“He needs to have a lot of experience.” “He or she is important”. “Of course, the candidate can be a candidate, it is even recommended to show that we respect the values of our company”. “We take back”. In task force mode, five members of the Codir have rolled up their shirt sleeves, reordered liters of coffee and are facing three members of a much calmer recruitment firm. One of the top managers is jumping ship. In fact, he is gone and there is no one internally to replace him. To avoid arousing the worst speculation in the columns of the specialized press and to protect themselves from questions from the teams on the lookout, a discreet meeting was organized. The goal is for the replacement to be done in the most natural way possible. Very quickly. Two hours have passed, thousands of notes have been taken on laptops. A little more caffeine? We are at the composite portrait. Listening to needs, finding the ideal candidate is part of the daily life of Henri Vidalinc, president of Grant Alexander. His first piece of advice: “Do not bet on a sniper, it’s prohibitive for a top manager. You need someone who loves his teams, who is interested in others”.
Rather avoid introverts
There are only two qualities for leadership for Amy JC Cuddy, Susan Fiske and Peter Glick: human warmth and perceived competence (“Warmth and competence as universal dimensions of social perception: The stereotype content model and the BIAS map” , Advances in Experimental Social Psychology no. 40, 2008). Even if this top manager is at the top of the pyramid, accustomed to Comex and Codir, he must not be arrogant or unsympathetic. If he has to slip into the slippers of the predecessor, even if it means shrinking or enlarging them afterwards, he must have other virtues, says Henri Vidalinc: “being able to have an opinion, a vision and to carry it “. Charismatic by giving others the desire to get involved, to be like him. But still ? “Unblocked, not too shy and a good dose of know-how”, described Particulier in another register. For the high level, we therefore avoid introverts who nevertheless make excellent local managers. “It’s good at this level to be a little outgoing, to assert yourself, to communicate, to have values and to embody them”, describes the expert. You also have to be sincere and natural. “We call it authenticity. When you play a role, it feels”.
However, this is not enough to be hired, because after the personality, there is the technical dimension. And especially the mental dimension. Major. It must be “strong”, as for a recruitment of astronauts. A kind of Thomas Pesquet capable of not cracking under pressure. A pro able to receive blows and especially to give them without tripping over the carpet in public or in front of the Codir. Grant Alexander set up the “athlete thinking” program to enhance his maximum potential. Finally, being “connected with the world in which we evolve” is the fourth and last point. To leave the seraglio and if the autodidacts are not rejected for such posts, it is absolutely necessary for them to adopt this conformist mode of functioning, very French. “At 40 or 50, it’s the network that makes the difference”, specifies the expert.
The salary is far from enough
Companies must today “put themselves in a situation of seduction” recognizes the president of Grant Alexander. “This candidate market” began a few years before the health crisis. It’s a headache for recruiters. “You have to not only attract talent, but keep it”. More and more departing top managers are finally caught up by their employer who finally finds the means to keep them. The salary is far from sufficient: the applicant is attentive to the management of his career and his skills but also to international opportunities. His future is not to make a career in the same profession, but to evolve. The recruitment of this rare pearl mobilizes around three people and lasts three to six months. For what cost? Henri Vidalinc kicks into touch. “It’s an investment. A human asset.” A lump sum is possible, but some firms are remunerated by receiving a percentage (from 8% to 30% with an average of 15%) on the gross annual salary of the recruited employee (source: Recsi firm). Kind of like football players. But for top managers, the transfer window is permanent.