2014 Human Resources Practice Area

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Human Resources has been a focus practice area since the inception of our company. While we are not a one dimensional pure HR search firm, we have expertise in finding HR senior leader talent in many industries, across the U.S., and for all size organizations.  We have the experience and expertise to identify true HR business partners for your critical positions.

Searches for Human Resources talent continues to top our list as one of our most active practice areas. There is a marked increase in the number and the caliber of talent and organizational development roles inside the organizations we support. We have seen a shift in which many organizations are now combining organizational development, talent management, learning and talent acquisition. The need for leaders with broader overall talent management skills is on the rise.

We have also seen an increase in organizations reaching out to us to help them build, improve or supplement their internal talent acquisition functions. As more organizations recognize the criticality of a strong acquisition function (as part of an overall talent management strategy) , it has become clear that hiring contract recruiters off the street is not going to achieve the ROI and performance needed.

As a result, we have taken our PinPoint Talent Services assessment tool and recruiter development program to our clients. We have assisted our clients with upgrading their internal talent acquisition team performance and also with supplementing their recruiting needs with short and long term recruiting arrangements. As an example, we are pleased to announce that we have added an additional team member to our project team supporting a large aerospace client with their recruiting activities in Europe.

2014 has been another strong year in finding great HR talent including the following key placements:

  • Vice President of Human Resources and several Human Resources Director positions for a $16B premiere diversified industrial corporation
  • Multiple Director of Human Resources positions for a $8B automotive supplier
  • Director of Human Resources for a leader in the aerospace supplier market
  • Division Human Resources Manager for a $14B diversified industrial corporation
  • Senior Organizational Development Manager for a global consumer products leader
  • Labor Manager for a market leader in products and systems for electrical installations

We are also currently conducting searches for the following:

  • Vice President of Human Resources for a $1B medical technologies business unit of a global diversified industrial corporation
  • Director of Global Learning and Development for a $2B global supplier to the aerospace and energy management markets
  • Compensation Manager for a market leading specialty chemical manufacturer
  • Union Management Relations Representative for a leading engine manufacturer
  • Various plant HR Manager roles for the automotive supply and electrical installation markets

Our clients are demanding more of their Human Resources leaders. They want HR leaders who speak the language of business first and functional expertise second. They want demonstrated capability and success in leading large scale change, expertise in talent management, culture change, managing global workforces, strategic thinking, market space understanding and a healthy dose of understanding business financials and metrics thrown in as well.

At Westport Intl, we understand the ever-changing talent needs of the world today and commit to finding the very best the market has to offer. Find out more.

Internal Metrics Tell the Story

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What are the internal metrics and vernacular that most recruiting and search organizations have around performance? Usually you will see metrics such as new search engagements, job orders, paid first retainer, paid second retainer, total administrative fees invoiced, etc. All of these are measures that have been traditionally used by search firms to track their success in transactional business terms. But what about internal quality of work vs. quantity of work? What about also measuring client satisfaction and development?

At Westport, our metrics are focused on the quality of work we do for our clients, not selling more volume. Being a client focused organization is the very core of our business model and operating principles. We achieve over 80% of our growth revenue from current clients and referrals. We believe that our performance speaks for itself. Do we love getting new clients – absolutely! The difference being that when we do get a new client, our focus is on executing for them not selling to the next one.

The Organic Growth Challenge

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Our clients span many different industries – technology, medical device, industrial, building materials, automotive, chemical and aerospace. Over the last few years, we have witnessed many, or most, clients and even non-clients in these markets actively engage in various organizational development, restructuring and change initiatives. Many of these initiatives are implemented with the goal of making organizations leaner, more efficient, less risk adverse or better positioned either internally or in a market space. The traditional short-cycle, long-cycle business plans don’t necessarily fit with today’s global variables and ever changing business landscape. Every leader will tell you that change is essential for an organization to thrive with the new dynamics of today’s global market.

But what we see is that as organizations grow and become more complex, with complicated matrix reporting structures and a strict focus on being “lean”, the unintended by-products are the slow death of internal entrepreneurism and other internal drivers of organic growth. The new change initiative challenge will be how to drive real organic growth in the new structures. Large organizations with talented business development, R&D and product marketing teams struggle with this task. Real organic growth does not mean growing by 4% when the market is up by 3% – it means adding substantive, economic value add to an organization. And it is becoming ever increasingly impossible to do.

The trend of late has been to add growth and value through accretive growth versus organic growth. Wall Street continues to punish CEO’s and stock prices continue to tumble for those companies that don’t demonstrate earnings growth. However, it’s a long-term risky proposition to rely on accretive growth when statistics show the small number of M&A deals that actually generate shareholder value and economic value add to an organization.

In our new “lean,” matrixed and specialized organizations, where organizations are delivering well on capital efficiency, how do we now tackle the great new change initiative of delivering on real organic growth? Those organizations that figure it out the fastest will probably be the biggest winners in the next decade.