You have to give Korn Ferry/Future Step an A for effort and persistence. After the dismal failure of their high-end job board which ran out of steam in 2002, they are back in the saddle again with a series of acquisitions moving their traditional Executive Search business into the Human Capital Management space, predominately focused on:
1) Leadership development (with the acquisition of
Leadersource and Lominger), and
2) Talent Management with their acquisition of the Newman Group.
When the economy is hot and mid to senior management recruitment is difficult, firms like Korn Ferry experience significant revenue growth.

During this period most Executive Search firms try to broaden their footprint into coaching, leadership development and consulting. We are not aware of any that have managed to transition more than 20% of their revenue to this new channel, but many are trying. Quick poll:

1) How many of you would use an executive search firm to:
a. Develop your leadership
b. Engage in a high level executive consulting engagement
c. Coach your leaders
d. Implement a talent management system
Participate in my quick poll on executive search firms here.

At the same time Executive Search firms are moving down scale, the job boards are moving up.

Monster and CareerBuilder are both building out high touch business opportunities: Monster, with their relationship with DDI and HRSmart; CareerBuilder with the start of a consulting arm that will focus on employment branding, recruitment strategies and workforce acquisition planning.

2) How many of you would use a job board to:
a. Develop your talent acquisition strategy
b. Engage in a high level executive consulting engagement
c. Supply you with an integrated talent management solution
d. Offer you executive search
Participate in my quick poll on jobboards here.

At the same time you see Outplacement firms (whose revenue are countercyclical to the economy) building out leadership offerings within their product line.

The bottom line …too many players in an already crowded market with very little differentiation on their product lines. No wonder the average HR person is very confused.

Also attached are some recent presentations I have done. crm.hr.com/onlinemagazinepresence

The first is to a bunch of Canadian Publishers about creating an online presence as well as utilizing Search Engine Optimization to drive traffic to their business.

The second is a presentation to a group of Human Capital CEO’s in Boston and a presentation on global workforce trends given by one of Monster’s key contributors Neal Bruce, VP, Alliances.
crm.hr.com/bostonceobreakfast

In regards to Hailey’s grad day … I survived and I have to say I am absolutely shocked at how many females get their nails done at 9:15 each morning.

Attached is a beautiful picture of Hailey on her special day. I figure with five kids, this is the first of 20 more graduation events that we will have to attend.