Canadian Recruiting Leader Marks 25 Years

MONTREAL – (February 11, 2008)– Friends and clients, including Canada’s first man in space, gathered at Chateau Ramezay, in Old Montreal last week, to mark the 25th anniversary of executive recruiting firm Cornerstone International Group Montreal (Alan Davis & Associates Inc.)

Dr. Marc Garneau, who spent almost 700 hours in space over three shuttle missions, was with the Canadian Space Agency in 1992, when the company was engaged to find four candidates to become astronauts.

“We’ve remained friends ever since and that seems to be a pattern,” said Garneau, the keynote speaker of the evening. “Alan’s success has been built around a theme of lasting relationships. There are people here who’ve been with him all 25 years.”

Cornerstone International Group Montreal, which is based in Hudson, has emerged as a leading force in a new era of executive and specialized search. Alan Davis & Associates Inc. was one of the first to transform recruiting into today’s Strategic Talent Acquisition. The firm’s latest concept, an innovative and pre-emptive program called Competitor Talent Mapping, was launched last year.

Demographic trends point to a critical shortage of skilled labour in the next 5-10 years and change was a major topic of discussion at the anniversary event.

“Looking ahead, I predict that we will witness a sea-change in the attitude of employers,” Garneau told the guests. “They are going to have to react to new generations of candidates who will bring an entirely different set of expectations to their future employers.

“And, given the “Doomsday” demographics, employers will have to start building relationships with their future hires much, much sooner, in order to get their share of the available talent.”

Owner Alan Davis founded the company in 1982 with his wife Diane Bates. Initially focused on the high-tech field, Davis broadened the base as he saw opportunities for a more rigorous, structured and disciplined approach to search at the level of executive, middle management and high-impact, individual contributor.

Today, the company employs 17 people and recruits from all over the world. Cornerstone International Group, one of the world’s largest Retained Search organizations, has 100 offices in 44 countries around the globe.

Looking back on a quarter century of achievement, Davis has no difficulty identifying the biggest thrill.

“The challenge of finding astronauts for the Canadian Space Agency is still the most exciting thing we’ve done,” he says. In a space of three weeks, we reviewed 5,300 CVs and over the next two months, narrowed the field in stages down to the top 20 from whom the final four were picked.”

Davis says his most treasured compliment was on the fairness of the selection. Not one of the candidates had a complaint about the process.

For more information, please contact:
Laurie O’Donnell
Alan Davis & Associates
1-450-458-3535
lodonnell@alandavis.com

William Guy, Chairman & CEO
Cornerstone International Group
1-213-489-6888
billguy@cornerstoneintl.com
www.cornerstoneintl.com