Executive Upgrade
Why the right leader matters … and where to find them
Presented in partnership with Robert Half • Photos by Kayo Yamawaki
The need for good leadership has never been more pronounced. It impacts hiring, retention, employee engagement, and productivity. And its importance in landing complicated organizational shifts through successful change management is highly visible in the market right now, said Nick Scheele, managing director of Robert Half’s Executive Search division.
“What we have observed over the past several years is that many global organizations—and this includes both Japanese and foreign—have been making a concerted effort to upgrade their leadership capability,” he added.
With more than 70 years of history, plus 300 locations and some 14,000 employees around the world, Robert Half has a long and deep view of the talent market. “Simply put, we have a global network that’s unlike any other and spans nearly a century of relationships, which we can leverage,” Scheele explained.
Robert Half provides contract and permanent placement solutions for finance, accounting, technology, marketing, and HR in Japan. Protiviti, a fully owned subsidiary of Robert Half, offers internal audit, risk, business, and technology consulting solutions and we regularly partner to offer clients a full suite of services.
What powers it all is their global network. Fellow Executive Search Managing Director Andrew Sipus said this pool of diverse expertise and experience creates synergy between Japan and the United States, as well as the rest of the world, when it comes to Executive Search.
“We are experts in providing bespoke retained search advisory services for finance, accounting, technology, marketing, and HR sectors, with more than 100 Executive Search colleagues around the world who are just a phone call away,” Sipus explained. “If we look to the United States as an example, our Executive Search division received the Forbes 2022 accolade as America’s Best Executive Recruiting Firm, which is certainly a testament to the quality of relationships we have at our disposal … we can easily tap into them, their resources, and their markets to understand the latest market conditions and trends in whatever area we need to better understand.”
“Globally, Robert Half and Protiviti have been named by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation for five consecutive years as one of the best places to work for LGBTQ+ equality.”
Robert Half Japan regularly connects with peers from North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region to gain the latest market insights. This helps them successfully fill difficult searches that require unique resources and expertise.
Such searches can arise as Japanese companies look to expand their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as well as remain competitive in areas evolving beyond traditional approaches to management.
Sipus recalls one such case.
“We scanned the market many times over and found that what our client was looking for simply didn’t exist in Japan; or, if it did, it was untouchable,” he explained. “There were no more than a handful of candidates, and even then, they had only 20–30 percent of what the client required. What that meant for us is that we had to be very creative. We had to do a lot of coaching with the client, and we had to look outside Japan. Through this rigorous process, we were able to identify Japanese talent located overseas, and the client was supportive of relocating them back to Japan.”
Nick Scheele (left) and Andrew Sipus
Robert Half has also helped companies factor DEI into their Executive Search process and consider non-traditional candidates.
“In the case of Japanese companies, we’ve shown them what other organizations are doing and how those organizations are benefiting from more inclusive practices,” explained Sipus. “This could mean highlighting impacts on engagement, creativity, employer branding, and how that leads to gains in productivity and overall business health. We can use tools such as market maps, which give a more accurate sense of the distribution of talent, to counter or confirm the assumption that there are no solutions in the market. This helps our clients identify opportunities where they can make strategic hires using DEI and relevant data sets as a consideration.”
Robert Half itself is awash in diversity. The nearly 100 employees in the Japan office represent 22 nationalities. And globally, Robert Half and Protiviti have been named by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation for five consecutive years as one of the best places to work for LGBTQ+ equality. They have also earned a perfect score on the foundation’s Corporate Equality Index, a national benchmark for US businesses’ dedication to LGBTQ+ equality in the workplace. They have also been selected for the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index for the fourth consecutive year, for their commitment to promoting equality, creating opportunities for women to succeed, and providing a culture that supports diversity.
Is Robert Half’s Executive Search division the right choice for you?
Scheele encourages those considering hiring leadership talent to think about the level of engagement they’d like, the level of services required, and what it is going to take to deliver the talent sought. “If you need a bespoke, dedicated project team that won’t simply present you with profiles but will manage the entire process and fully represent your interests as an extension of your talent acquisition and employer branding, then Robert Half’s Executive Search division is an ideal fit.
