Exploring the World Helped an Executive Recruiter Bring Teams Together

My dad was in the U.S. Coast Guard so we moved around a lot when I was a kid. We lived in 14 U.S. states and three countries —- all English-speaking. Making friends and then leaving them was hard, but I learned how to communicate fairly well and navigate ambiguity at a young age.

Despite all the places I lived, my first exposure to a non-English country was when I visited Barcelona as a teen. I was out of my element. Being that fish out of water was disarming, but it was also empowering. There’s something to be said for immersing oneself in a new language and a new culture. 

My guest on this month’s episode of Unusual Attitudes can certainly appreciate that sentiment. Neil Crumpton grew up in London and now lives in Chicago. Throughout his career, he conducted executive searches for global employers such as Conagra Brands, Caterpillar and General Electric. But his exposure to the four corners of the world began much earlier.

Watch our full conversation to learn more about what fuels this talent executive, listen to the episode, or continue reading for some quick takeaways.

Being part of something bigger

Crumpton’s parents took him overseas on vacations, and the travel bug stayed with him. He traveled for six months around Africa and once got stuck on the border of South Africa waiting for elections to be completed. The sheer size of Africa (second largest continent after Asia) must have been overwhelming to a boy who grew up in the close confines of European cities.

“This was the early 90s. I was in Kenya, and the moment I landed, I could tell that this is a different country,” he said.

He spoke several languages at this point, including Latin — and he made it a point to learn a few words and phrases anytime he visited somewhere for the first time. That’s exactly what he did when he landed in Greece and Turkey. When you’re a visitor to a new country, locals appreciate the effort to connect in their native tongue, even if a few verbs and adjectives may be off.

“People really do appreciate the fact that you tried,” Crumpton said. “My French isn't great. They’ll immediately respond to me in English because they recognize that I’ve made an effort.”

Bridging cultures matters in recruiting

Recruiters, especially those at Crumpton’s level who manage executive-level global searches, have to be multicultural experts. A wrongly worded phrase or a cultural faux pas could doom a search in an instant. 

Crumpton got his start in executive recruiting when he was in his 20s and living in London. He had to get up to speed quickly on the provincial system in China, the nuances of employment laws across Europe and the expat community in Africa, among many other global issues that most people don’t consider. He even conducted a search in Burkina Faso! (Go ahead and look it up — it’s a landlocked country in Africa).

His searches gave him “that exposure to these different cultures, having to understand, having to be able to interact, to leverage language,” he said. Leading a team of researchers across Europe in his 20s was, in hindsight, a bit more than he should have been handling — “I was way too young to be doing that,” he said. “Learning by fire is probably the best way to describe it.”

But he embraced the fact that he had to bring together a team that included researchers in Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany as well as a team in London. Crumpton had to make sure they bonded and interacted with one another. No small feat, even if many of the countries the researchers lived in were just a few hundred miles apart.

Executives are just like us

Another valuable takeaway from moving high-level executives between companies is that senior corporate leaders are very much average people with extraordinary business chops. Crumpton’s advice to anyone dealing with them is: “Don't put them up on a mantle. Don't be afraid of them. They're still human.”

That, to me, is the most important lesson of all for recruiters — you’re dealing with people, so treat them as such. They have the same car problems as you and I. They have chores to do around the house on weekends, just like everyone else.

Focus, instead, on delivering a world-class candidate experience. Sell your employer brand and close the deal with that C-suite leader. That, in my book, is the mark of a great recruiter.

Learn more about an impeccable candidate experience by delivering tailored, personalized outreach, regardless of title.