Meet DRiWaterstone’s senior team! This week, we’re sitting down with Senior Consultant, BJ Davis, to find out, in her own words, what drives her and why DRiWaterstone is one of North America’s top executive search firms for the non-profit and social impact sectors.
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DRiWaterstone Human Capital (DRiW): How do you describe what the organization does?
BJ Davis (BJD): Usually I say that we’re a women-founded, women-led firm that works with mission-driven and purpose-drive organizations in the social sector to ensure they have the right leaders to continue to make an impact.
I lean into the fact that we’re women-led. Jennifer and Nancy have been doing this for 22 years and everyone here, we all know this industry inside and out. We’ve all sat in seats like CEO, founder, Chief People Officer and more, so we know what we’re looking for and what we’re talking about.
DRiW: Why should mission and purpose-driven organizations consider working with a firm like DRiWaterstone to fill their leadership roles?
BJD: One, is the amount of time and energy it takes for organizations to do it themselves. That translates into a loss on ROI – they’re losing time if they’re recruiting, identifying and interviewing 30 people. If you’re really invested in finding that right person, that’s going to take a lot of time, learning, and people hours invested in the process.
The other thing is our ability to dig into the nooks and crannies, to find that niche person. Even if you’re working with one consultant, we talk to each other, we ask our team to go into their networks – and they have big networks. So, anyone we work with will get our history, our database, and all the consultants digging into their networks, and to find candidates you didn’t even know you had access to.
It’s such a tight market now, and there’s been a bit of an exodus from the non-profit space. So, we have to be able to navigate that and find the talent – some left non-profit and want to come back, some are new talent coming up the ranks, and some are for-profit talent where we can help translate their skills to non-profit. Either way, we show our clients that we bring the best of the best to the table, and that we can read not just what’s on paper or on a resume, but that we read our clients, their culture, and understand what alignment means to them.
And to do that for the candidates too. That’s where it all comes together. Having that perspective increases the likelihood that the candidates we present are above and beyond what the client would have been able to recruit themselves.
DRiW: What advice do you have for organizations looking to attract top talent in today’s job market?
BJD: First, be transparent – about your culture, about who you are, and about what you’re looking for. Second, don’t be afraid to let those who may not be in leadership roles shine and speak for your organization. And finally, listen. Listen to your talent. Not everything is going to make sense or fit, but having someone feel valued, and having candidates or employees who know that they are valued, and who know that no matter where they sit in the hierarchy that they have a voice and have agency and are leaders, I think that’s what a lot of people I’ve talked to or hired over the last five years have been looking for.
Read part two of the conversation with BJ.
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At DRiWaterstone, we work with mission and purpose-driven organizations across the U.S. to help them build mission and purpose driven teams. We’d love the chance to work with you – reach out today and book a meeting with our team and find out how we can help.
