Placing Executives Where They Belong
The trusted executive search firm, which specializes in helping global multinational corporations and major Thai conglomerates find the right people to run their businesses, says it’s a complicated process.
“The key challenges for business leaders are recruiting outstanding professionals who are able to deliver superior performance, both individually and as members of a team,” says Managing Director of Human Capital Alliance, Edwin Sim.
Settling in
Then in 1997, the company’s shareholders asked him to move to
Unfortunately, the 1997 economic crisis hit soon after, with Edwin forced to revise the firm’s business model to fit the unique Thai market environment. For the next six years, Edwin worked hard to position the company as the leading executive search firm in
Becoming the Boss
In late 2003, he decided to strike out on his own and set up Human Capital Alliance, with the major difference being Edwin’s new company would also focus on helping major Thai conglomerates, a segment of the Thai market with great potential that had not been served well by the global executive search firms.
In 2004, the company acquired the executive recruitment arm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Jaiyos (specialists in tax, auditory and advisory services), and the two companies maintain a close working relationship today.
Human Capital Alliance focuses on filling top end positions; such as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Sales Officer, Chief Technology Officer, and Chief Information Officer.
Edwin says the key to any executive search is aligning the interests of the executive involved and the company who needs that top managerial position filled by making sure the executive will fit into that particular company.
Business Matchmaker
Human Capital Alliance works as a matchmaker and can bring companies and people together in situations, which had previously proved difficult.
In one instance, the majority shareholder of a leading Thai conglomerate wanted to hire someone he’d known for a decade and had already offered this person a position twice, but the executive just wouldn’t accept the offer.
Edwin knew this executive intimately, he knew what motivations drove him, he knew what he was looking for in a company and he also knew the reservations he had about joining this particular company.
But he also knew what the executive didn’t – that this company was about to make changes that would allay the executive’s fears. So Edwin was able to take the knowledge he had gleaned from both sides and come out with a successful match.
The company believe there’s no quick fix – getting an executive into a company is only the first step, with the real results only seen about a year down the road when the executive is successfully adding value to their company.
So it matters to Edwin very much that he and his team select the right person for the job, with their hard-earned reputation at stake every time.
And it’s not just the companies’ that hire Human Capital Alliance that Edwin is worried about. He worries about the welfare of the prospective candidates as well.
One example was the shareholders of a large
The executive in question, a dedicated family man, had spent 15 years with his current company, had a lot of security and was well-established within his organization.
Edwin felt that he had to be honest with the individual and tell him that although his new job was a good opportunity there was a great deal of risk involved and if it didn’t work out he could be jeopardizing his family’s future.
With that knowledge, the executive elected to stay with his old firm, and although Edwin lost the placement, he kept his integrity and probably gained a lot of future good will for his firm in doing so.
Matching the skills of an executive with a company’s ethos is of paramount importance. Recently a company came to Human Capital Alliance seeking a CEO, but management was adamant the candidate continue the nurturing culture that had already been established. Though they wanted change, they didn’t want someone to come in and slash and burn, they wanted someone who could implement change gradually and patiently, someone who would continue the nurturing process, but over time establishing a more hard-hitting fast-driving culture. They wanted someone who could implement change by employing an evolutionary, not a revolutionary methodology.
So Edwin’s team had to find someone not only with the right skill set, but someone who could implement those skills in this company’s ethos. They did.
Building Relationships
Being more specific about what sets Human Capital Alliance apart from similar companies, Edwin says, “Most executive search firms are transactional, in the sense that they say, ‘We’ve got a job, you’re a candidate, so let’s close the deal as quickly as possible so that we can move on to the next job’ - there isn’t really any personal long-term commitment involved.
Human Capital Alliance spends a lot of time “on-boarding”, which is keeping in touch with both the company and executive during the first year of employment. It tries to make sure that the executive makes a smooth transition into his new environment, so that he can succeed and meet the company’s expectations.
High Success
Edwin’s company has a ninety-nine percent success rate. “But success is not just putting a person in a company,” he says.
“Success is having the placement work out a year later. You have to make sure the executive has the right profile in terms of knowledge, exposure, track record, and then consider whether they will fit into the culture of the company, or not.
Then, after all your preparatory work, if you think the candidate is a good match based on their skills and their ability to fit into the company ethos, their probability of success in the long term is much higher.”
Human Capital Alliance’s selection process is so intensive that if the match isn’t successful, the hiring company, the executive as well as Edwin’s firm will have seriously failed each other and everyone involved just invests too much time for that to happen.
The company has three key things going for it: knowledge of the marketplace, and its experience and expertise.
Up until now, Human Capital Alliance has conducted several hundred successful executive searches as a team. “A lot of people try doing this, but we truly believe in what we are doing and we invest a lot of effort in making it work,” Edwin says.
Publication for the Thai Canadian Chamber of Commerce
1 March 2008
