But there were reductions of staff everywhere

The race for talent is not weakening and renewal of management positions resumed a steady pace in enterprises. Even the Medef, who is seeking a General Manager, has just mandate the Jean-Michel Beigbeder headhunter to find him a rare Pearl. But, more often, the search for the ideal profile drags in length. This was the case in Thomson, a year and a half, to replace Frank Dangeard by Frédéric Rose, or, recently, in the British BP, who waited 17 months to find his boss in the person of Swedish Carl - Henric Svanberg.

The reason In times of crisis, the difficulty in achieving the objectives is such that many leaders are wondering if it is not better to pass the time of the storm to a position that they already know the edges rather than seek adventure elsewhere. Result: head hunters build their range of services to global activities of Council.

Heidrick & Struggles, US firm listed on the stock market, even made a major focus of its strategy. "Clients want the recruitment of leaders of high level but the integration of training up to the implementation of succession plans", explains Alain Deniau, "managing partner" at Heidrick & Struggles for the France.

"Customers are saying only to our firm:"Find me the best", they ask us to help them better run their management teams, said Jean-Louis Petibon,"senior partner"at Egon Zehnder International." We deal more with only individual cases, but collective mode operation. "Not easy when it comes to evaluate teams of people who have still problems with different objectives.

Similar observation at Korn/Ferry International, the other American firm listed on the stock market, who wishes to get its benefits of Council of 25 to 50 of its activity. Council of Russell Reynolds Associates, she, activity was limited until then in the evaluation of boards of Directors and leadership teams of companies to acquire. "But we do also, since last year, to the analysis of organizational culture", added Paul Jaeger, "managing partner" in Russell Reynolds. Last year, Spencer Stuart is, also, launched in the evaluation of teams post-fusion or before an acquisition. A niche Alain Prestat, President of the firm Progress, summarized under the terms of "managerial diagnosis". "Companies that do not recruit have the desire to optimize their teams in place," he justified. In other words, a desire to do better with the resources available to them.

These missions of Council in optimization of the teams and the Organization of course always coexist with talent hunting activities, but which are now more focused. "Companies are looking for international profiles, managers who have lived on several continents", is thus Diane Segalen, "managing partner" in CTPartners. The choices are to "profiles understand interdependencies", note Paul Jaeger. "Of leaders with experience multicultural, multi-sectoral, risk management tools familiar and who know also interact with the public sphere." So that old five-legged sheep has today six or sept

"There is also the profiles generated by the crisis, those leaders to quickly redress of firms in difficulty", explains Emeric Lepoutre, CEO of Spencer Stuart in France. "Moreover, the crisis - always a pretext to strengthen financial directions and control functions - promotes sustained compliance directors and other recruitment 'chief technology officers'", adds Diane Segalen. "Companies are interested more than before to familiar patterns of stock and financial environments", said Claire de Montaigu, President and partner of Leaders Trust. In other words, those who have been able to develop relationships with the financial community are very appreciated. Especially if they have the influencer

So that head hunters have better morale than last year; which is good news since their activity is often seen as a leading economic indicator. "In fact, the year starts since September ( 35) and is a fair return of things since, in a crisis - and, for us, the crisis began in 2008 - we are the first affected", note Emeric Lepoutre. The prospective study for 2010 of the AESC, the international association of Council leaders recruitment firms, evaluates even at 56 the proportion of headhunters who have a positive opinion on the dynamism of their sector, while 9 only a year previously. But if optimism again points its nose, however without hide important sectoral contrasts.

"Since the first six months of 2008, the companies have been in procrastination;" "this crisis is to a pétrifiées", note Didier Vuchot, Chairman Europe of Korn/Ferry. "But there were reductions of staff everywhere." "In fact, many leaders and managers should change of society when things will resume," prognostic Eric Salmon, founder and President of Eric Salmon & Partners. Companies use lands to new and more intense way of head hunters, but otherwise than in the past, according to some observers. Is it to say that they will be able to innovate and open up new profiles, once the economic recovery has occurred Is being "But when customers really want to take risks on a hiring, they make it themselves and then go head hunters", finds Eric Salmon.