Executive Grapevine, December 2006

Betty Thayer is Chief Executive of exec-appointments.com.

MBA-Direct.com, a division of exec-appointments.com, was launched in November to provide the top business schools with a central place for their students and alumni to find the best jobs. And for employers and recruiters to have a profile/CV database to use for advertised and unadvertised roles, pinpointing candidates at the early stages of their search process.

The number of current students and alumni from the FT MBA Global 100 is estimated to be over 2 million executives. A massive pool of talent to tap into.

According to a recent survey by Bibby Financial Services, the biggest worry for nearly half of UK owners and managers in the recruitment industry is attracting high quality candidates. At the same time newspapers are increasing their advertising rates even though their circulation is falling. Sales of the Sunday Times fell by 8.37% year on year and they are pushing ad rates up by about 5% (source: Media Week).

Is your old-fashioned sourcing approach wasting money on advertising in the broadsheets? 1990’s thinking believes that having your company’s name in the paper results in requirements being filled. Are candidates really being placed - or are you paying to advertise to an audience that simply is not there?

During the same period that saw the Sunday Times’ circulation decrease, traffic on exec-appointments.com increased by over 34%. Registrations of AB executives are over 130,000 and the number of ads and advertisers increases each week. exec-appointments.com has many accolades and success stories as Europe’s leading executive jobsite.

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That is why adding MBA-Direct.com to our portfolio of sites is so exciting. The internet sourcing methods for recruiters is now unparalleled through the exec-appointments.com suite of services.

On MBA-Direct.com candidates can load a profile into a searchable database on either a public or confidential basis. Employers and recruiters will be able to search the database and send the role to those who match their requirements. This can be accompanied by a job ad to the wider community.

What else will be different? Unlike other sites, MBA-Direct.com does not charge a placement fee for candidates placed. This is particularly important for recruitment consultants who have not previously had an affordable option for targeting MBA-qualified candidates.

Those interested in finding and hiring experienced MBAs will know that those on the register are interested in discussing career alternatives. In addition to serving newly graduated MBAs, it will also cater for those who graduated several years ago, have proven themselves in their chosen career, and are ripe for the next senior management challenge. The international nature of Europe’s MBA programmes also means that these candidates will have a perspective and language skills that are mandatory for global company success.

Interested in learning more about how exec-appointments.com and MBA-Direct.com can provide you with competitive advantage in your candidate sourcing? Telephone Ian Harvey on +44 (0)845 458 9850.

Reprinted from Executive Grapevine, December 2006