CEOs trading down talent too

Consulting
Written By Rick Watson

About five or six years ago I noticed a trend that the middle of the job pool was being hollowed out. In other words it went from leaders, managers and individual contributors to instead removing those middle managers.

Now I notice something different and the trend seems to be moving upstream. A generation of leaders with 10+ years of eCommerce experience seem to be being phased out due to cost structure. Who wants an employee with a $200-300k+ salary seems to be the mantra.

We talk here about consumers trading down. Merchants trading down service providers but we have not talked too much about people.

In short people are also being traded down

This has put a lot of experienced folks on the market looking at the same time. But can’t be everyone right? Many companies cannot rely solely on junior talent to grow because they are in complex situations that require expertise. In other words, only hard work and technology are not enough always.

If you are a CEO looking for senior talent - it is plentiful right now. While I am not a recruiter or pretend to play one on TV, I do know a lot of amazing talent looking for homes.

Rick Watson

Rick Watson founded RMW Commerce Consulting after spending 20+ years as a technology entrepreneur and operator exclusively in the eCommerce industry with companies like ChannelAdvisor, BarnesandNoble.com, Merchantry, and Pitney Bowes.

Watson’s work today is centered on supporting investors and management teams incubating and growing direct-to-consumer businesses. Most recently, in partnership with WHP Global, Rick was a critical resource in architecting the WHP+ platform, a new turnkey direct to consumer digital e-commerce platform that powers AnneKlein.com and JosephAbboud.com.

Watson also hosts a weekly podcast, Watson Weekly, where he shares an unbiased, unfiltered expert take on the retail sector’s biggest players.

In the past year alone, Rick has spoken at many in-person and virtual events as well as podcasts on topics ranging from retail/ecom to supply chain/logistics and even digital grocery including CommerceNext IRL, ASCM Connect, and Retail Innovation Conference.

https://www.rmwcommerce.com/
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