After many, many years in the practice of Executive Search in the Philippines, it seems where we are today as an Industry has not progressed much in terms of Integrity & Ethics. The saying may be true then that the more things change, the more they stay the same! Sad.
By this statement I mean that both tenured search firms as well as relatively new players seem too willing to choose to short cut proven processes. Much of this poor practice is attributable to old, bad habits that have not been rectified by people who have had the opportunity to do so but instead preferred to turn a blind eye. Perhaps they will say it is none of their business, if a different third party is at fault. Or perhaps some would say they would not like to be seen as “goody-two-shoes” and thus avoid controversy. The worst reason is because no one cared to act at the right place and time. Malpractices continue.
Unfortunately, many young and new parties who only recently set up their own so-called executive search practice could not do any better than their elderly counterparts because they have not been given the best examples to emulate. And neither have they bothered to study what it takes to develop into a world-class service which abound on the global stage. Truth to tell, many long-time but non-ethical players continue to be visible in the local scene as resource persons in public fora i.e. delivering talks here; sharing experiences there. Without hesitation, these individuals act as though they “speak for the Industry” when nothing could be farther from the truth.
It is time to rectify the poor impression of many Business Leaders and Search Service served by all local search firms. In every search-related activity and / or process to include:
phone conversations / chats / exchanges between search consultant & client company contacts
phone conversations / chats / exchanges between search consultant & executive talents or candidates
online or face-to-face interviews between search consultant & executive talents / candidates
discussions between search consultant & client company contacts about shortlisted candidates and other terms & conditions
e-mails exchanged between search consultant & client company contacts
That each and every interaction stated above, between and among all Stakeholders, must be acted upon with truth and sincerity, transparency and living the Code of Ethics.
Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear!