Recruiting passive candidates for executive roles gives you amazing insight into what highly-successful people want more of and what makes them tick.
Interesting enough, money rarely figures into these conversations.
Lately, I’ve been speaking to a lot of senior executives in the world of Data Analytics – a booming field which seems to provide a seemingly limitless array of opportunities to people with the right chops. It’s a candidate’s market out there. High-level folks in Big Data have the luxury of being very choosy about their next career move so a lot of factors, both tangible and intangible, come into play when making a decision about an opportunity.
Here are the top 4 things I’m hearing from Big Data analytics executives about what would entice them to make a move.
1. New Challenges and The Chance to Build Something
What I hear so often is:
“I’ve built the systems here at my current position, the modeling, visualizations and the team to run it all. I’m ready for the next challenge because what I’ve built is basically running itself. I want to create again and provide this really important service to another company which doesn’t yet have it. “
You’ve heard of: “If you build it we will come.” This is more like “if I can build it, I will go.”
2. On site management of talented people
In our global village, team members can be outsourced to locations far afield. And why not? The work can be done just as well by people you direct over emails, Google Groups, and Skype – especially in the tech world.
Well, it’s what I might have thought, but it’s not what I’ve been hearing from these execs.
No doubt, the technology for international teams and collaboration has been here for a while now, but it turns out that even the most nerdy tech executives still highly value the personal camaraderie and immediacy of an on-site staff. The feedback I’m getting is: “Give me the opportunity to lead my staff on site and I’ll gladly come in and have a look at your company.”
As great as the technology is, telecommuting is not like teleportation and there’s no replacement for face-to-face interaction.
3. Great equipment and technical resources
High powered machines and lightning fast platforms, packages and visualization tools. Top Big Data people who have paid their dues want to glide smoothly into an organization, use the tools they have grown accustomed to (and even new and better ones) and be in an environment that exudes class and excellence.
4. Make an Impact
Here’s how this one goes: I’ve done mixed-methods marketing, financial analysis and even CPG. It’s all been great but I wouldn’t mind working on something more meaningful like, for example, a nonprofit or an organization that seeks to inform the population and help people in general (not just businesses) make better decisions about education, healthcare or social policy.
In a world of uncertainty, for some people it’s important to be able feel like they’ve made a difference in the grand scheme of things.
Our Approach
These kind of opportunities are rarer but they’re out there. It’s actually something we specialize in. People come to us to broaden their perspective on what kind of opportunities might be available to them in places they hadn’t considered.
We’re glad to help.
What strive to connect people with the opportunities and organizations that best match their career aspirations. This provides a more valuable recruitment experience for both client and candidate.
Contact us at Insight Executive Search if you’re interested in exploring new career opportunities or seeking high level scientists in the world of analytics and BI.
