Executive Recruiter Richard Mills

By Joan J. Teotico

Richard Mills, chairman of Chalre Associates Executive Search, has interviewed about 15,000 people over the past 15 years in his executive search and management consulting career and he never gets tired of it.

"I meet and interview about a thousand people a year. People are the most interesting and complicated creatures in the universe," he says. "They are the best and the most difficult part of my job. It's utterly fascinating to get to know them and try to figure them out."

Mills is from Canada where he grew up in a small town outside Toronto. He graduated from the University of Waterloo, a prominent technical post-secondary institution, with a degree in chemistry although he never wanted to become a chemist.

He admits he didn't know what he wanted to be when he was young. After college, he went from one job to another, working in finance, owning a computer software company, and later working for one of Canada's largest contract engineering firms as right-hand man of the CEO.

"I worked for a great guy who was as interested at figuring out the world as I was," he recalls. "He let me get my hands into every part of his business. In the end, I figured out I liked recruiting."

From there, he didn't look back. He started coming to Asia during the dotcom boom times when it was fashionable for companies in North America to hire experienced engineers and relocate them. One project he did in South Korea for IBM was reported on network television as the largest technical recruiting venture in Korean history. Mills and one of his Korean engineers were subsequently on the cover of ComputerWorld magazine. "I really enjoyed international recruiting because it allowed me to meet so many wonderful people across Asia," he says.

That all ended when terrorists struck in the US on 9/11. Because he suddenly didn't have much to do, he took time out in the Philippines with his Filipina wife. She talked him into helping her recruitment company - but the catch was that she would be the boss and he would be the employee. Surprisingly to him, it worked.

Mills' job at Chalre Associates involves executive search and consulting engagements for companies across the Asia-Pacific region, mainly finding candidates for senior management jobs with multinational corporations. His typical day involves meeting candidates, talking about their careers, and meeting clients to discuss the nature of their business.

He enjoys his work, particularly meeting people from a variety of industries such as in pharmaceutical, mining, information technology, sales and banking to name a few. "I find it fascinating how people with different interests and backgrounds still manage to work together to build organizations," he says.

Asked what are the vital factors that employers look for in jobseekers and candidates, Mills says it is important to get to know people and what is important for them, knowing their basics skills and background, and most of all, the "personal characteristics of a person."

"It's all about doing a lot of research, talking to people who know them, getting to know what they are doing, what they have done and what they want to do in the future," he adds.

Mills notes that his clients and candidates are often the same people. "My clients today could become my candidates tomorrow and vice versa. There is a 25 to 30 percent attrition rate for people at senior levels in most countries these days and the time it takes for them to find a new job is from six to nine months.

Therefore it is important to think ahead about what would be the best for the person's career. You can't think short-term. If things go wrong, it is a disaster for everyone involved," he stresses.

He says the only drawback of his chosen profession is that results can be hard to see.

If he had not become a recruiter, he would have liked to be an engineer, because "you can see and touch what you helped build and show it off to your mom. In executive search, you can't do that so easily because clients need a lot of privacy for their senior positions."

Mills has two sons and the family is based in the Philippines. He loves playing with his children and spending time with the family. His Filipina wife Rebecca is president and founder of the company and working with her is an achievement for him.

"We always wondered whether we could work together and it is amazing to find out that we can. And despite challenges, the Philippines is still a very good place to be and it is far better than people give it credit for. We hope we are making a strong statement about this by building our regional business from Manila and not elsewhere," he declares.

In addition to recruiting for large organizations, Mills plays a strong role in promoting the Philippines as a place to do business. He is a frequent speaker at regional conferences and his articles have been featured in international publications.

He is founder of the International ICT Awards, a regional event that promotes the outsourcing sector in Philippines and which has become one of the largest of its kind in Asia.

In the recruitment and human resources industry, building relationships is vital, he believes. "Assume that every person you deal with, you will know for the rest of your of your life. If you disappoint someone, you can destroy the relationship, making it hard to gain back. Be careful about overselling yourself. Ensure you deliver what you promised and do more if you can."

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Executive Search & Management Consulting:

Chalre Associates provides its Executive Search & Management Consulting services throughout the Asia Pacific region.  We are proactive and well known in our sectors of focus.  Regional Managers use us to help bridge the gap between local environments and the world-class requirements of multinational corporations.