LEADERSHIP CORNER
Search firm president sees 'more qualified women today'
Interviewed by David Butts
Advertiser Staff Writer
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Title: President
Company: Inkinen & Associates, an executive search firm
Age: 58
High School: Farrington
College: University of Hawai'i, College of Business Administration
Breakthrough job: At age 24, Inkinen was hired as personnel director for the Kahala Hilton by Robert Burns. That eventually led to 15 years as head of the human resource department of City Bank and in 1992 the founding of her own company.
Major challenge: "A lack of economic development in our state. If we had more higher paying jobs, my business would thrive and our state would be thriving."
Little-known fact: "I remember the day I got my acceptance from the University of Hawai'i. My mother said, 'Are you going to be a nurse or a teacher?' I said, 'I don't want to do either. I think I'd like to go to the College of Business.' She said, 'You go to business school and be a secretary then.' My dad said, 'No, even though you are a girl, remember you can do anything a man can do. Even though we are from Kalihi, everybody is the same.' "
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Q. What are the most sought-after skills in the marketplace?
A. Employers are looking for managers with creative vision and ability to take a company from where they are to the next level and not just manage the status quo. The status quo today is not good. ... It's very different from 15 or 20 years ago when we would look at a résumé and say, "Oh, this is a great employee. He's been here 10, 20 years. Really loyal and stable."
Today companies come to me and say, "I don't want someone who has been at a job too long. That tells me he is not a change agent. He's not a quick thinker. He has not managed a variety of people. And this is what I'm looking for."
Q. How do you approach potential candidates?
A. We communicate opportunities. We promote this confidentially, and then they come to us and say, "I'd like to know more about it. I may be interested." We don't go and pinpoint someone. Most of our placements, I'd say more than half, are done with people not necessarily looking. But for the right opportunity, they may become slowly interested.
Q. Have you seen an increase in people actively looking for new jobs?
A. Yes. Some of them very good people because of restructuring have been laid off. Or they may be working, but they feel rather tenuous about their position.
Q. Are they having a harder time finding new positions?
A. There are still more people than there are good positions. This is why I say we need economic development.
Q. You've been doing executive searches since 1992. Have there been good years?
A. There have not been good years. We've been recessionary for the last 10 or more years. Before 1990, I was hiring. We had a hard time finding people. When Silicon Valley was booming, any warm body, even from Hawai'i, could go there with very little experience and find a great paying job. But it's not like that anymore.
Q. How often are you placing people from the Mainland in Hawai'i jobs?
A. I'd say 80 percent of our work is Hawai'i-based and the other 20 percent, some are Mainland, some are Pacific Island.
Q. What are the most common things that will cause a breakdown in negotiations between an applicant and company?
A. Salary. But salary isn't everything. People don't like to move laterally. I have to find what is the opportunity.
Q. What are your fees?
A. Most placements are between 20 (percent) and 30 percent of first year's compensation, excluding bonuses.
Q. What about the glass ceiling. Do you find it harder to place women?
A. No. I see many more qualified women today than 10 years ago and employers recognize that. I think women can excel a little more because the generation below me have very supportive men. It's more equal. Men are participating more in the home life. ... I feel like there is no difference in gender now... which is very nice.
Q. Does race play a role in hiring?
A. No, I don't think so.
Q. Which companies are hiring at the executive level now?
A. Recently we are doing a lot of nonprofits seeking a president or director. Nonprofits want to run it more like a business and are looking outside instead of moving up that nonprofit type of person.
Q. What are the mistakes candidates make when looking for a job?
A. They tend to look for a position exactly from where they came. ... These days you need to look a little further. ... They need to evaluate their skills that they may not immediately recognize but that are transferable.
Q. How is the tourism industry doing in terms of creating high-level positions in Hawai'i?
A. When occupancy was low and visitors didn't come, they did restructure a lot. Management positions were downsized. I'm not sure they built it back to where it was or ever will.
The visitor industry is very labor intensive. It's a service.
NCL (Norwegian Cruise Line) is coming with two or three other cruise ships. I just spoke to them. We are doing some work for them. They are committed to hiring U.S. people for the first time and No. 2, people from Hawai'i.
I think it (tourism) is still a viable industry. I don't know if it will be an avenue of a lot of executive positions. A lot of mid-management positions, yes, but more service-oriented. Many, many more lower positions.
Q. You placed 33 people in jobs with salaries above $55,000 in 2000, how is your placement going now?
A. Last year we did not do as well as 2001, but this year we are expected to do better than 2002. I see it improving, but not by leaps and bounds.
Q. What are your plans for your business going forward?
A. I would love to get to the point where I can see our economy rebounding and we can bring home more Hawai'i residents through a career opportunity. Now they are coming home from a personal perspective. They are coming home because their parents are elderly or they want their son or daughter to enter Punahou or Iolani, or they are burnt out with the lifestyle of their job or Mainland living. Very few come because of a career opportunity.
