The Corner Office Vacancy

Turnover is a given at any business or organization, but its effect on the enterprise can vary dramatically.

If turnover leaves an opening on the maintenance crew, that's one issue, but it's another scenario entirely if the vacancy is in the CEO's office.

Missouri State University, for example, is in the initial stages of finding a replacement for President Michael Nietzel, who announced earlier this month he would be leaving the university. Nietzel said he would remain in the school's top post as late as Dec. 31, 2010, to give Missouri State ample time to conduct a national search for his replacement. And at Skaggs Regional Health Center in Branson, officials told Springfield Business Journal earlier this month that a search committee is closing in on securing a new CEO. The key position has been vacant since March, when Stephen Erixon abruptly resigned.

Recent findings from executive recruiting firm ExecuNet's Recruiter Confidence Index suggest that more movement at the top of the corporate ladder may be on the way. A September survey of 165 executive recruiters found 56 percent are confident or very confident that the executive employment market will improve in the next six months, up from 49 percent in August.

Although missions of organizations vary widely - to heal, to educate or to turn a profit - there are many similarities in what transpires in the search for new leadership, according to local recruiting professionals.

Lynne Haggerman, owner of Springfield-based Lynne Haggerman and Associates LLC, has conducted numerous national executive searches in her more than 25 years of experience as a headhunter, and in all of those searches, she said, companies are seeking fiscally responsible leaders who can help the companies meet key objectives.

Given that there are plenty of financially savvy executives in the marketplace, the trick is finding the one who will best suit the culture of the company, Haggerman said.

This holds true regardless of whether the job candidate already is employed by the company or is an external contender.

Each type of candidate comes with benefits and hazards, Haggerman said.

In-house options

Internal candidates have a strong sense of a company's goals and culture and may have a sense of already possessing a personal investment in its success.

But internal candidates may face hurdles in garnering the respect required for them to adequately do their jobs.

"People know you and your history, so it's awfully hard to get the respect (needed)," Haggerman said, citing friendships built through years with a company as an example.

"When you're a CEO, you can't have friends. You just can't," she said. "To separate the personal from the professional is really hard."

Often, companies that have a strong internal candidate for the executive suite will call on Haggerman to assess the individual's qualifications and weigh those against external candidates.

"A lot of times, they're afraid they're going to be too biased because they know the person," she said.

Chris Woolsey, owner of Springfield-based placement firm Chris Woolsey and Associates LLC, said he has seen situations where an internal candidate may be part of a succession plan, but a company is hesitant to rule out an external candidate in case they can find someone with more in-depth experience.

"That's usually if they're moving to a different process or philosophy," Woolsey said.

Roger A. Aistrup, general manager of recruiting and placement firm Allan James Associates in Springfield, said finding executive candidates is not tough. "They're the easiest people in the world to recruit," said Aistrup, who previously has helped place executives but now focuses on recruitment and placement for technical positions.

C-level executives are, however, the hardest to place.

"Companies are really picky in making a choice of a CEO," he said, adding that he's not surprised. "Would you buy the stock of a company that hired the first guy who was qualified to be CEO? They're highly selective for the best of reasons."

Outside perspectives

With external candidates, placement professionals agree that finding the right fit is crucial. But how that fit is determined can vary.

"You can call it a culture fit," Haggerman said. "In more simple terms, it's a personality fit. You have to have somebody who meets that or else it's mixing oil and water."

Woolsey echoed the sentiment. "It's easy to find candidates with the background ... the fit is to find the ones who will fit into the corporations," he said.

In its quest to find a replacement for Nietzel, MSU's Board of Governors already has laid out some of the steps it will take in its search, said board Chairman Brian Hammons.

The first step is to gather a search committee, with representatives from the many constituencies the university serves: students, faculty, staff, alumni and the community. "We're selecting a president for the whole university," Hammons said. "The board knows how important it is for those folks to be represented."

The group will determine the attributes and leadership style sought in a leader and launch a nationwide search to find the person who best fits that profile, he said.

Haggerman said there are myriad personality and management assessment tools on the market to ensure a candidate's style of leadership would suit an organization's culture.

But ultimately, it comes down to knowing what to listen for in discussions, she said, and that's where enlisting professional recruiting help comes in.

"I read people. That's what I do for a living," she added.

Narrowing the field

A common mistake some companies make is gathering senior personnel to interview top-level job candidates.

"They assume that because people rose to higher ranks within an organization they know how to assess, and they don't," Haggerman said.

As a result, they wind up more or less acting on a feeling of who might be best.

"A feeling doesn't help you grow or cut your expenses," she added.

Hammons said board members already recognize the potential for personal preferences to enter into the decision-making process. They hope to ward that off by having a clear set of attributes to narrow the search.

"One of the things that can be difficult is ... sometimes personal preferences can get in the way of the decision-making process," he said. "One of the challenges of the leaders of the search process is recognizing when that might be happening," he said.

MSU has not decided whether to seek the aid of a third-party search firm, but the board remains open to that possibility, Hammons said.

The board expects to have the search committee in place by its Dec. 18 meeting.

Often, Woolsey said, an organization may reach out to a recruiting firm if in-house efforts become frustrating.

Ultimately, though, it's only a matter of time until the right fit is found, Haggerman said.

"There's always someone out there. There's always the right fit," she said. "You just keep looking until you find them."