Executive search and digitization

Digitization shapes human resources consulting when recruiting executives. We focus on the question of how we can use this technological development to improve the quality of management consulting.

As a consulting firm that devotes all its attention to the employer, ROCKEN Executive Search is witnessing changes at the executive management and board of directors level at first hand. Filling key positions is currently one of the main, and most difficult, challenges facing a company. Digitization provides assistance with and shapes executive search procedures.

When it was first founded, ROCKEN Executive Search embraced specific changes resulting from digitization in order to make its own processes as efficient and expedient as possible. Accordingly, potential candidates are screened online via the ROCKEN platform, which is able to identify both hard and soft skills. The process of making contact is accelerated, leading to personal interviews. Interviews can be carried out at any time by means of video calls, making it possible to contact potential senior executives abroad without their having to be present in person.

The main impact on the ROCKEN Executive Search work method nevertheless lies in the digital and innovative competencies that are increasingly sought after in leaders in a wide range of positions. Digitization is changing management activities. In addition to the usual requirements, managers must have the courage to adopt new approaches and aim to implement changes in the organizational and work culture. They must be willing to back digital processes and to use the digital framework to manage in partnership with their staff. Personal elements of management activities, such as trust, remain relevant but the dissemination of digital know-how is increasingly gaining ground. Managers are required to display greater agility. They must shift from static management activities founded on traditional hierarchies to dynamic actions while capitalizing on innovations and digitization processes.

At ROCKEN Executive Search, we firmly believe that so-called “digital immigrants” – people who first came into contact with the digital world when they were already adults – can also shape digitization processes in companies. Generally, managers targeting promotion must be open to training and to developing their competencies in digital topics. Digitization is an inexorable process shaping and changing all aspects of society. Digital management functions will become increasingly important. The days when only the Chief Innovation, Technology and Digital Officers needed to have a digital understanding at management level are over. In the future, an affinity with digitization at C level across all positions will be a decisive factor in employment.