In this episode of Joy at Work, I reconnect with my old friend and ex-colleague Nia Trussler, now an Associate Partner at Page Executive. We worked together in the headhunting world over a decade ago, and today, she joins me to shed light on a powerful shift in how companies are selecting senior leaders.

Gone are the days when only linear, polished blue-chip CVs were the golden ticket. Nia shares how companies are now valuing non-linear, innovative career paths—those who’ve zig-zagged, pivoted, and taken unconventional routes.

We discuss:

• The rising demand for complex, multidimensional leadership roles
• Why traditional career ladders are no longer the norm
• The power of your neglected network
• How to get noticed by headhunters today (even if you’re not marketing yourself)

This one is packed with real insight from the other side of the hiring table. Whether you’re rethinking your next move or curious about how the exec job market is evolving, you’ll want to tune in.

🔗 Ready to explore what’s next for you? Start with the Derailed Life Satisfaction Assessment – it’s the perfect entry point to begin your career redesign.

In this episode, we step inside the mind of a

very experienced headhunter, Nia Tressler from Paige Executive.

Nia and I worked together closely for years before I left the industry a decade

ago, and we've stayed friends ever since.

In this conversation, I took the opportunity to ask Nia about a

big shift in the senior talent market that you need to know about.

Companies are no longer just chasing the polished, traditional, big company,

what we used to call blue chip, linear cvs for board and non-executive roles.

They're looking for something different instead.

And Nia shares what she's seeing.

We also explore why more and more senior professionals are prioritizing

meaningful, satisfying roles over higher pay and how your network, even

one you've neglected, may very well be the key to your next big career move.

Let's dive in.

Nia, you and I worked together 10 years ago, and when we caught up recently, you

said something that made me super curious.

You said that when you are conducting searches in an attempt to find the best

candidate for a role in the current market, that there has been a shift

away from companies wanting you to find individuals with linear careers.

Can you tell me more about that?

Yeah, and I'll just put a little caveat

around this to start with that.

I don't think we necessarily see all of the market.

So I think, there are obviously people who've got very linear careers

who are moving into very similar roles in different companies, and

companies are doing that direct.

So the roles that we're seeing that are coming to headhunters

are typically not like that.

And I think that there's almost sometimes a backlash against people

who've had best in class training because there is a lack of innovation.

Now what we're really seeing is that, the businesses that I look after are seeing

unprecedented levels of automation.

So I spoke to somebody today, who said, we were recruiting the two packaging

designers, but in that time it took us to get the jobs specs together.

The technology had moved on so much that we didn't actually

need those people after all.

So there's a tremendous amount of automation.

Teams are getting smaller.

And then what that means for leadership is that those roles are getting more complex.

'cause people are thinking actually we don't need somebody to look

after buying and merchandising and customer and marketing.

We can put all of that under one person.

'cause it's a much smaller role.

So those leadership roles are becoming much more complex, a lot

less linear, and, because of that.

Somebody who's only ever had a linear career path, who has trained with the

best of the best and moved up through that company isn't gonna be right for that

because they've got no experience of truly innovating, of truly showing that they

can take on left field projects, careers.

It almost needs, people need to have gone through a period of.

Doing, something like a chief of staff role where they are picking up

different projects, so they need to demonstrate those wider skills than

necessarily, what you would get from being in a big company leadership role.

That is so interesting and so different to how it was 10 years ago.

Gosh.

And I love that it's moving so fast that people need to be nimble.

I think that those roles are actually more interesting.

So for the right people, they're really attractive roles.

Roles that I've recruited this year have been things like, I recruited

an MD for a business unit, but it also had wider responsibility for

marketing across the entire group and setting KPIs for the entire group.

It was a really complex role.

And we're seeing a lot more of that.

So for the right people, careers actually can be a bit more attractive,

but how you get those interesting roles means that you have to really

demonstrate that you have innovated and have taken on different things.

So I think actually in commercial roles the roles on the top line

are getting fewer and far between.

'cause you can put so much more under one person.

But having said that, then I think in some other areas, so you know,

in CIO, whereas, the IT director at one point sat under the CFO.

Now that is very much a top line.

And actually I have seen some cases where they've actually pulled the

chief data officer out onto the top line and taken some of marketing,

some of finance, some of it, and put that under a chief data officer.

So there are shifts that way as well.

Oh my God I'm so curious.

I can ask you hundreds of questions, but in our limited time tell me, when

you are conducting a search now to find the top five people or six people,

whatever it is in the country for a particular role at leadership level, what

other market changes are you noticing?

I think what we've seen in the market is that because of the

perma crisis, the non-exec board is having to be much more involved in the

day-to-day running of the business.

They've very much gone are the days when the chairman could read the board

pack the night before the meeting.

That's just not enough.

They've got to be touching the business.

They've got to be really involved.

Businesses are seeing that non-exec as crucial to guiding the business

in the next direction rather than just checks and balances.

It's a great way of getting, other opinions.

It's a great way of getting diversity of leadership into the business.

And because of that, I think, the days when Uncle Bob can be the chairman,

that's definitely gone and you can't rely on who you know, so it's got to

go to search to find those people.

So increasingly we're doing board roles.

And then also we're seeing a lot more fractional roles,

particularly in something like the Dark Hearts of Marketing.

I think that people doing, a couple of days marketing director in a business

here and then doing some non-exec work, we're seeing people creating

portfolios like that quite a lot.

And then the other thing, as I'd say on the exec side is that I'm actually seeing

people go, going back to those interesting roles people will take a drop in salary

to take on a really interesting role.

So over the last two years, I think I've had two or three roles where there's

been a significant increase in salary.

Quite often people have gone.

Do you know, that's a really interesting role I really want to do it.

Does mean that those bands are quite competitive now because people will

take a drop to do something that, that is really gonna mean that they can

make an improvement in a business.

Something that has got some true innovation to it.

They will really flex on salary.

So that's the other thing that I'm seeing.

so that's music to my ears 'cause that means that individuals

are prioritizing satisfaction in work.

Whether that's through innovation or quality of work

or type of role, et cetera.

They're prioritizing that over salary.

And I think that's.

That can be very joyful.

Yeah.

Okay, so can we take it from the other perspective,

the candidate perspective?

So if someone happens to be listening into this, who is open to new roles

and they haven't spent much time marketing themselves publicly.

What is the best way for that individual to get discovered by

headhunters and search firms?

So I think first of all, I think we don't see all of the market.

I think people have got to be aware that so many roles are filled

through people's personal networks.

And I'm always, don't be scared of your network.

Because even if you haven't spoken to somebody for a really long time, you

know that if they reached out to you and said, I'm looking for something

new, you do what you can to help them.

So you know, I think even if you haven't stayed in touch with people do take

the time to reach out to your wider network because actually more roles are

filled that way than with headhunters.

So using your wider network is really important.

I think that talking to headhunters is also important and I think

doing a bit of groundwork.

If you think I might be looking, do respond to messages.

Even if you think I don't think that's right for me.

So do take the time to reach out to people.

You do build your network that way.

And it can just show that you are engaging with that market.

I think, taking the time to talk to people and maybe, if it's not for

you making a recommendation and using your network to, to pass things on.

If you enjoyed this, you might also enjoy my

life satisfaction assessment.

It's a 30 minute program where I guide you through a deep dive into 10 areas

of your life to assess what's bringing you joy and what's bringing you die.

I call it derailed.

It's a fabulous place to begin at joy at work redesign.