September 2023 Newsletter

A.I. and ChatGPT? Amidst 2023’s Digital Innovations, Communication is Still the Gold Standard for Recruiting

Fall is my favorite time of year. With kids starting school and businesses getting Q4 underway, the air is brisker. It’s a great time to step back, review key trends of the year and set new directions. One of the big trends impacting all industries in 2023, including HR and recruiting, has been the exploding influence of ChatGPT and other generative AI tools. While some ask if AI will replace HR jobs, many CHROs and Chief People Officers are increasingly embracing AI as a tool to assist and complement HR in a myriad of ways, or even seeing the new digital tools as an answer to HR burnout.

As analyst Josh Bersin details in a recent in-depth report, HR today faces a bevy of complex challenges. Generative AI presents a solution for use cases that range from onboarding, to employee training and development, to wellness and retention.

At the same time, if you are recruiting top talent or seeking a new role, I believe these innovations don’t change the need for your most important personal tool—communication. Read my letter below for my thoughts on why.  Whether you are hiring or applying, I wish you success in fall 2023 in charting new paths!

Questions? Call +1 650.614.0220 or visit www.fredericksonpartners.com

 

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SPOTLIGHT COMPLETED EXECUTIVE SEARCHES

KYVERNA THERAPEUTICS

We worked with Kyverna Therapeutics, a clinical-stage cell therapy company with the mission of engineering a new class of therapies for autoimmune diseases, to find and place Portia Serame as Vice President of Human Resources.

Read more about this HR placement.

 

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RECENT EXECUTIVE MOVES AND PROMOTIONS

• VF Corporation welcomed Brent Hyder as the company’s new Chief People Officer. Hyder brings a wealth of HR and retail experience,  most recently serving as President & Chief People Officer at Salesforce. Prior to Salesforce, Hyder spent seven years at Gap where he held HR executive roles including Executive Vice President, Chief People Officer and Chief Operating Officer. (Announcement)
• Freshworks Inc appointed Johanna Jackman as the company’s Chief People Officer. Jackman brings over 15 years of HR leadership experience to Freshworks, recently as Chief People Officer at Airtable. Prior experience includes CPO at Pure Storage, VP of HR at LinkedIn and HR managerial roles at Microsoft. Currently she is also a Board Member at Grafana Labs. (Announcement)
• Shutterfly appointed Jan Paul Teuwen as their new Chief Financial Officer. Teuwen joins from Lumileds where he served a 12-year tenure. There he started as FP&A Controller and worked his way up to be the company’s most recent CFO. Earlier in his career, Teuwen worked at Philips and Pace. (Article)
• Klaviyo announced the appointment of Jamie Domenici as Chief Marketing Officer. With over 15 years of marketing leadership experience, Domenici joins from GoTo where she was CMO. Previously she spent over a decade at Salesforce, holding leadership roles within the marketing and customer success functions. (Announcement)
• Sallie Mae welcomed Pete Graham as its Chief Financial Officer. Graham brings exceptional experience in financial services and public accounting to Sallie Mae, most recently as CFO at PRA Group. Earlier Graham worked at GE Capital for 13 years, performing finance executive and leadership roles at different business level and units. He started his career at KPMG. (Announcement)
• Catalent Pharma Solutions welcomed Lisa Evoli as the company’s new Senior Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer. Evoli joins from Integra LifeSciences where she served as Executive VP & CHRO over seven years. Previously Evoli held HR leadership roles at companies including Johnson & Johnson, TE Connectivity and Motorola. (Announcement)

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RECENT INSIGHTS

UPCOMING CONFERENCE: Hunt Scanlon Private Equity and Venture Capital Recruiting 2023

We are proud to announce Frederickson as a Silver Sponsor of Hunt Scanlon Media’s San Francisco conference, Optimizing Talent for Growth.

Join us on October 18 at the Julia Morgan Ballroom, Merchants Exchange, as we moderate a fireside chat with Jill Pergande, Managing Director, Human Capital at Gryphon Investors, “Getting the Right Leaders in Place.” We look forward to sharing more next month!

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NEW BLOG POST: Executive Search Firms for Healthcare: A Strategic Partnership

Healthcare organizations today face a myriad of challenges, and a rapidly evolving industry. And they are under immense pressure to find visionary leaders who can steer them into a successful future.

This article by Beth Ann Namey, Partner Executive Search delves into these trends and explores the pivotal role that a specialist executive search firm was able to play in helping two healthcare tech organizations find top leadership talent. Read our healthcare and HR blog article.

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NEW ON-DEMAND WEBINAR: Open Role Data

Our exclusive on-demand webinar explores the intricacies of employment trends with data spanning three months. Gain invaluable insights into the dominant roles and industries within the dynamic HR executive job market landscape.

View the webinar here to stay at the forefront of industry trends and developments.

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DOWNLOADABLE GUIDE: Top 8  Best Practices for Conducting Interviews

Whether you have an interview process in place for your organization or could use our support in planning one, check out our best practices for interviewing developed from our research over the years. Download the 1-pager now.

As a bonus: View and download an infographic of these key practices.

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LETTER FROM VALERIE

Valerie Frederickson
Founder & CEO

 

Amidst 2023’s Digital Innovations, Communication Remains the Gold Standard for Recruiting

With the massive transformation that new technologies like generative AI are bringing into the marketplace, and to all departments in an organization–including changes to human resources and talent acquisition jobs that promise both disruption and opportunity—I believe it’s critical not to lose sight of certain basics of communication that are always a cornerstone of successful hiring.

Whether you’re a candidate, or part of a company hiring team that is interviewing candidates for a pivotal executive role, communication is still the gold standard.

Follow these core guidelines to win top talent in a competitive hiring market—or if you’re a candidate, to win a top role.

Communication for Employers Who Are Recruiting for a Role

Let’s start first with the interviewing company. As a refresher, always remember the following guidelines. They will ensure that you don’t lose sight of practicing common courtesy when you connect with potential candidates:

• First, be proactive in giving all candidates a status on where they are in the interview process with your company, even if it’s to say “I’m giving you status that I don’t have any updates now. But I want you to know I’m advocating for you and will keep you updated as soon as I know more.”
• Keep in mind that if they have a good experience with you, even if you choose not to hire them, wherever they do eventually land they are more likely to think favorably of you and your brand. They may become a partner or customer in the future.
• Give constructive feedback to candidates, to the extent that you can invest the time, on how the interview process is going.

As a retained search firm, we consistently follow these guidelines ourselves. We also coach candidates on ways that they can improve their skills in interviews, and on how they can come across well to clients, accentuating their relevant experience and presenting themselves in the most positive and professional way to clients.

Finally as a hiring manager, be sure also that you are being thoughtful and diligent about which employees are participating in the interview process. Don’t make that process onerous for the hiring team. Put focus on making it efficient, with must-have people involved, and nice-to-have interviews prioritized second.

Read and download our “Top 8 Best Practices for Conducting Interviews” here.

Communication for Candidates Seeking an Executive Role

Putting the hat on as the candidate, here is a reminder of some best practices to follow if you are currently interviewing – and perhaps considering multiple offers.

• Be sure that you’re doing a good job communicating, thanking the employer or the prospective employer, and thanking the recruiter.
• Do not forget the people who are helping to set up interviews, and certainly the people that are interviewing you. Thank them for their time.
• Expressing genuine interest in the position means being accessible and responsive, and not going “dark” during the process.
• Ensure that you are telling the recruiter what’s really going on. They are active in the market and anticipate you having multiple offers. Be upfront with that fact, so that it doesn’t catch people by surprise and create the negative experience or perception of a candidate who wasn’t upfront and could have controlled the message better.

Whether you are the employer or candidate, remember that communication is an attribute that is essential to attracting and retaining top talent – and it is also a key ingredient and requirement of top leadership roles.