By Kel & Partners
Polachi, the leading provider of Access Executive Search services to technology, life sciences, clean tech, venture capital and private equity clients, released its top trend predictions for executive recruiting in 2008.
1. Alternative Energy/Clean Tech to Tap Pharma Execs: "Clean tech will continue to grow and will take executives from other industries to lead them," says Dr. Christopher Palatucci, Life Sciences Practice Leader. "Pharma, and increasingly biotech, are attractive targets for alternative energy industries as these executives have relevant product development experience, and as the executives seek exits due to pharma's continuing pipeline and other woes."2. Finance Experience at the Board Level: "Boards will continue to need outsiders, particularly qualified financial types," says Charley Polachi, Partner and co-Founder.
3. Diversity at Larger Companies: "Larger companies are especially putting on a big push for diversity," says Paul Moran, Partner. "They recognize that having a more multicultural representation leads to improved products and services for the ever-expanding minority and international markets."
4. Rise of the "Outside" Chief Technology Officer: "The demand for VP's of Engineering and CTO's continues to be strong in our markets and looks likely to continue," says Brigid Oliveri Siegel, Partner. "In particular, companies in the $100 million to $300 million range with aspirations of growing to $500 million and beyond will be looking to bring in fresh ideas with CTOs from outside their company."
5. Sales & Marketing of Enterprise Software: "With more enterprise software companies targeting businesses as well as consumers, there is a growing need for sales and marketing executives who have experience selling into both B2B and B2C markets," says Rebecca Foreman, Vice President.
6. Global Interest from VC/PE Industry: "An increasing number of venture capital and private equity firms will progressively seek international exposure," said Karen Burke D'Agostino, Partner. "There is a particularly high level of interest in China and India."
7. Favoring of Strategic Leadership Skills "Strategic leadership skills will increasingly be favored over specific domain expertise amongst CEOs and other senior functional executives," said Jim Poe, Partner. "We are seeing a swing back toward the recruiting environment of the late 90's and away from the excessively stringent selection criteria imposed by investors and boards that was common in the early years of this decade."
