Education: Jo Fisher

Affirmative action is not the way to solve gender imbalance in senior ranks of Australian business and boards, says Jo Fisher, managing director of Jo Fisher Executive Search. But she does believe there is a problem to be addressed. She says when she started the firm in 2002, not many women seemed to get through to senior ranks.

“I thought that I would like to develop the language for women to win senior roles,” she says. “I did not brand the company [to imply] that we only work on gender diversity. But I did want to make sure that women got a fair go, that they were prepared and [that] we could help them along.”

Fisher says presentation can be an issue for both male and female senior executives. “At very senior executive level people lack, would you believe it, interview skills,” she says. “Because they have been senior executives they may have got their next role through networks and contacts and colleagues, and they have never had to formally compete against a field of candidates. I am constantly astounded at how bad their CVs can be. They are not actually selling themselves.”

Fisher says women tend to have more complex choices about dress and presentation. “In some ways it is easier with males. Many women even at senior levels don’t understand that they are competing against other women or males and dress inappropriately. In one case we had a very senior woman wearing an extremely short mini-skirt who was over 50.”

Fisher says the choice of the right presentation depends on the organisation. “You have one audition for this job, so if you want to give it your best shot, you have to have the whole package. Middle managers often think they have the job so they waltz in there and are very familiar with the people around the table.”

The firm specialises in positions in government and education. It has six full-time consultants, four full-time researchers and five administrators. “A researcher in an executive search firm is much more than someone who just sits on the web and uses data bases and combs journals. If they are highly qualified, they would be making first phone calls to people who are to be asked if they would like to consider an opportunity.”

Fisher says a point of competitive difference is that no one in the firm “tells fibs”. Often, new business comes from executives who had been involved in a previous search, and who remember being well treated.

“The process is an hour-and-a-half interview on the senior role. Then a second with another consultant in our firm. We try to find out what other people are saying about that person without breaching confidentiality. It is not a cold business transaction from my point of view. I think clients stay with us and then we get new clients because everything about the way we operate [indicates] we actually care that we get the absolute best candidate for that client, that person. We say we are actually going to work with them week in week out and give them a very transparent experience, which is not typical of our industry.”

BRW

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