The successful recruitment of global leaders may often fall victim to misconceptions about two factors: alumni of the organisation and external recruitment, the chairman of MasterCard Worldwide told a London audience of senior executives this morning.

External recruitment is often seen as “a failure of internal processes”, said Rick Haythornthwaite. Tapping into the pool of an organisation’s alumni, or employees who have left an organisation for new jobs, is a promising option that also is too often ignored.

“How many consider alumni as a rich area to recruit in? Not many companies would see it that way. Many see them [alumni] as turncoats,” he said. However, he added, “we as leaders can change that”. 

Haythornthwaite gave the keynote address at ‘Developing Leaders for A New Era’, a Financial Times-CEB (formerly known as the Corporate Executive Board) forum, attended by Recruiter. The morning discussions focused on changing requirements of leaders in a tumultuous era of economic and social change. 

Today, he said, organisations must look at how they can integrate external and internal recruitment processes to put the right people in global leadership roles. 

While the preference will still always be to look to talent existing within the current ranks, organisations should look to bring newcomers in about five to 10 years out, Haythornthwaite advised. “That’s the point we’d hope to bring them in.”