Jim Hayman
Graduated with MBA: 1975
Undergraduate degree: Economics, Monash University (1970)
There are two parts to his job that MBS MBA alumnus Jim Hayman, senior partner with executive search consultants, Heidrick & Struggles, loves.
The first is taking on a difficult global executive search assignment. The second is building his team.
Finding the right person to fill a role which has a base salary of between $1 million to $2.5 million, takes Hayman around the world and he thrives on it.
"I love the challenge of a difficult search. I love thinking laterally about where the less obvious candidate might be and who the ideal person might be," he says.
Right now Hayman is leading the CEO search for the Foster's Group and in the past 12 months Heidrick & Struggles has conducted global CEO searches for Qantas, BHP Billiton, BlueScope Steel and Brambles.
Heidrick & Struggles is the equal largest executive search firm worldwide. It is listed on the NASDAQ and has a turnover of US$750 million per annum with offices in 70 locations worldwide covering 30 countries.
In the past 18 months Hayman has grown the Melbourne office from four to eight executive search consultants, in-between building his mining team worldwide.
"I spend every third month in London," he says. "I've got one more stint for this year, and then I'll give that away and get back to a more balanced lifestyle next year."
Hayman admits he loves the people aspect, especially motivating and recruiting his team, and helping them to grow and develop.
He attributes his start in leadership to his MBA in 1975 and has an appreciation for today's MBA students, noting that up to 75% of his clients prefer candidates with a second bow to their original undergraduate degree fiddle, such as an MBA.
But, Hayman warns that it's important to choose a reputable business school which offers a practical, rather than purely academic MBA course. "The ability to do a semester at different business schools around the world as part of the Melbourne Business School MBA broadens and accelerates a person's development tremendously," he says.
Hayman joined the workforce after graduating with an economics degree from Monash University in 1970. Early 1973 he began his MBA at Melbourne Business School.
Back then an MBA took three years-two years part-time and one year full-time. During the course, Hayman married, welcomed his first son and worked for two companies-tobacco company Phillip Morris Australia and General Motors-Holden.
In 1975, aged 28, Hayman joined Tomasetti & Son Pty Ltd, a wholly owned Australian subsidiary of Dutch company, Lindeteves-Jacoberg, which he describes as one of the old East India Dutch trading companies that ‘traded in anything they could make money out of.'
"I went in as general manager, special projects, with a brief to grow new business, "he recalls. "Shortly afterwards I also became national warehouse and distribution manager. I didn't get double the money, but I got double the responsibility.
"About a year later I became general manager, finance and administration, and then in July 1980, director, company secretary and also general manager, general products division."
Hayman's final role with Tomasetti came about after he argued that the general products division was too diverse. One day the head of that division resigned and Hayman took over.
"I closed it down and worked out how to exit from all the businesses on the basis that the money I freed up would be ear-marked to build a new business."
The business evolved into an operation that distributed triple ‘A' quality sporting goods such as Head, Fila, Fisher and Converse ranges.
It was a role that relied heavily on Hayman's MBA knowledge. To succeed he drew on the presentation and analytical skills learnt as part of the degree.
"I wasn't a natural extrovert, but the class presentations demanded by the MBA gave me the experience and confidence I needed to succeed. Part of it was the practice. Part was the breadth of subjects. For example, I'd never been exposed to marketing, quantitative analysis or strategy prior to the MBA," he says.
"A lot of the work we did involved evaluating case studies and live examples-asking, what are the issues in this company, what alternatives do they have to solve these issues going forward. It was nowhere near as formalised as today's strategy classes, but it was the most enjoyable part of my MBA."
Six years after Hayman joined Tomasetti & Son, the head-office sent a new managing director to Australia.
"It was the classic case of him taking one look at me and me taking one look at him and him not liking what he saw and me not liking what I saw. After nine months I said, ‘you don't want to work with me and I don't want to work with you. You're going to send the company bankrupt. If you write out a cheque that's big enough I'll leave today,' and he did and I did.
"I went home and said to my wife, I'm now unemployed."
It was March 1981. Hayman had two boys aged under five and had been travelling incessantly for nine months. The family moved to Queensland temporarily and Hayman thought about what he was going to do next.
"I applied for a number of jobs then a chap I knew said, ‘I've got a job for you.' So I flew to Melbourne and he said I want you to work with me in recruitment."
Hayman initially turned the offer down but returned a few months later to help run the business. As the business grew, he stepped up and helped with recruitment."
That organisation was Sacs Consulting Group. In four years Hayman helped take it from five people in Melbourne to 10 consultants and an office in Sydney.
In 1985 he was head-hunted by Geoff Slade who asked him to set up a recruitment business in London. The family packed their bags and headed to the UK.
Three years later they returned to Australia and Hayman joined executive search group, Fish and Nankivell-an offshoot company of the Slade Group.
In 1991 he took the next step and set up his own search business which operated for seven years. "I linked up with an international affiliation of recruitment and executive search companies worldwide, which was subsequently known as Horton International." he recalls.
In 1998, just as Hayman was about to become chairman of the Horton Group worldwide, Heidrick & Struggles approached him with an opportunity to work at "the big end of town" and help set up Heidrick's office in Melbourne. He's never looked back.
As a senior partner and global sector head he now wants his legacy to be a team of people who like working together and who will continue to grow.
On the home front, his sons are 29 and 32 years old and working in London and Abu Dhabi respectively and he jokes that his marriage is still strong because he travels so much his wife is unable to find him even if she did want to serve him with divorce papers.
