Career Transition Services

Mis Guleryuz and Her Career Bringing New Talents to the Business World

Mis Güleryüz, Regional Practice Group Leader of SpenglerFox, talks to Talentpolitan magazine about her career that brings new talents to the business world. In a few sentences, tell us about yourself and your business. I was born and raised in Istanbul where I studied to become an electrical and communications engineer. I ended up working in the executive search sector; most recently in the Industrial and Manufacturing Practice Group at SpenglerFox. When and how did you begin working in this field? How did you choose this profession? I worked in sales and business development for 25 years. I was eventually approached by the SpenglerFox executive search company to come work for them. Their contacting me happened at just the right time, for I was considering a career change and a role with less travel. It took two years and five rounds of intense meetings, but I ended up here. Is there a difference between headhunting and executive search? Generally, the processes are the same. In both roles, you are looking to find the right person for a specific role. “Headhunting” is more of marketing term that had been previously used to reflect the challenge of finding highly-skilled people for critical professional roles. That term tended to reflect the perceived aggressiveness of the process. In executive search, we tend to deal with C-suite level positions that focus on company strategy and leadership. How is the executive search process evolving? What are the critical points in the process for finding talent? And what methods do you use: from beginning to end? The process has evolved mainly based on how clients perceive the market. The market for placing new talent is now more global. So, we address all projects from a global perspective working with all the experts in our team to provide input. The most critical aspect of search is communications. There has to be chemistry between ourselves and the client. A successful search process always starts with a very good brief: we sit down and talk to the client about what they want and what they need. The client has to trust us: they need to see that we understand their business, how leadership interacts with employees, and that we can deliver the right talent to execute the given role. The process is not just about one-off assignments: businesses grow and change and, for us, this means we need to monitor our clients' evolution and develop relationships and care programs that are responsive to their changing needs. Does successful recruitment require specific skills? Communication is critical. To be a good executive search consultant you need a strong level of social and emotional intelligence. You have to view assignments from a global perspective, sometimes taking a deeper look at what clients need just as much as what they want. Success in our industry involves having a superb network of contacts and knowing our clients’ businesses from back-to-front. What are your favorite questions used when interviewing candidates? Do you feel that any specific questions are either loved or hated? Do you have a favorite trick question? My favorite question to ask is “What makes you happy?" I ask this both generally (about life) and specifically (about career). Other questions I like to put to candidates include “Can you define an ideal leader?” and “What does success mean to you?” These questions usually give me good insight into the candidate and help me get an idea of their work process, what metrics they use to evaluate other employees’ success, as well as their ability to manage and delegate work. Have you ever experienced failure in life? When and how? For me, failure is a relative term. I think we all have different measures for where we think we “should” be at any given moment in our careers and this defines how we feel about success or failure. I can remember a time at a former company when I really wanted to move to a role at the company's offices in Switzerland. I had delivered on my work, executed well but, in the end, I didn't push hard enough. I later realized that perhaps I didn’t want the move as much as I thought. If I had, I would have pushed myself much harder. What defines your ability to succeed in your business? I think I’ve been successful because of my openness and my honesty. Plus, I am very eager to learn. I think my approach to our business as a positive, but analytical, thinker has helped a lot. So much of what we do is about how we speak, how we approach people and how we deliver on client requests. I think my biggest success has been learning how to engage with clients and deliver specific messages. This has helped develop trust and personal bonds over the years. Do you follow up with people after you’ve placed them in a job? How do you feel watching their personal development? The key thing here is that we’re not selling a product. We are changing peoples’ lives. That’s why we integrate follow-up tools into our placement support processes. We have a multi-phases review scheme to monitor how candidates are doing and to discuss their satisfaction. As a rule, I also make calls to candidates right on the first day. I want them to know that we care how they do in their new role and are willing to pass relevant information back to their bosses so that management can work to improve onboarding processes. Finally, follow-up with candidates is definitely an investment that pays off, because many times over we’ve received very good referrals from people we’ve successfully placed. They trust us and know their colleagues will be in good hands with us. Let’s talk about your customers? Why do, or should they, choose to work with SpenglerFox? I’d say because of our commitment to candidates and our thoroughness in managing the placement process. We do client feedback reviews and most often they compliment us on our communications process, our support programs, speed of response and our integration of coaching services into our search process. There are many other businesses out there that do what we do. However, we invest a lot in relationship-building. We place emphasis on our trusted advisor role. We also focus on a borderless approach to doing business, where we leverage the contacts and know-how of experts in our global practice groups to find clients the best talent available on the market. How does someone follow in your career path? How do they begin and how do they advance? Essentially, there are two routes. Either you join the business as an intern and then gradually move to a consultant role. Or, in other cases, people move to this business after having worked for several years in a specific industry segment. I think that, afterwards, to thrive in our business you have to have a strong interest in people: in building long-term relationships. People in our business advance and succeed because of a willingness to learn and take on new skills. Our business is constantly evolving and we increasingly see impact from sector overlap (i.e. integrating disciplines like tech and psychology) and the need to learn continually. How would you define a talented candidate? I think your best talent comes from people who are willing to engage. You want someone with people skills as well as emotional and social intelligence. It truly depends on the situation though. Some businesses may feel that the top talent is the executive that performs best; the one who meets quarterly targets. Others may define success as the manager who finds the best solutions to problems. At SpenglerFox, we do our best not to pigeon-hole talent or insist on working within the paradigm of traditional roles. In some cases, we help clients define and place candidates in jobs that hadn't existed in the past. Top talent is able to work across disciplines and inspire and motivate colleagues and teams with their problem-solving skills.

Jens Friedrich, CEO of SpenglerFox, Assesses 6 Months After MBO.

"Aligned Vision, Trust and Communication, sustained our momentum during the period of change." Jens Friedrich, CEO at SpenglerFox, assesses his first six months at the helm of the global executive search firm after successfully completing a Management Buy Out (“MBO”) of the company last summer and outlines the challenges that lie ahead for the business during the remainder of 2018 and the years to come. What has been your biggest challenge since taking on the top leadership role in the company? One of my most critical priorities, post the MBO, was to ensure that all interest parties maintained trust and confidence in the business and also to ensure the business didn´t lose any trading momentum because of the distractions caused by the MBO process. Given we were building up into the typically slower summer period at the very time of the transaction, it was important the business would not get additionaly distracted. At the same time it was crucial we addressed our team’s anxieties and undoubted questions that they would have relating to the firms changes as swiftly and efficiently as possible. To address the challenges, I spoke to as many employees as possible, listening to their views and answering their questions as best I could. Additionally, I worked with our marketing team to set up a structured communications process. One of the first initiatives was to conduct a thorough staff survey across the company. After gathering and assessing the results, we followed up with a company-wide virtual town hall (webinar) so that we could discuss important issues as a group. We received a lot of positive feedback from our team. This was a crucial indicator that our staff were responding to and appreciative of our efforts to involve them as much as possible in the transition process. Perhaps not surprisingly, these discussions uncovered additional matters that we hadn’t previously thought of, before concluding the MBO. Such discussions ran the gamut, from how do we address new employment contracts, to establishing governance for internal and external communications. I spent a lot of time with my team working through best ways to address all the aspects related to entering this new period for the firm. What did you focus on in particular when setting up your management team? Diversification and utilising our people’s strengths. The key to this has been placing people into the right roles, roles in which they will have the highest impact on the business and from which they will get the highest level of satisfaction. My personal focus has been to carefully select the leadership team, as this group will be leading by example and will undoubtly have a significant impact on the focus and positive involvement of all other team members. Another major aspect was to empower and give key people accountability for critical projects. For example we have developed a new talent management and learning & development programme which was rolled out in December 2017. This initiative is led by one of my partners and Country Managers. I also formed a new executive board to act in both the shareholders’ and the company’s best interest and added trusted independent board advisors for additional constructive and high impact support. Has the ownership change brought about any changes to the scope of services you provide? The shift in ownership has clearly reprioritised our focus in creating a competitive advantage for the business while delivering a more consistent and enhanced customer experience. Our emphasis is now on continuous improvement as well as diversification of our services. We are in the process of strengthening our strategic partner network and also widening our global geographical footprint, through exploring opportunities in new emerging markets such as Israel, where we have recently signed a new alliance. Additionally, we have introduced new services and products, such as Recruitment Process Outsourcing and we are building a Technology practice to add to our core vertical expertise. Overall we are in the process of revitalizing our true core values, whilst at the same time in a positive way challenging the status quo and reinvigorating our firms strong DNA and culture. Given we are now the owners of the SpenglerFox business, such significant change in the business ensures that we are empowered to drive the business and to shape it´s future in the best interest of all stakeholders. What feedback have you received after having completed the Management Buyout? Our client responses have been overwhelmingly positive. We haven´t missed an opportunity to share the positive changes that the MBO has had on our business, particularly when in personal meetings with our clients and have experienced tremendous support and backing for our entrepreneurial endeavor. Very encouraging for the future of our business. I have also made sure we had a continuous flow of internal opinions and views on the MBO transformation process. That way we could use staff feedback to inform and guide the process and react to concerns in a timely manner. Other internal activities have focused on reviewing our business operations and expenditures. Moving forward we have spent a considerable amount of time rationalizing our business cost profile, planning how best to use company resources as efficiently as possible, while at the same time ensuring that the DNA our entrepreneurial spirit has, continues to flourish. Where do you want the company to be a year from now? As a business, one of our key objectives is that we continue to offer services to our clients that are consistent, sustainable and reliable, whilst also ensuring that we retain our existing client base and grow in the future in new sectors and jurisdictions. Ultimately, by ensuring our clients are satisfied, perhaps even exceed their expectations, our future is bright. My focus and that of my partners is to continue to drive the business in that direction. At SpenglerFox we believe in care, appreciation, understanding and making a positive difference to people's lives through our talent processes. The business is built to serve and add value to our clients organisations. This will always stay at the forefront of what we are doing. What issues or challenges will be important to your business in the coming year? Internally we will prioritise on the personal development, involvement and empowerment of our own people and ensure everyone has a clear sense of direction. In these times of change and beyond, this will be clear success factor. Other aspects will be linked to topics like digitalization, which I believe will have a major influence on how we and our clients will innovate in the coming years. New technologies will shape and influence the services we provide. We will be ramping up our activities in the Tech space and explore how latest technologies impact our other practice groups. Additionally, I believe the manner in which technologies are penetrating the workplace will overtake cultural and gender diversity issues as a top concern for businesses around the globe. We will certainly be speaking more and more to our clients about their tech transformation. Besides that, diversification of our service portfolio is on top of my list. The traditional Executive Search service is reshaping and we aim to innovate, leave a mark, and be at the forefront of this transformation.

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Mis Guleryuz and Her Career Bringing New Talents to the Business World

Jens Friedrich, CEO of SpenglerFox, Assesses 6 Months After MBO.