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LOCKDOWN SENDS EXECUTIVE HIRING INTO VIRTUAL WORLD

In 2008, the recession pushed recruitment off a cliff. Twelve years on and the Coronavirus is doing much the same, although not quite as dramatically so far at C-suite level according to Mark O’Donnell, managing partner of executive search company, Odgers Berndston.

“Executive search is not dead,” he says. “Companies are still filling critical roles and we had assignments coming in during April. This is different to the recession when everything stopped dead.

“The last 18 months have been very busy so we’re currently finishing out pre-Covid roles and companies still want to talk about their future requirements. For candidates, this is a good time to take stock, think about where you want to be career wise and use the opportunity to talk to search firms.”

Odgers Berndston has roughly 2,000 candidates on its books and they are the target audience for its newly launched series of webinars designed to get people ready for a job move. The sessions will cover areas such as CV preparation, what’s happening in the jobs market and salary negotiation.

O’Donnell also reminds people to keep their networks alive. “You may not be able to meet people, but you can still have a virtual coffee,” he says.