of many executives working from home is that it is now easier than ever to have a private chat with a search firm to gauge interest over a new job. 

“The reality in the executive ­market is the vast majority of people are passively looking most of the time,” Elstone says. “Because people are working from home they’re finding it’s relatively easy compared to when they were working in the office to have a chat.” 

The recruitment of CEOs and senior managers around the country has been helped and hindered by the coronavirus lockdown and border closures. CEOs can now work from anywhere, but can’t get everywhere. Border closures mean that some new hires have worked remotely for months and have never been inside their physical office.

Elstone says that while many businesses are cutting staff, CEOs and management are always needed. 

Richard Elstone.

“It’s been really interesting that there hasn’t been much impact on demand for executives,” he tells The Deal.“ It hasn’t been as bad (in his firm) as some of my recruitment colleagues in organisations that do work in the $200k or below bracket.” 

With more than 20 years experience in executive and C-suite hiring Elstone has assessed thousands of ­resumes and placed thousands of high-flyers into high powered roles. He says that when lockdown first hit it tanked the executive recruitment market. 

“Lockdown-1: it dropped off for about six weeks and then it came back, in Melbourne significantly,” he says. “In lockdown-2 it dropped off again in Melbourne and has come back again. The demand at the ­moment is such that I think we are heading for a Christmas quarter being at demand levels that are very similar to what we’re normally ­experiencing at the executive space.” 

The picture is mixed — the ­collapse of the tourism, accommodation and hospitality sectors has left a large number of executives looking for work, while there was a big ­demand for people in IT “given the new ways we’re working now”.

“The industries that are hiring are in the not-for-profit sector, ­government, transport and logistics,” says Elstone. “It’s not all doom and gloom out there.”

He says COVID-19 has forced ­recruiters who largely rely on face-to-face interviewing to pivot. “We’ve been doing entire recruitment processes using Zoom interviews which would have been unheard of even last year,” he says. “It makes it harder. You can’t see the whites of their eyes, you don’t get that connection. It’s not as easy to build a rapport.”