The ethics surrounding executive recruitment in Adelaide
This is arguably the most dangerous moment in recent history in regard to integrity in global governance, so debate around ethics and leadership matters.
I am extremely passionate about and committed to raising ethical standards in my own industry and if possible, beyond.
When Hender Consulting chose its values (integrity, accountability, authenticity, credibility, impartiality, humility) , we started with ethics as the primary lens, and have encountered literally thousands of ethical judgement moments on the journey.
As a recruiter of executives and board members and remuneration advisor, my role is to ethically represent the best interests of my client – the employer.
We find people for jobs not jobs for people. Using this first principle to test many ethical judgements is a good start.
You might like
The following 10 ethical issues that face the recruitment industry certainly apply to a broad range of business environments and dynamics:
1. Some recruiters are providing commercial services such as mentoring, professional development, coaching, CV advice etc to candidates. To be clear, this means they are charging candidates money whilst also advising the employers as to the merits and appropriate remuneration for candidates. This is a fundamental conflict of interest. It would be like a real estate agent representing and receiving payment from both buyers and sellers. I have even had calls from professionals offering to buy some of my time to increase their chance of making a shortlist!
2. I’m not on any boards personally, despite invitations from time to time. The reason is that I recruit CEOs and Board Members for a living. In a small city like Adelaide, I would probably have a conflict of interest quickly if I joined any board. In a bigger city, it is still a conflict but might take longer to surface.
3. My job as a recruiter is to maximise choice for my client, the employer. To do this we use a combination of broad promotion or advertising of the role complemented by executive search. Some recruiters explicitly advise against advertising roles for a range of articulated (but in my view questionable) reasons which will certainly reduce choice and not serve their clients’ best interests. I (and they) know what they are up to.
Stay informed, daily
4. Recruiters face “isms” every day. Sadly, conscious and unconscious bias is alive and well. In my view everyone must call out agism, sexism, racism, cronyism, nepotism. My favourite answer to the question “How old do you think she is?” is “I hadn’t given it a great deal of thought. Was there a reason you were asking?” And my favourite response to “He has never worked in Australia” is “Yes – so I suspect he will probably do everything within his power to make a success of his first chance to do so!”
5. A key part of all recruitments is reference checking. Gathering references creates a range of ethical dilemmas. Contacting referees without the candidate’s permission is technically breaking the candidate’s privacy and yet not contacting appropriate referees potentially damages the best interest of the client which is a contrary ethical challenge. Is it ethical as a referee to false positive a candidate to get rid of them or to false negative a candidate to stop them leaving? Yes, – sadly, both happen.
6. The existence of NDAs when a professional leaves an organisation also creates significant ethical dilemmas for recruiters. How do you conduct a reference that is fair to the candidate or the client, when neither the candidate nor the employer can discuss the circumstances of the departure? I encourage you to think this through if you find yourself in a situation where you need to sign one as an employer or an employee.
7. Is it OK to encourage a candidate to possibly join an employer where you intuitively know the organisation has serious issues? Is it OK to allow AI to write a cover letter for you or to shortlist candidates? Is it ethical to have diversity above merit as a selection criterion in a recruitment process?
8. The one degree of separation in connected cities also creates a range of ethical challenges. We have had husband and wife on the same shortlist and also identical twins. Another relatively common occurrence is boss and subordinate in the same candidate field or even both on the shortlist. Think through the ethics of dealing with this scenario. We have also had a situation where the primary referee for one of the final two candidates was married to the other candidate.
9. A regular unethical practice in the industry has been a recruiter approaching or headhunting candidates that they have recently recruited to organisations. This sadly sometimes occurs just after a replacement guarantee expires. Another disappointing and clearly unethical practice involves approaching other people within client organisations – putting people in one door and taking others out another door
10. Finally, many ethical considerations can, of course, be managed, if we apply simple principles such as transparency and old-fashioned honesty. If conflicts of interest are proactively and loudly declared they can often be managed. So my advice is to err on the side of caution, act as though everyone is watching, imagine the facts on the front page of the newspaper and constantly ask: Is this OK?
I cannot overstate my dismay when Donald Trump recently appointed Elon Musk (who spent millions helping him be elected) to advise government on policy including for industries in which Musk owns businesses.
The conflicts are so plainly evident and the preparedness to ignore them so blatant that I fear the fight to uphold ethical standards is going to be harder than we all thought.
Andrew Reed is the General Manager of Hender Consulting.
To find out about the latest executive appointments and opportunities, sign up for Corporate Ladder in Business Insight. It’s free and informative and delivered to your inbox each Monday morning.
