Having a Thick Skin in Executive Search is Critical - Guest: Martha Heller, CEO of Heller Search Associates

Nowadays, technology is a crucial part of every company. Technology leaders need to be capable of more than just supporting their business, they need to be able to help drive it. Heller Search is an executive search firm that places technology leaders in the right opportunity for them, nationwide, and across all industries. In this episode we speak with Martha Heller, CEO at Heller Search Associates, to find out how her team excels at navigating the IT talent market while engaging with high level of candidates. Martha explains why working in executive search is so fascinating because she learns so much by engaging with different business models, cultures, and candidates. She sheds light on how the pandemic has changed the rules for recruiters and clients, including what companies have to do now to retain top talent. Martha describes what is required of technology leaders to be impactful, how they need to look at their career development, and how roles in technology are shifting.------------------Key Quotes:“If we are all in a company whose products and services are more and more dependent on software and on data, and we all are, that means we all need to be a little bit IT, a little bit data, a little bit business. We all have to be these cyborgs who can be our own data analysts, who can be our own technologists. So the dramatic shift that I'm seeing is CIOs recognizing that they need to get out of the business of delivering data and software unto their users who then consume it and they need to design an organization that democratizes IT and democratizes data.” - Martha Heller“For a CIO to be considered a highly qualified candidate, they need to be a really good communicator. They need to demonstrate that they're not an order taker, executing on somebody else's strategy that they themselves are strategic thinkers, but it's not my way or the highway. They're really good collaborators, so that business partnership relationship piece is extremely important. They understand how to run a high performing IT organization, and they can prove that through metrics. That's what companies are looking for.” - Martha Heller---------Time stamps:01:15 Approach to Executive Recruiting04:45 Difference Between Prospects and Clients07:45 Approach to Candidate Market11:15 Impact of the Pandemic on Retention and Recruiting13:45 Shifts in Technology Roles17:45 Approaching Problems from a Technology Perspective23:15 Eliminating the Distinction between Inside and Outside of IT26:45 How Technology Leaders Should Look at their Careers28:45 How to have an Impact as a CIO35:15 Best Ways to use a Recruiter---------Links:Martha Heller on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marthaheller/CIO Exchange on Twitter: https://twitter.com/vmwcioexchangeYadin Porter de León on Twitter: https://twitter.com/porterdeleon [Subscribe to the Podcast] On Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cio-exchange-podcast/id1498290907 For more podcasts, video and in-depth research go to https://www.vmware.com/cio