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Excerpt from "Desperately Seeking the Right Executives"
NJBiz Interview, September 9, 2002
NJBIZ: Tell us how the executive job market in pharmaceuticals is doing.
Reilly: What is happening is there are very few brand new drugs in the pipeline which is negatively affecting earnings and the stock price. Things are insecure. Prescriptions are prescriptions; people still need their medication. So, fortunately the ultimate consumer isn't shying away. There is a tightening of the fist in [when it comes to] expanding office space, retaining executive search firms, consulting firms, media people, marketing people. That's where we have felt it out of this office. Some of our very strong clients have shied away and are relying more on their internal teams, their HR teams. Also, there's insecurity on the merger front with Pfizer and Pharmacia, and prior to that that, with Pfizer and Warner Lambert. So you've got executives that I've met with over the last year-and-a-half in these companies that don't know if they're going to have jobs. |
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NJBIZ: Does that mean Big Pharma companies in New Jersey are now putting ads in the paper for top jobs?
Reilly: No. Take Bristol-Myers Squibb, for example. There is a lot of turmoil there [but it is] retaining world-class executive search firms to conduct CFO-level searches and really at the VP level and, in most cases, at the director level. It's pretty much at director level and below that they become more cost-conscious. The other thing that's happened is the CEO of the company or the board members as well as other executives will sit down and say "who do we know" collectively, "who can we pick up the phone and call." In this time of uncertainty, anything executives can do to get a sure thing, they'll do it, including hiring someone that they already know who may even be in a different industry who previous to now has not been interested.
NJBIZ: They want somebody they know?
Reilly: They want somebody they know right now. In other words, now more than ever from an ethical standpoint, from a character-based standpoint, is this someone who is going to turn the other cheek or look away or is this someone who will face the music? If it's bad news, he's not going to be afraid to announce it.
NJBIZ: Would companies still want a recruiter to be in the middle as a buffer in those types of searches?
Reilly: Where we come in is when eight or 10 people sit down and say, "This is what we need and this is the type of person we need and who do you know." They come up with maybe two or three people and say, "No, we want to compare these two or three to 150 that a search firm can provide for us." If no one is dead on profile then they will go out and use a firm.
NJBIZ: How do you prospect for people?
Reilly: Right now with the state of the pharmaceutical industry in New Jersey, there is a lot of uncertainty and consequently there are a lot of executives who are confidentially looking. They come to us. We are getting bombarded with 150 résumés a day over e-mail. These are quality people making $150,000 and above.
NJBIZ: Are there any resources you recommend for job hunters?
Reilly: John Lucht's book "Rites of Passage" (The Viceroy Press) is pretty much the required reading for executives at $100,000 and above. [Reilly also recommends Caliper Corp. in Princeton for its evaluation tests.]
NJBIZ: Do you think job hunters often don't do enough self-assessment?
Reilly: Yes. It's understandable: the kids come, the mortgage is there, there's an income level that needs to be maintained. The question "am I happy doing what I am doing" doesn't come up that much. People generally are not as reflective as maybe they need to be. The good news about being downsized is it forces an individual to become reflective, internally focused, [to look at] what am I good at, what am I not good at.
NJBIZ: What are the biggest blunders you see candidates making in how they do a search?
Reilly: Well, it's not really a mistake. It's just getting over that fear of putting yourself out there, getting over that fear of rejection. It's kind of admitting that you're at a crossroads and you need somebody's help. That's probably the biggest obstacle that I see out there.
NJBIZ: What about the telecommunications market?
Reilly: Telecom, all the experts say, is in a depression. Our business out of this office is almost to a complete standstill. Fortunately we're in other industries. In 1999 and 2000 we had record breaking years locally as well as nationally in telecom. We just kind of rode the wave. There is overcapacity out there right now.
NJBIZ: What do you mean by overcapacity?
Reilly: The phone carriers out there, the AT&Ts and the MCIs, have enough equipment to last them for a long, long time. So it's very difficult for a Lucent or a Cisco or a Nortel to sell more. Consequently, more and more telecom people are bailing out. Marketing people are moving into pharmaceuticals and consumer goods. Telecom folks are getting into consulting more than ever after they leave the big firms.
NJBIZ: What telecom positions are being filled?
Reilly: The closer to the customer, the better. The folks that can drive business now are getting hired. The folks that are technology-, engineering- and R&D-driven are not. These places are loaded with folks like that. |
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