The 5 Biggest Mistakes Software Firms Make When Hiring in ...sandhill.com/wp-content/files_mf/biggest_mistakes.pdfThe 5 Biggest Mistakes Software Firms Make When Hiring in Europe &

COPYRIGHT 2011 – Intrinsic Executive Search Ltd. Reproduction is prohibited without permission

Prepared by: Ben Watkins, Director, Intrinsic Executive Search Ltd. Email: [email protected]. Direct line: +44 (0) 1932 828225

The 5 Biggest Mistakes Software Firms Make When Hiring in Europe & How To Avoid Them Perhaps you are located outside of Europe and have been tasked with hiring a Senior Sales Executive based in Germany but you do not have the time, network or expertise to do so. Or are you located in Sweden and need a replacement VP EMEA, but do not know the current compensation expectation levels? Finally, you could be a VP EMEA yourself and tasked with the challenge of sourcing a high number of top International Executives and are under incredible time and revenue pressure from your CEO? The Senior European Enterprise Software Recruitment market is highly sophisticated, complex, diverse and has huge cultural differences from country to country. A lack of guidance can result in a poor and very badly executed hiring strategy, but fortunately many of these mistakes are avoidable. This report will give you a concise guide of some of the common mistakes Hiring Managers make when building and scaling their team across Europe, often in less familiar countries. Our strategies listed below will show you how to enhance your chances of a straight-forward and successful European hiring strategy and help increase your chances of recruiting Europe’s top Commercial talent without wasting huge amounts of time, money and stress.



The European Market The European Union consists of 27 member states, a population of over 500 million, 23 official languages, an area of 1,609,807 square miles and in 2010 generated an estimated 20% of global GDP. There are also multiple laws or treaties that differ from Country to Country including Employment Law and varying levels of Social Security. One can under-estimate the complexities of hiring in Europe, the occasional protracted delays and cultural differences. However, if you understand how the European Hiring market works, then you can vastly increase your chances of obtaining good quality human capital which in turn, will give your business a European dimension and lead to revenue growth in a new market.



1 – NOT PLANNING TIMESCALES CORRECTLY Many software companies start a recruiting campaign expecting the candidate to start within 4 weeks. When one considers legal notice periods in some countries such as Sweden and France have a minimum of 3 months, then one can see the problem. In Europe it is rare for candidates to resign and start a new job within 4 weeks. Of course it is possible to find available candidates quickly in any country, but the choice can be limited to those out of work, contracting or recently let go. Whilst there are some great candidates “in between jobs” the candidate pool will often be small thus giving candidates more negotiating power as there is less competition, so your firm could end up paying a higher package. Further, when a Hiring Manager is located outside of the Country he/she is recruiting in, the recruiting process can be protracted due to having to try and sync diaries across different geographies. 2 – FAILURE TO CREATE A PIPELINE OF COMMITTED CANDIDATES We hear it all the time, a Hiring Manager chases after an exceptional Senior Sales candidate for three to six months, offers them the job but unfortunately the candidate rejects the offer or changes their mind putting the software company back to square one and thus missing out on two quarters or so of potential revenue. Why put all your eggs in one basket? Imagine the situation, you have 2, 3 or even 4 highly relevant, qualified, committed and interested candidates wanting to join your team. You are in the fortunate situation of being able to choose whom to select and you have the ability to be able to dictate the contract terms rather than the other way around. This is a win-win situation for you and must be a goal for any Hiring Manager. Such candidates are commercial, competitive and sales led. A new role is much more exciting if you have to compete rather than being offered the role with no competition. 3 – OVER RELYING ON ONLINE ADVERTISING FOR SOURCING THE BEST TALENT With European employment rates for the top Enterprise Software Senior Sales Executives at 99%, one needs to be pro-active in today’s market, the best are staying put unless there is a compelling reason to leave! We are aware that it is possible to advertise and fill jobs otherwise Internet advertising would have disappeared years ago. Certainly for the easier jobs to fill where the number of suitable candidates is plentiful this channel can work. For the tougher, more competitive roles, a highly pro-active approach is required. In today’s market, when seeking senior sales or commercial talent, out of 200 or 300 target candidates, normally only a handful are seriously interested in making a move. It is imperative to identify, approach and sell the opportunity to these top candidates. Unfortunately, Internet advertising is highly unlikely to reach these key targets. Further, these top performers expect to be called by Europe’s top Recruiters when a relevant role arises, they do not need to look themselves



4 – FAILURE TO OFFER AN ATTACTIVE REMUNERATION PACKAGE It is sad but true - a company can spend many months seeking that star candidate with very specific and unique skills, only to offer a package either similar or below the market rate which can lead to a rejection. In today’s Enterprise Software and eCommerce markets, hiring firms have become very particular about the precise fit they seek to carry out a commercial role. It is not easy to close high value deals during the current Financial Crisis, so it seems the best are in higher demand than ever before. The high-demand of the best senior European commercial talent is also increasing their worth as many companies would be interested in employing their services. To ensure you are successful in obtaining the services of a star performer, ensure you have the correct budget to offer a compelling salary package plus any extras such as stock, guaranteed commission and car allowance. 5 – NOT SEARCHING THE MARKET THOROUGHLY It is tough & time-consuming finding top talent in a very competitive European market place. To maximize your firm’s chances of be able to source and recruit the best, we suggest leaving no stone unturned. We believe the best approach is by using one experienced search firm to undertake a thorough search of the market for your hire(s). There is a perception that Executive Search costs a lot more money that a multiple agency contingency approach, this is not necessarily the case. Companies who work with multiple vendors often only receive inferior candidates who are sitting on databases and responding to online adverts.



Who are we and why should you follow our advice? Intrinsic Executive Search Ltd is a leading boutique Executive Search firm specializing in the pan-European recruitment of Vice President, Director, Senior Sales, Pre-sales and Marketing executives for enterprise software and eCommerce firms. Since 1996, the company’s Directors have partnered with over hundreds of enterprise software, eCommerce and companies, assisting them with their European recruitment, often start-ups in new territories. We cover the UK, France, Germany, Scandinavia, Benelux and Southern Europe. We have covered markets such as Web Analytics, Business Intelligence, eCommerce, Fraud, ETRM , Sourcing, CRM, Document Management and Open source. Some of our recent clients include eGain Communications, Retail Solutions, Norkom Technologies, Information Builders, Spotfire TIBCO, Triple Point Technology, Temenos, CombineNet and Demandware. We have appeared on the Beye Network and our opinions have been sought by Sandhill.com. We also have our unique “How’s The Market” Youtube channel, and produce regular newsletters read by hundreds of senior Enterprise Software Executives. The information and strategies that you are about to read about are the result of over a decade’s experience of hiring on behalf of software companies on a Pan-European basis. We have built into our own processes a fast and streamlined approach that creates a rapid and precise hiring process, thus overcoming some of these challenges. This includes implementing a proven search structure and confirming interview and flight schedules for first round interviews at the beginning of the search in European locations such as Frankfurt, Paris or London. This allows relevant candidates to plan in advance so ensuring that appropriate candidates can actually get to the interview. This is particularly important in a country such as Germany due to its size and geography. Executives often plan their travel several weeks ahead so interviews at short notice are often difficult or impossible to arrange. What Next? If you would like to discuss in more detail the Best Practices of Sourcing Europe’s Best Talent, or have a particular European hiring related need, then please contact Ben Watkins by email [email protected] or call +44 (0) 1932 828225 for a consultation. We look forward to hearing from you.

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The 5 Biggest Mistakes Software Firms Make When Hiring in ...sandhill.com/wp-content/files_mf/biggest_mistakes.pdfThe 5 Biggest Mistakes Software Firms Make When Hiring in Europe &