• 90%+ of executive opportunities are hidden. Only 6% of executives have come across their current roles via advertised listings
• Average tenure per executive position is 3 years, with 39% of executives staying in their roles 2 years or less
• 78% of executives wish it was easier to be discreetly identified for career opportunities 

HYPER TALENT, the executive search visibility and matching platform, today released findings of its new research into executive attitudes towards senior leadership recruitment and career progression. HYPER connects executives and executive search firms within the hidden market for leadership positions.

Independent research commissioned by HYPER surveyed 150 executives ranging from C-suite to Director level in the UK and Switzerland. The analysis conducted by research firm Vanson Bourne established that job market opacity and inaccessibility are central challenges for 77% of executives.

Overall, senior executives feel that the world of work has changed, with 81% of executives agreeing on the need to continuously manufacture career options for themselves. Two thirds of respondents believe staying with the same company for too long hinders reaching their full potential, and that companies are no longer loyal to their executives.

However, 84% report having little-to-no time to explore potential career options alongside their already over-scheduled lives. And market access remains a major obstacle: while leadership position opportunities are spread across thousands of search firms worldwide, each executive on average has personal contact with just three executive search firms. Maintaining confidentiality is also a challenge when searching for a new opportunity, according to 70% of executives. 

The research showed most executives (68%) are passive candidates, who would need help accessing executive search activity and generating career options while maintaining confidentiality. The overwhelming majority (78%) stated they want it to be easier to be identified and approached for executive level positions.

HYPER is a confidential online platform addressing these needs of senior executives. The platform provides executives with access and visibility into otherwise concealed executive search activity. In addition to matching executives with unpublished senior leadership opportunities, HYPER delivers visibility into hidden executive search demand, comparisons of how executives are positioned against trending demand, and actionable insights enabling executives to place themselves within the hidden opportunity flow.

For executive search firms, HYPER provides a leap in candidate sourcing and qualification efficiency by delivering a portal to a pipeline of executives with up-to-date profiles, key predictors of candidate fit, and algorithm-driven “tightness of fit” scoring.

The Invisible Market
Only 20% of executives interviewed had the visibility they needed on the range of executive positions in their field and preferred geographies, with a quarter saying they have no visibility at all. Furthermore, 65% said they had found out too late about an open executive position for which they would have been interested in being considered.

“The reaction of executives to the lack of visibility into today’s senior management job market shows there is a colossal information and access gap. Executives have little idea which opportunities are available to them and lack channels to effectively connect into those opportunities. Similarly, executive search firms lack an efficient line of sight into these executives that want to be found,” said Carl-Manuel Brachet, CEO, HYPER.

“Executives need insight into what their current job climate looks like, as well as the confidentiality to signal discreetly without causing disruption in their current role. HYPER closes the gap by providing visibility into current demand for executive talent and confidentially matching executives to search firms based on their backgrounds, skill sets and desired next roles,” continued Dorothé Tétaz Hoogendijk, President, HYPER.