Ellen McGee

Reference checking is a critical component of most search processes. It is often one of the final steps taken before a candidate is selected for a position and as such, there is a tendency to treat this function as a formality. Through years of experience and quite a bit of practice, I have learned this is a mistake.

HealthSearch Partners (HSP) recently completed focus-group interviews with previous and current clients to get their thoughts about the firm and about the executive search experience in general. One interview stood out to me and others in the firm. The interviewee’s comments underscored what we have always felt is a primary differentiator for HSP, our size.

What most likely is the predictor of success? Success in life, in the next job, in a marriage, in reality any endeavor in life. At HealthSearch Partners, we believe the crucial aspect is “The Fit.”

Remember, as a child, when we attempted to put the wooden Playskool puzzles together. Each piece would only fit a certain way.

“As Chairman of the Board, I am pleased to announce that our new hospital President and CEO will be—Alexa”!!!

How far from the truth can this be? While Artificial Intelligence seems to be everywhere these days from self-driving cars to remotely changing the temperature of your home to having your refrigerator prepare a grocery list and order the items—what are we missing?

As much as we would like to, no one can truly predict the future; however, we can prepare for it. In our personal lives, we can do financial planning, we can prepare our will, and we can have routine health check-ups.

During this abnormal time in which we find ourselves, it might be helpful to consider an expression attributed to the poet, William Blake. He is quoted to have said “In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between, there are doors.” It seems to me that we are presently on the threshold of a door, waiting to step into an unknown space.

In this COVID-19 environment, all of us are spending many more of our meeting hours connecting with people from home and online. There are many popular software choices for online meetings, and some include: Skype, Webex, Go ToMeeting, and the newly emerging Zoom.

It has been a year…and what a year it has been. Having passed the unbelievable number of more than a half million deaths in the United States and now resurging with new variants the Coronavirus Pandemic is touching the surface of every relationship and contact we have. It shapes our attitude towards every aspect of life.