unique insights in executive recruiting

Annual Employment Survey Results 2015

executive summary

2

At milewalk, we are fully committed to bringing valuable insight to the workforce. Irrespective of your vocation, we believe all companies and individuals can support the growth of our economy. We can help achieve this by elevating awareness of key employment information that will help companies manage their employees more effectively as well as enable individuals to make smart career choices.

Following is the report from our 2015 annual employment survey. The survey was initiated to help provide awareness of key factors that affect our work lives. We thank all participants and also welcome any questions and additional thoughts.

We distributed this survey to over 9,000 individuals (excluding social media shares) with 827 responding. The respondent base included individuals who hold positions within management and information technology consulting firms, software companies, and other prominent organizations.

This employee base is showing staying power notwithstanding their high susceptibility to leaving. This staying power has created difficulty for employers attempting to hire top talent—especially at the highest levels. Over 43% of hiring officials responding have been with their current employer for more than 5 years!

There was, however, a mild shift in happiness. From 2014, there were 12% and 13% drops for hiring authorities and employees respectively. This downturn, while relatively small, is a change from the much-increased happiness trends during the previous few years.

Another important point to note is that there is an increasing percentage of unhappy employees relative to happy ones. In 2014, 7 out of 8 employees were either happy or very happy with their company. In 2015, that number has dropped precipitously to less than 1 out of 2.

One other element that shifted backward from 2014 was how employees feel about their compensation. Almost 1/3 of hiring officials and more than 2/5 of employees feel underpaid.

When it comes to job changing, employees’ attitudes and actions toward leaving their current employer has risen. Over 90% of employees are open to changing jobs and 57% of them actually took action to do so in the past year! Yes—90%!!

As we reviewed the employee’s attitude toward keys areas of their current positions and companies, career development opportunities once again nudged the management team as the most disappointing. Even so, when we evaluated which criteria would lead the charge as they turned to new opportunities, (once again) compensation, culture, and role (in that order) reigned as the top three.

One other trend we’re noticing as we recruit for our clients is that employees apparently care more about what they do than for whom they do it. While we try to teach our job candidates that “you join a company, you don’t join a job,” the data would seem to support that they are far more concerned about their specific position than many of the other critical factors.

As employees evaluate the market, there was no surprise that an overwhelming majority (89%) would tap their personal network. Oddly, however, those using traditional job sites has risen to 63% (up 20% from 2014). Holding consistently from last year was the number that would turn to executive recruiters (77%).

As we turned to the hiring officials and reviewed their assessment of upcoming needs, important criteria for the candidates, proficiency level of their recruiting functions, as well as additional avenues they deploy to fulfill their employment needs, there was a mixed review of hiring. Even so, there was consistency from last year that the market is generally healthy. Slightly over 77% of companies indicated they were augmenting their resources in 2015 with 16% citing the need for more than five resources (within their hiring purview).

With the hiring needs in place, these officials cited “time to fill” as the greatest disappointment (for the fifth year in a row). Candidly, we believe that “time to fill” is not the actual issue, but a symptom of a lack of quality candidates (the second most disappointing criteria). Employers simply move more quickly when they have a quality candidate in their recruiting pipeline. Over the last ten years, our historical milewalk statistics indicate a 38.2% greater level of efficiency in these cases.

We reviewed the people and service-related avenues that organizations deploy to satisfy their hiring needs. While almost 87% deploy a corporate recruiting function, it’s worth noting that this figure is down from 2014. Furthermore, companies have significantly cut the use of RPO’s and Independent Contract Recruiters and replaced those services with Executive Search Firms (up 22% from 2014). This is typically a sign that companies are seeking difficult-to-find specialty resources more so than larger numbers of easier-to-find resources.

As companies interview potential employees, they will favor cultural fit and capabilities and over track record of achievement and specific skill sets. While this has historically been the case, specific skills had become a greater focus a few years ago when hiring needs waned. With hiring on the rise, companies have shifted their focus in the right direction.

demographics of the survey

CXOMarketingSalesHRRecruitingPractice/Engage/Project MgmtTechnologistsOther

resource types total respondents

Hiring AuthoritiesEmployees

3

We distributed the survey to over 9,000 recipients excluding shares from social media sites. These individuals hold various roles in prominent companies. We have outlined the primary functions of the 827 respondents.

means to secure your job

Employee ReferralPersonal Network (Non-Employee Referral)Company WebsiteJob BoardCompany Recruiter ContactedExecutive Recruiter ContactedCandidate Contacted Company DirectlyCandidate Contacted Executive Recruiter DirectlyOther

4

We evaluated 15 potential ways an employee can find a job and aggregated them into a manageable list to help when reviewing the probabilities of these mediums to secure your next position. Granted, these percentages change when factoring experience and compensation levels, but these numbers are a good guideline—and current.

The major leaders are your personal network (a combined 41% if you consider employee and non-employee referrals) and executive recruiters (21% which is more than twice as often as a corporate recruiter). Job boards remained somewhat consistent with last year (10%)

Hiring AuthoritiesEmployees

tenure of the employees

5

We noted the tenure of the employees and hiring officials. Interestingly, a sizable percentage of individuals in a hiring capacity are remaining at their organizations for extended periods (43.4% at over 5 years). We are noticing this trend in the employment market as many companies struggle to secure top talent at the highest levels.

6

attitude toward employment

Hiring Authorities

Employees

1 2 3 4

3.3

3.5

happy with your company on a scale of 1-5 (5 most happy)?

Hiring Authorities

Employees

1 2 3 4

3.5

3.6

happy with your position on a scale of 1-5 (5 most happy)?

This area tells of a mild shift in happiness for hiring authorities and employees. From 2014, there were 12% and 13% drops in happiness with their companies for hiring authorities and employees respectively. This downturn, while relatively small, is a change from the much-increased happiness trends during the previous few years.

Another important point to note is that there is an increasing percentage of unhappy employees relative to happy ones. In 2014, 7 out of 8 employees were either happy or very happy with their company. In 2015, that number has dropped precipitously to less than 1 out of 2. This trend, at the employee level, is also supported in the upcoming material that highlights the percentage of them that are open to changing jobs.

7

attitude toward compensation

do you feel adequately compensated?Hiring AuthoritiesEmployees

In 2014, there existed a much better balance of hiring authorities and employees who felt they were appropriately paid. For this year, however, it is apparent that sentiment has changed for both. While the numbers aren’t alarming, they’re substantial enough that more employees will feel unappreciated financially.

8

attitude toward changing jobs

would you change jobs for the right opportunity? interviewed with another company within the last 12 months?

For the three previous years, employees’ attitudes have been the same regarding their openness toward job changing. This statistic hovered at 80% or slightly above during that three-year-period. This year, that number has jumped to over 90% remaining open to new opportunities. Not only are the employees open to leaving, but nearly 57% actually interviewed with another employer during the last year.

9

attitude toward critical areas of position and company

Boss

Career Growth Opportunity

Current Position

Management Team

Team Members

Compensation & Benefits

1 2 2 3

2.6

2.2

3

2.6

3.2

2.6

happy with your position and company on a scale of 1-5 (1 most happy)

Oddly, even though this is the area that employees are most disappointed, it is saddled as the 5th most important criteria they will evaluate when seeking a new positioncompensation, culture, and role).

We asked employees to assess their happiness level of the many critical areas related to their position and company. They indicated they are most satisfied with their teammates, but are most disappointed with their career opportunities and management team. Interestingly, these numbers have been similar for the past few years.

10

attitude toward most important criteria in selecting next position

Company Type

Company Culture

Career Growth Opportunities

Boss

Role/Function

Type of People & Team Members

Compensation & Benefits

Office Enviroment

Work Location

Travel Requirements

15% 30% 45% 60%

9.7%

34.7%

9.7%

59.7%

30.4%50.0%

30.4%32.6%

57.6%23.9%

top three criteria in selecting your next position?

Of the top ten elements that most individuals review when changing jobs, we have seen the same top three—Compensation, Culture, and Role from 2012-2015. Career Growth Opportunities cited as the most disappointing factor of the employees’ current situation falls to fifth in factors they consider when seeking their next position. One other trend we’re noticing as we recruit for our clients is that employees apparently care more about what they do than for whom they do it. While we try to teach our job candidates that “you join a company, you don’t join a job,” the data would seem to support that they are far more concerned about their specific position than many of the other critical factors.

11

attitude toward resources that facilitate changing companies

Personal Network

Job Boards (Monster, Hotjobs, Dice, etc.)

Social Media Sites (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)

Corporate Sites (Apply Direct)

Executive Recruiters

23% 45% 68% 90%

77.1%

59.7%

79.3%

63%

89.1%

avenues you would consider to help find your next company?

We asked employees which avenues they would deploy in finding their next opportunity. There was no surprise that an overwhelming majority of 89% would tap their personal network. What was odd, however, was that the percentage that would use their personal network dropped from 95% the previous year, while the percentage that would turn to job boards actually increased from 55% to 63%. The other areas have remained relatively consistent for the past few years.

12

Goal Setting

Resume Writing

Job Searching

Job Interviewing

Job Offer Negotiation

Interpersonal Communication

Career Growth

Employment Market

Other

18% 35% 53% 70%

4.3%

44.5%

63.0%

39.1%

45.6%

48.9%

47.8%

34.7%

35.8%

what would you like to see more of?

At milewalk, we provide weekly articles, quarterly newsletters, semi-hourly social media tidbits, books, and other helpful information for the community. It is our goal to educate companies and individuals on effective hiring, employee management job searching, interviewing, and career management. In our survey, we sought employees’ feedback regarding what they were interesting in seeing. While we will use this information to augment our content, we thought it would be helpful to share the results so you could see the consistencies (and, in some cases, inconsistencies) regarding what employees care about. Of course, there should be no surprise they want to learn about ways to improve the area they’re most disappointed in currently—career growth.

attitude toward content for educational purposes

13

milewalk's blog or website

milewalk's quarterly newsletter

LinkedIn

Facebook

Twitter

Google Plus

18% 35% 53% 70%

4.3%

11.9%

17.3%

64.1%

52.1%

36.9%

which online mediums do you use to review our material?

Similarly to providing our content to the community, we were interested in where employees and hiring officials are reviewing our cyber material. We have a very robust social media platform that runs seven days every week via the major professional networking and social media sites. We thought we’d share in case you’re wondering where to bolster your material and messaging.

attitude toward social media

14

outlook for hiring

None

1-3

4-5

More than 5

13% 25% 38% 50%

16.3%

15%

46%

22.7%

how many resources will you add to your team in the current year?

We reviewed the hiring needs for companies. This year’s trend was generally consistent with last year’s assessment. Most companies are hiring and doing it in modest ways.

15

attitude toward recruiting function

We asked hiring officials to evaluate their organization’s recruiting function. “Time to Fill” is perpetually cited as the greatest disappointment (fifth year running), however, we view that more as a symptom of lack of quality candidates than the actual issue. We have captured historical statistics over the past ten years that indicate our clients move 38.2% fasterengaged with a higher quality candidate.

Number of Quality Candidates (ability to source)

Time to Fill Position

Communciation to Hiring Officials

Ability to Close/Sell to Quality Candidates

Overall Recruiting Function

1 2 3 4

3.3

3.8

3.4

2.7

3

rate your organization’s recruiting function on a scale of 1-5 (5 most satisfied).

16

sources engaged to satisfy hiring needs

Internal Corporate Recruiting Function

Executive Search Firms

Recruiting Process Outsourcing Firms

Independent Contract Recruiters

23% 45% 68% 90%

21.7%

17.3%

39.1%

86.9%

sources you deploy to satisfy recruiting needs?

We reviewed the people and service-related avenues that organizations deploy to satisfy their hiring needs. We omitted job boards and other non-active means assuming that organizations are using them to some extent. While almost 87% deploy a corporate recruiting function, it’s worth noting that this figure is down from 2014. Furthermore, companies have significantly cut the use of RPO’s and Independent Contract Recruiters and replaced those services with Executive Search Firms (up 22% from 2014). This is typically a sign that companies are seeking difficult-to-find specialty resources more so than larger numbers of easier-to-find resources.

17

attitude toward candidate criteria and requirements

Cultural Fit with Company

Capabilities (Demonstrated Capacity to Perform Function)

Achievement Record (Long-Term Record of High Performance)

Specific Skills/Experience to Perform Function

1 2 2 3

3

2.8

2

2.3

rank the following criteria in order of importance when evaluating an employment candidate (1 most important).

milewalk clients and candidates have been introduced to our predictive matching model that incorporates key criteria related to fit as well as emotional influences (omitted here for simplicity) that act upon an individual when evaluating a career change.  The nucleus of this methodology centers on the four greatest predictors of recruiting and retention success (below).  Our analytics has proven that not only are these the four greatest predictors, but also that the relative priority of these criteria is Culture Fit, Capabilities, Achievement Record, and Specific Skills.

This year’s data shows that companies have finally caught on that the specific skills are truly fourth when determining long term success. It’s the first year in the history of this survey where the input supports that companies have made this shift regarding that criterion.

18

Candidate Sourcing

Interviewing Candidates

Offer Negotiation/Closing Candidates

Interpersonal Communication

Employee Management

Employment Market

Recruiting & Hiring Trends

18% 35% 53% 70%

69.5%

52.1%

52.1%

39.1%

26.0%

56.5%

56.5%

what would you like to see more of?

As we mentioned previously, milewalk provides significant content via our newsletters and social media platform. Similar to the employees, the hiring authorities cited areas they are interested in reviewing. Oddly, the area that determines the ultimate outcome to secure a job candidate was of least interest. Recruiting & Hiring Trends were of most interest.

attitude toward content for educational purposes

19

about milewalk

milewalk is an executive search and human capital consulting organization that specializes in matching top quality information technology and strategic professionals with high-caliber companies.

Our team is comprised of former information technology and strategic consulting professionals who held positions similar to those our clients and candidates seek to fill. This industry-specific knowledge helps us recognize those resources that become most valuable to organizations. Our vantage point coupled with a far-reaching network of candidates enables us to quickly match the right people to the right opportunities.

We emphasize our unique perspective in our name—milewalk—we have walked in your shoes before. This distinct point of view helps us more effectively navigate our clients and candidates through the search process to ensure everyone succeeds. Even more than our experience, our dedication and commitment to our clients and candidates set us apart. Our high quality, timely results help us build long-term relationships that benefit all of us.

milewalk www.milewalk.com

911 Busse Hwy Ste 201

Park Ridge, IL 60068 847-685-2040