“Finding Top Quality Hires During The Great Resignation” w/ Stan Davis of Standish Executive Search

Jeffrey (0s):
Hello listeners to Radio Entrepreneurs and viewers too. My name is Jeffrey Davis. I am the host of radio entrepreneurs, also a CEO founder of Mage LLC, a management consulting firm in Boston. And since 1985, we’ve worked with 700 private, mostly privately owned non-profit and family businesses to help them set future goals and manage transitions and change our next guest, not a name unfamiliar to me, cause that was my father’s name is Stan Davis principal at Standish Executive Search. Well, that’s not anything my father ever did. Welcome back, Stan.

Stan (37s):
Thank you.

Jeffrey (38s):
Thank you very much. You know, executive search boy, you know, I probably the most common, wow. There’s so many complaints I’ve heard since COVID started, but one of the most common complaints is I just can’t find people. It’s everybody it’s epidemic.

Stan (58s):
Yeah, the, we, we often get the question. How do you find people? We can’t, how do you find them? And the answer is that we appreciate the fact that most of the people out there are not looking for work, which means you’ve got to go find them. And that’s our approach to executive search. We have a lead researcher who really connects with people by phone, sells them on the opportunities, understands where they want to go, and that helps us engage them and attract them to the opportunities that our clients have.

Jeffrey (1m 40s):
Right. And doing that have just tell us how your world has changed in the last couple of years. I know I I’ve seen with some of my clients that what I would call people are switching jobs at salaries. I could never have imagined even six months ago.

Stan (1m 59s):
Yeah. Well really our, our approach to search really has not changed that much. What has changed Jeff is the point that you’re making, which is that the market has really impacted the way that people look for work and the way that they can be attracted the, the wage inflation has just been extraordinary. And we prepare our clients. When we go in and tell them, look, you know, we can talk about what you want to pay. We can talk about what fits into your, your internal pay rates, but the market’s going to tell us.

Stan (2m 40s):
And while that has always been our approach, more than ever, we’ve gotten into it and find that many of the pay rates that we’re we’re being confronted with are very different from what either we or our clients think there’s in the ballpark.

Jeffrey (2m 59s):
I, you know, I think about a lot of my clients, which are let’s, we’ll call them small business. I mean, it doesn’t take much to be in a small business category. You can be a couple of hundred million dollars and be a small business, but it’s so hard today. Well, it’s hard for employees not to move at these lucrative salaries, but it’s hard for employers to hold on to people. It’s hard for them to believe that culture alone can hold on to them. Although I’ve seen employees leave, but I’ve seen employees want to come back and they, you know, they they’re been enticed by the dollar, but when they lose the culture and the environment that they liked, it’s been tough for them.

Stan (3m 38s):
Yeah. Well, you know, we’ve got to remember and I think most people do is employees or volunteers. We have no hold on them and they will do what’s best for them. And it’s our responsibility to have a system in place that not only addresses compensation, but addresses a number of other things that they all find important. You know, having been through this for, for decades, it really hasn’t changed much. You know, people want an opportunity that gives them some career growth, gives them some challenge provides, you know, recognition as well as fair compensation and also working for a boss.

Stan (4m 24s):
That’s a good boss in an organization that they can be proud of. If we focus just on the money, we’re going to lose that.

Jeffrey (4m 37s):
Have you ever had a boss? So you felt got the best out of you?

Stan (4m 42s):
Oh yes. I’ve been very lucky. Very lucky. I’ve had, I’ve had three or four over the course of my career.

Jeffrey (4m 48s):
That’s more than just about anybody. I know. I mean, that’s hard, it’s hard to find a person who understands how to get the best out of people.

Stan (4m 59s):
Yeah. And it’s, you know, it’s a matter of, you know, when we recruit people, one of the key things that we’re looking for and that we work with our clients is to make sure that the people not only have the skills and ability and background, but also they have the chemistry and fit with the organization. And they are our bosses that appreciate when they bring somebody in, they have to fit and they have to cultivate that fit over the course of their employment. So it’s a matter of them establishing a relationship with their subordinates. And some of them do that very well. I would have to agree with you though. It’s the minority, but there are some that have been very successful.

Jeffrey (5m 42s):
Well, as one of my senior clients always says to me, I’m not the best at reading the room. And I tell him it’s all about listening and really watching people. And a lot of people don’t, they’re more concerned with show and tell or demand, demand, and expect. They don’t really try to understand the environment and the people that what they’re dealing with and people are dealing. I think people are struggling more than ever before with their jobs. And you get involved with that at all. I assume during the transition you are, because people are really wondering someone recently just said to me that they were thinking of leaving a professional job to go work at ups because ups would provide a more stable financial environment.

Stan (6m 25s):
Yeah. You know, we, we work with our clients after that, after we do searches for them to retain the people that they hire. And we do that for not unusually a year after the person comes on board so that we are working on that. But we also get calls from our clients relative to other employees that they’re concerned about losing. And the focus is often too often narrowly on hiring. It’s not on the whole employment experience, which is, you know, how do you attract, attract, retain, and motivate people. And that’s not episodic it’s everyday.

Stan (7m 8s):
And the good people do it every day.

Jeffrey (7m 12s):
And do you find that there are certain industries in this particular time that you’re more comfortable working in than others or that are more attracted to you during this time? Let’s make it about the marketplace?

Stan (7m 23s):
No, it’s interesting to the, you know, we’ve always worked with an array of industries. I think it’s gotten wider, not narrower. As people are looking for an answer to help them get the people that they need. So, you know, we’ve seen some new industries. We’ve certainly seen some new clients as a result of the turmoil.

Jeffrey (7m 44s):
We’ve been speaking with Stan Davis principal at Standish Executive Search clearly searched during these times. It’s very important. Employers are trying to figure out how to retain staff, bring staff in and have the right staff, keep the right staff. And that’s something I always say to clients, you know, hire slow fire, fast stand. If somebody is looking for you and is interested in your services, how would they find you?

Stan (8m 8s):
Well, the most effective way and easiest way for them to do that. Jeffrey, to just to contact us through the internet, through our website, they can get to me at Stan Davis or S Davis ed Standish, search.com.

Jeffrey (8m 25s):
That’s great. And you’ve been on the show before. We hope you come back again. And you know, it’s clearly a very topical area for people right now. It’s all about people. So I remind everybody, this is Radio Entrepreneurs and we’d been talking with Stan Davis. Thanks Stan for being on the show today.

Stan (8m 42s):
Jeffrey. Thanks for having us look forward to doing it again.

Jeffrey (8m 46s):
Me too. Thank you. This is Radio Entrepreneurs.