In this episode of BTG Insights on Demand, BTG’s Rachel Halversen is joined by Sunny Ackerman, the global managing partner of on-demand talent for Heidrick & Struggles. She joins us to discuss key trends in the human capital industry today, as well as her insights on how companies are securing the optimal mix of skills, capacity, and expertise with on-demand talent. Together they'll explore rising needs in interim leadership, skill shortages in digital functions, how companies are embracing blended workforces for moments of significant change and transformation, and more.
Rachel Halversen:
Thank you so much for joining us today, Sunny. It's a pleasure to speak with you.
Sunny Ackerman:
Thank you so much for having me, Rachel. Pleasure to be here.
Rachel Halversen:
To kick things off, I'd love to hear a little bit about your background; what brings you to Heidrick & Struggles, and really, what excites you about the on-demand talent segment today?
Sunny Ackerman:
Sure. I've worked in the human capital industry for, goodness, over 25 years and in global roles the last 14 years. I spent the majority of my career—over 15 years—as an executive in one of the largest recruitment firms globally. And, the last two firms I've worked with were both headquartered, interestingly enough, in London. One was publicly traded and the other one was private equity backed. I was born and raised in Texas where my family was in the ranching and in the oil and gas industry, and I'm a fifth generation Texan, a little personal side note about me.
Why I came to Heidrick at this moment, it's really quite an easy one for me to answer. What matters to me most is really working for a company that values innovation and impact—and I truly care about working in a culture that is diverse and is made up of passionate achievers. And this is really the pinnacle of on-demand talent, and the opportunity to amplify and expand our footprint by scaling our business globally within a company like Heidrick with its brand strength, and while working with some of the most important companies at the leadership level, I really knew I had to say yes at the time. I'm also someone who really loves change and Heidrick is in the epicenter of change.
When I think about on-demand talent, what excites me the most is the workforce mandate... you can't get all the skills you need through traditional permanent employment. Some of the things that companies need to take on right now is their very nature of shorter-term work, like tech implementations, things like business integrations and initiatives have really a defined endpoint that requires a different set of skills than in normal business operations. Adoption is really growing rapidly, but there's still so much potential for what companies can do with on-demand talent in a more systemic approach to using it. Every company we talk to, and managers, they're facing the same recruiting challenges. They simply don't have the talent they need in-house, and they’re unable to provide or persuade sometimes highly skilled professionals to come on board full time. As a result, I think many companies are embracing on-demand talent, or sometimes called “freelance model”, more than ever before.
They're in huge demand today and they know it. It's time for new rules of engagement for organizations to be able to tap into this incredible talent pool. BTG is there to help organizations realize this opportunity for all kinds of complexities they might be navigating, but these opportunities for this type of talent pool are significant and we are here to help facilitate that for all kinds of organizations. It's really an exciting time for our industry.
Rachel Halversen:
Thank you for diving into that there. Speaking of your background in the broader human capital industry, I'm curious about how your view of on-demand talent is different than, say, traditional staffing, in terms of use cases, business potential, etc.
Sunny Ackerman:
It's very different. I think there's really three ways that we see on-demand talent being used. One is interim executives, which is the traditional way that a lot of organizations are leveraging. But also, It's an alternative to traditional consulting, or "unbundled consulting" we like to call it. But also Periods of transformation and special projects. I think about on-demand talent, they possess leading edge professional skills. Their work is typically performed by project deliverables, and in many times, they have the autonomy to work on what they want to work on, and where they want to work as well. And companies are using on-demand talent to augment their leadership capacity in a wide variety of ways. We're seeing organizations tapping into this for leading operational transformation projects, but also looking at analyzing new business opportunities, driving profitability improvements, but also through implementation. And, I would say lastly, it's more than a staffing or contingent talent model. It really enables fundamental organizational change.
Rachel Halversen:
In BTG's annual proprietary research study, the High-End Independent Talent Report, one of the key trends that we continue to see year after year is sustained growth in the demand for interim leadership. Why do you think this continues to be such a rising need?
Sunny Ackerman:
I would say the broader workforce trends that have occurred in the last few years certainly play a very big role… from the pandemic uncertainty through the great resignation—we saw many senior leaders help steer the ship through those tumultuous years, taking a step back and really rethinking what they were looking for in their careers. That's definitely the case with finance where we're seeing the greatest demand for interim leadership, both CFO, where we've seen requests increase about 46% year over year—and that's on top of the previous increases that we've seen—but also in the SVP and the VP roles, like controllers and head of FP&A, which have more than doubled year over year, over 114%.
Then, I think companies have really redefined the scope of what's possible with interim leadership. Traditionally, companies have used interim leaders to fill gaps while hiring for full-time or executive level to cover for a leave of absence. But today, organizations are doing so much more with interim placements, from expanding business functions to testing org structures or trying out different roles, launching new products, transitions and uncertainty, and really looking at moments throughout the different types of companies for special projects or different types of needs. We're really seeing a lot of these expanded use cases in HR and finance, particularly as deal activities like mergers and acquisitions are picking up. Companies need to stand up new business functions and they need experienced leadership to really navigate integration many times. So, these are some of the real heightened areas that we're seeing the rise come from.
Rachel Halversen:
So, let's talk a little bit more about finance. For several years now, we've seen organizations clamoring for interim CFOs, but we've also seen increased demand for experts in FP&A, accounting, financial planning and the like. What's driving that demand?
Sunny Ackerman:
So, companies are increasingly tapping project-based finance talent with these skillsets to get a real handle on the financial outlook amid the rollercoaster we're facing in the economy. As the remit of the finance office grows in both complexity and scope—everything from decision making on technology implementation to ESG initiatives—finance talent is really helping companies set themselves on a solid footing for long term growth.
Rachel Halversen:
Thank you. Another trend noted in the report is the growing need for interim digital, data, and IT leaders, as well as projects that demand similar skills and expertise. Across nearly every industry, digital transformation, AI strategy, and tech implementations are clearly top of mind right now. But at the same time, this is one of those areas where the skill shortage is most apparent. Could you dive into why on-demand talent are an effective remedy for companies who are seeking to take on these types of projects?
Sunny Ackerman:
I would say AI, AI, and AI. So, companies are really moving more of their investments into this, but talent with this experience in these areas are incredibly in demand and really have a pick of not just what they want to work on, but where they want to work and how they want to work. We're really seeing that for many of these type of talent, a permanent full time position doesn't really present the best economics and flexibility they're looking for. If the role happens to be at a company or within an industry that's not particularly well known for being cutting edge, talent has choices.
So, when you think about on-demand talent, it can be one of the ways and can be one of the only ways that companies can access the skills and expertise that are becoming increasingly critical, regardless of the industry, position, or market. That's really especially true for companies that are located outside, say, a major tech talent hub—where we see a lot of the organizations we work with. We work quite broadly across the North American market. But, the beauty of on-demand talent is that It really opens up options to access the best talent who fits their needs, wherever they happen to be in the world.
Rachel Halversen:
In the research we've seen that organizations are embracing on-demand talent for moments of significant business change. What are the opportunities and challenges that companies face with these types of initiatives?
Sunny Ackerman:
Yeah, I mean, on-demand is an ideal solution for moments of change in an organization. Organizations that are going through any major type of transformation, whether it be a digital transformation or transformation in terms of their finance teams, but also post-merger integration. And traditionally, companies have two routes. They can look at internal ownership of these initiatives, or they can tap into an external resource like a traditional consulting firm. Of course, there are benefits and there's drawbacks to both. I mean, internally, that requires having the expertise in house that you maybe don't have in house, and you're pulling resources off a normal day-to-day operation or job for a special project. And, generally, companies struggle to keep these work streams really moving ahead. Large consulting firms can be great in terms of handling these aspects, but if you run into an issue when it comes to transitioning those work streams into an internal ownership, many organizations don't have the internal resources up to speed to get the work done, and they have to spend additional dollars that isn't really followed through on effectively. ODT is a great solution to layer on top of or adjacent to either supplemental work streams driven by internal employees, or to facilitate the ramp up to internal ownership from the consulting scenario.
Rachel Halversen:
That sounds a lot like an article you shared with me recently from HBR called Highly Skilled Professionals Want Your Work, Not Your Job. The thesis of that article is that companies are facing a talent management challenge where they simply don't have the capabilities in house to transform their offerings, processes, and infrastructures, and increasingly must rely on on-demand talent and blended workforces to access those skills. What do you see as the most important business practices companies should follow to leverage this blended workforce?
Sunny Ackerman:
It's a great article. I think one of the things that BTG does quite well is that we really, really spend a lot of time in with our talent teams is we fully vet the talent to ensure that they don't just have the skills and experience profile the client's seeking, but they also ensure that the fit with the organizational culture and working preferences are met. Really ensuring that we can help freelancers understand and embrace that company culture, because many times with a blended workforce, it's not only the skills and experience, but it's being able to work alongside other leaders within a company, so it's just as critically important.
I think also one of the things that we do a really good job of is we help provide end-to-end client service to facilitate the knowledge transfer to the talent at the beginning of the project, but also back to the client as the talent starts to roll off. So, making sure that we follow those rigorous practices to retain that institutional knowledge. Then lastly, I would say building trust and to manage changes in project needs are really important. Our team is in constant contact with both the client and the talent throughout the engagement to really help mediate any issues that might arise from changes in the project scope, or sometimes maybe even the talent availability. So, those are some areas that I would say are really important or best practices that companies should really look to follow when they're leveraging this blended workforce.
Rachel Halversen:
Thank you so much for your time, Sunny. It's been a pleasure.
Sunny Ackerman:
Well, thank you, Rachel. It's been so much fun as well. Appreciate it.
Rachel Halversen:
As a reminder, our guest today has been Sunny Ackerman, global managing partner of on-demand talent at Heidrick & Struggles. I'm Rachel Halversen for Business Talent Group. To start a project with one of our highly skilled independent talent, visit businesstalentgroup.com or subscribe for more of our conversations with on-demand experts and future of work thought leaders wherever you find your podcasts. Thanks for listening.
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