REC Hosts ECSSA Board Meeting

This month the REC welcomed the European Confederation of Search and Selection Associations (ECSSA) for their bi-annual board meeting. ECSSA is a collective of search and selection confederations in Europe. The REC are members of ECSSA through our Association of Executive Recruiters (AER) sector group. The group is a vital forum for us to network and share intelligence with other European executive search membership bodies.

Although the UK will be leaving the European Union, the ECSSA visit was evidence of the importance of keeping the doors of communication open with the rest of our European partners, so we can learn from each other and better advocate for our respective members.

During their two-day visit ECSSA members joined the AER sector meeting. They shared some of the ongoing challenges their members are facing across Europe in finding suitable candidates, and some of the innovative techniques they are using to promote the use of executive search firms. Despite the differences in culture, employment rates and economic outlook, the challenges across Europe were very similar.

President of ECSSA Etienne Deroure was on hand to reveal the results of the latest ECSSA barometer, a quarterly index which monitors changes in the confidence, turnover, and business performance of executive search firms in European countries. The barometer is an extremely useful tool in predicting short- and long-term developments in the executive search industry. The results from the barometer showed business confidence in the market dropping in line with the European average. With the exception of Italy, all participating countries (Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and Spain) recorded a continuous decline in confidence compared to previous quarters. A decline in business confidence in the UK was also recorded by the REC in our latest JobsOutlook.

The REC also shared with ECSSA our recently-published guide to good practice for executive search firms, Leading the Industry: Good practice in Executive Search. The guide, developed by members of the AER, features some of the principles from ECSSA’s Code of Conduct for Certified Executive Recruitment Consultant (CERC).

The REC will continue to work closely with our European sister federations at ECSSA to find solutions to the most pressing challenges facing the executive search industry. For more information on the REC’s work with ECSSA or for a copy of the ESSCA’s industry barometer, please contact me at ornella.nsio@rec.uk.com.