J. Rextor has an interesting annecdotal comment at his b-school blog at BusinessWeek, where he is using his blog to recount the experience of searching for a new executive position within a firm. The comment is:
… I did receive an email back from one of [executive recruiters] that stated it takes
approximately 3.2 years for most executives to find an upwardly mobile
executive position in another company.
I have not really had much appreciation for the personal value and legitimacy of executive severance clauses until the past few years where I have seen a number of friends have to find new jobs at senior levels. If one is faced with the situation of having to leave a situation of a good fit with a prior firm, it can be hard to get the balance right again when looking for a new job. At higher-levels, awesome positions can be scarce to come by, and severance compensation can be viewed as consideration for longer job search times for like-level positions. That said, and while I’m no compensation expert, 3.2 years does seem pretty high to me. I’d have to sample some other executive recruiters for feedback, but I’m pretty certain that their cycle time must be shorter than this for placement of executives (guessing 12 months?).