Executive Talent Acquisition: Riviera Advisors Sponsors Industry Insights from the 2010 IACPR Global Conference

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Nov 15, 2010, 08:55 ET

LONG BEACH, Calif., Nov. 15, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- How have top companies continued to recruit the talent they need worldwide, throughout the economic downturn? What are the short-term tactics, and longer-term strategies used to make sure organizations have the global leadership needed to stay competitive?

These questions illustrate the important issues discussed at the International Association for Corporate and Professional Recruitment (IACPR) Global Conference. A wealth of insider information is now online, thanks to Riviera Advisors' sponsorship of interviews conducted at the conference by Peter Clayton, from TotalPicture Radio, a leading business podcast focused on HR and recruiting.

Jeremy Eskenazi, Managing Principal of Riviera Advisors, a global human resources consulting firm, moderated a panel discussion titled "real world challenges of global recruitment." Speaking about the conference, Eskenazi said, "The focus is crystal clear: senior level executive recruiting. The members are highly accomplished senior level people. The content of our community is all about the dialogue together, which is really unique." Participants on Eskenazi's panel included senior recruiters from Wyndham Worldwide, MasterCard Worldwide, and Research In Motion.

"We're seeing a trend in recruiting of more streamlining of staffing and the recruiting process," Eskenazi told Clayton. "Improvement in the relationship between staffing, and HR generalist, which have historically been poor; enhancing and streamlining technology, and recruiters focusing more on candidate development and assessment rather than the 'sexy' finding and sourcing, which I'm seeing as moving into a more commoditized process today."

Rick Badgley, SVP Selection Staffing, University Relations at Wyndham Worldwide, commented, "One of the biggest takeaways for me is how human capital is on the forefront of analysts on Wall Street's minds, and how that plays such a critical factor into how they're waiting out stocks. I think it's such an important message, not only for me to bring back for everybody in the human capital space … it needs to resonate up and down an organization. Many CEOs say that 'people are our most important asset.' There's only a select few that really walk the talk."

Regarding the challenges of global recruiting? Rodney Moses, VP of Global Talent Acquisition, RIM (BlackBerry), revealed, "If you look at where our growth is, and we're still growing at a 40% clip in North America, but we're growing over 200% in Latin America and Asia and even in Europe, we have a significant growth rate … With the convergence aspect of our market, we have to change. The products that we're making in the future are not going to be the ones that we've made in the past and so … you need a workforce that's agile and very flexible."

Other interviews in the series include Lance Abisor, Executive Talent Scout at Nike; Hemant Minocha, Global Leader for HR Strategy and Transformation, IBM; and Nancy Altobello, Americas Vice Chair of People, Ernst and Young. All of the podcast interviews are available on totalpicture.com, iTunes, and Rivieraadvisors.com. Complete transcripts are included.