Hey! Bill Heyman knows about effective communications
- Rebecca Skaggs
- Oct 9, 2019
- 3 min read
On October 7th, I had the pleasure of attending a Newhouse Speaks session with Bill Heyman, the CEO of Heyman Associates, about leadership in executive search. Before Monday, I had never heard of executive search. In all my PR classes up to now, we haven’t discussed executive search firms, let alone any other type of firm or agency that works to hire individuals for our field. Luckily for me, the moderator, Professor Brad Horn, had Heyman explain the function of his firm, claiming that they “help corporations, foundations and organizations find someone to run communications, and get to know the client well enough to find the candidate with the right fit.” In simpler terms, they act as the hiring manager for top communication positions at major companies.
Professor Horn directed the conversion more towards advice for students and focused on a few themes in his questions. One of the major themes that Heyman conveyed was the importance of transparency in communications. He told us a story about a company that was looking for a new chief of communications but didn’t want to tell the current employee they were replacing him. “If a client isn't being transparent in an executive search, they are violating a key component of the practice,” claimed Heyman.
Being transparent comes up often when public relations is discussed. Public relations is all about building and maintaining positive relationships, mutual understanding, and open communication between organization and their publics. Being transparent is a core element of PR. In fact, consumers are 94% more likely to be loyal to a brand that incorporates transparency into its business model. With the increase in consumers aligning or supporting brands that share similar beliefs, transparency on political or environmental issues is of high value. For example, Ben & Jerry’s is hyper-transparent about the way they do that business, as well as the causes they support. They even have a page titled "Our Values" on their site that is dedicated to providing this information. Some of their values are supporting non-GMO products, racial justice and getting the dough out of democracy. Due to the brands support of social issue along with creating delicious ice cream, they have a lot of loyal customers, and have established themselves as a trustworthy and transparent company.
Heyman also talked extensively about what he personally looks for in candidates, and what skills young professionals should have entering the workforce. In terms of interview preparation, he mentioned the same things I’ve heard from my professors such as being a great writer, a harder worker and being able to understand digital communications and social media. These are considered industry standards since effective writing is so crucial to properly communicating to clients and the publics we wish to target. However, Heyman mentioned likeability as huge part of what makes someone want to hire you. His example of being someone who the CEO wants to sit next to a flight was eye-opening to me. I often think about how to stand out among other candidates for internships, especially since I’m from Los Angeles which is a pretty competitive city for jobs. But knowing that skills and internships aren't the only two factors in the hiring process is great. Although I can’t definitively claim I’m likable because of my clear personal bias, being able to recognize that employers take into consideration your personality has made me more optimistic about getting hired.
Overall, attending the speaker session with Bill Herman was very interesting. I learned about executive search for the first time, how important transparency is for PR and that being likable is another determining factor in getting hired.
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