Your Salary Is Not Your Market Value — And Believing Otherwise Could Be Costing You
There is a sentence we hear in almost every senior-level hiring conversation, from both sides of the table: “They are currently earning X, so that is roughly what they are worth.” It sounds logical. More often than not, it is wrong. A current salary is a historical data point. It reflects what someone negotiated—or failed […]
Why Empathy Belongs at the Centre of Hiring Decisions
In today’s talent market, companies often speak about speed, skills, compensation, and competition. Roles need to be filled quickly. Business units need capability. Candidates have more information, more choices, and in many cases, more hesitation. Yet one factor is still underestimated in many hiring decisions: empathy. Hiring is often treated as a process of evaluation. […]
The Senior Executive CV in 2026: What Actually Gets Past ATS — And What Actually Gets You Shortlisted
There is a small industry of advice online about how to write an “ATS-friendly CV.” Most of it is written for graduates and mid-career professionals applying through job portals. At the senior mandate level — Director, VP, CXO, Plant Head, R&D Head, Country Manager, Business Head — almost none of it applies cleanly. Some of […]
A Role That Didn’t Work Out? Why It Happens and How to Re-Enter the Market
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5ANeAFDI1k&t=1784s A Role That Didn’t Work Out? Why It Happens and How to Re-Enter the Market There’s a specific kind of silence that hits when you leave a role earlier than planned. Not the peaceful kind. The “okay… now what?” kind. Maybe you joined a new company thinking you were walking into a clean runway, […]
The Mandate Readiness Framework – Final Part
Final Part – The Mandate Readiness Framework Purpose The Mandate Readiness Framework helps organisations assess whether a leadership mandate is hire-ready, execution-ready, and sustainable—before engaging in executive search or finalising a senior appointment. It addresses a growing risk we see across 2025–2026:roles failing not because of talent gaps, but because mandates have inflated beyond what one […]
Mandate Inflation: How It Is Reshaping Executive Hiring and Assessment – Part Three
Part Three – Implications for Search, Selection, and Leadership Risk In Parts One and Two, we explored Mandate Inflation as an emerging leadership risk and examined how it manifests long before performance deteriorates. The next—and often most costly—impact shows up in how organisations hire and assess leaders. When mandate inflation is not explicitly recognised, executive hiring processes quietly […]
Mandate Inflation: How Organisations Can Spot It Before Leaders Burn Out – Part Two
Part Two – Early Signals and Organisational Responses In Part One, we introduced Mandate Inflation as a growing leadership risk—one that rarely shows up in performance dashboards but increasingly surfaces in search conversations. The critical question for boards, CEOs, and HR leaders is not whether Mandate Inflation exists.It is whether it is being detected early enough to act […]
Mandate Inflation: The Unspoken Leadership Risk Emerging in 2026 – Part One
Part One – What we are seeing as a common trend amongst many key players What We Are Seeing in the Market Over the past 12–18 months, we have observed a growing number of senior and mid-senior leadership roles evolving well beyond their original design. Not through formal redesign.Not through re-grading or re-scoping.But through accumulation. […]
Southeast Asia Job Market Review 2025 & Outlook for 2026
A clear, consolidated analysis on how was 2025’s job market and what we can expect for 2026 1. How 2025 Was Overall: A Year of High Demand, High Movement, and High Pressure 2025 in Southeast Asia was defined by a shared theme across nearly every country and industry: demand surged faster than talent could keep up. […]
The New Hiring Risk: How to Spot Resume Exaggeration and Careerwashing
In the age of the personal brand, your LinkedIn profile isn’t just a resume—it’s a carefully curated billboard. We all feel the pressure to look flawless, always ascending, and hyper-successful. But when does “polishing” turn into outright deception? This has given rise to a quiet phenomenon called Careerwashing. You’ve heard of greenwashing—companies exaggerating their environmental credentials. […]
