To no one's surprise the executive talent market has been significantly impacted by this year's economic turmoil. The changes that have occurred will have an impact for many years to come.

The economy has begun to show definitive signs of stabilizing and the beginnings of a recovery, but in conjunction with that hiring in many industries has become more selective with compensation restructured to reflect leaner organizations and budgets. It will be a long time in some industries before compensation returns to its former lofty levels.

The industry that has seen the biggest change in both organizational structure and compensation has been financial services. Many of the major firms are operating under TARP restrictions and others that have been fortunate enough to avoid going down that path have also restructured their executive ranks and adjusted their long term compensation. Anyone looking at a new position in this industry should anticipate being offered either a lateral or less of a percentage increase over their current compensation than they've been offered in the past.

Is this change indicative of the entire economy and does this mean that there aren't any new opportunities out there or that you should be discouraged from looking at these new opportunities? The answer is "No" because we must keep remembering that the market is always reinventing itself, and that talented people will always be rewarded. As the economy and companies have demonstrated traction over the past few months in regaining lost ground, key executives have begun to report seeing those gains reflected in their compensation. The caveat is that their compensation packages may contain more long term incentives or what we refer to as "golden handcuffs" than they previously did as companies seek to ensure retention of their star performers.

The other good news is that even in tough economic times there will always be companies that can leverage their competitors' misfortunes to create opportunities for themselves to gain a larger market share, and these companies have the capability and desire to reward those executives that help them achieve their goals. Companies in the M & A space are certainly using this as a time to expand their investment portfolios, and have a need to replace "C" level executives as they purchase or increase their shares in underperforming companies.

We're seeing greater activity in emerging markets such as China and the Middle East. Executives are being generously incented to enable their companies establish themselves in these new economies.

As business models change more opportunities are opening up as we see companies spin off business units that are not core to their success and acquire new businesses that will bolster their core capabilities.

Many executives are also finding new opportunities as even the most venerable and established companies move to become more entrepreneurial to stay competitive in an increasingly Internet focused marketplace.

Overall, we can report that current compensation is still providing the executives that we speak with the ability to maintain a very comfortable standard of living. However, where their career opportunities are appearing may not be within the traditional industries or geographic locations where you have historically expected to see them.

Now that most of our major corporations have established outposts all over the world, what a truly global economy means to most executives is that at some time in their career they will be asked by their senior management to consider accepting an overseas opportunity.

The ability to live and work overseas can be both more exciting and daunting than accepting a new role in your hometown. The impact of accepting such a role extends out to your immediate and extended family. Some of the major factors to consider will be the long term impact on your career, and quality of life issues for you and your family such as schools for your children and housing.

Since many of the world's major corporations are no longer headquartered in the US, in order for executives to have the chance to interact with the top echelons of their firms they may be asked to accept assignments on either a temporary or permanent basis at their corporate headquarters. One positive of an international assignment is the opportunity to prove your value to companies that increasingly see the road to their top management positions as necessitating experience in multiple divisions of the firm - wherever those business units are located. The major consulting firms are also increasingly sending their top people to emerging markets such as China and the Middle East in order to help them establish a foothold in these markets. Whenever companies are trying to open up entire new markets the odds are they are going to send their best possible representatives - for whom the rewards in successfully completing these assignments can be extremely lucrative.

Many of the schools abroad, especially the international schools, provide comparable educations to our own domestic schools, while also affording your children the opportunity to experience more than one culture, learn additional languages, and to gain a broader perspective that will serve them well as they mature. Studying and traveling abroad may also provide your children with the means to further distinguish themselves on their college applications, and open doors to them pursuing a higher education in the States or abroad.

Frequently overseas postings provide executives with the opportunity to live in better housing and to have a better support system than they could afford at home due to the favorable cost of living differential. Often the generous terms of an expat package enable a family to employ household staff, and to live in comfortable surroundings in some of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world - not to mention also enjoy significant tax benefits,. Additionally, many companies include as part of an overseas package flying all of the members of the family home several times a year at the company's expense.

One of the big fears executives express to us is if they accept an overseas assignment and take themselves out of the domestic market, only to later decide that they want to return, how can they manage to do so?

The reassuring answer is due to the nature of today's economy is that if you are talented you are no longer restricted to one market or even one industry. Global experience and a proven ability to adapt to changing conditions and to work well with different groups of people and within different cultures can only serve to make executives more attractive to a wider pool of companies.

If you are prepared to consider going global you will significantly expand your current and future career choices, while having the opportunity to create some memorable experiences for yourself and your family.

In an age of continued globalization, the need for companies to be able to be connected with their executives and clients anywhere-anytime through an effective Enterprise Mobility strategy is becoming more vital. From an IT perspective there are many challenges in designing and implementing this strategy which encompass cost effectiveness, secure connectivity, selection and deployment of portable devices and a standardization policy company-wide.

For many companies, mobility can be a large expense and this expense needs to be justified as an operational cost. Costs can range from hardware, data access through service providers and expense associate with configuration, deployment and management.

Secure connectivity is an extremely important part of the overall mobility strategy. Once companies deploy portable devices such as mobile phones, smartphones, BlackBerrys, laptops, PDAs, and other handheld devices, the challenge then becomes how to secure the devices, how to keep them under control and ensure that the network, e-mail system and data are not compromised. Security continues to remain a key component and consideration in mobility implementations. By instituting measures such as remote management of mobile devices, data encryption and installing anti-virus software, these devices can be made as secure as the company's internal IT infrastructure.

As we converse with our own clients and candidates at JB Homer, the issue of mobility is moving more and more into the forefront. Some of our clients are specifically asking potential CIO candidates about their mobility strategy and what they have implemented in this regard. This is particularly prevalent in deploying mobility solutions for field service personnel and sales executives who are constantly working away from a traditional office environment and who require access to real-time data.

Companies are also deploying Enterprise Mobility solutions when dealing with their customers. For example, a CIO whom we recently spoke with just implemented a secure web-cam system in his company's shop floor operation which enabled the customer to witness tests on large turbine engines remotely. Before the adoption of this system, the customer needed to physically come into the facility to see these tests; now the customer does not have to incur the travel expense and spend valuable time away from the office.

A strong standardization policy for Enterprise Mobility is necessary to ensure that all mobile devices follow the same access rules. For instance some handheld devices do not require any authentication to access the corporate network while the same access via laptop computers can be much more stringent, commonly requiring encryption, two-factor authentication and VPNs.

By standardizing a single solution across all devices, companies can mitigate the risk of threats to the integrity of their corporate network and sensitive data. It is incumbent on the corporate owners of the Enterprise Mobility plan to constantly evaluate its effectiveness as the technology surrounding this area continues to evolve. An effective corporate mobility plan enables companies to be more productive by maximizing the efficiency of their workforce, to make better business decisions through the standardization and accuracy of centralized and secure real-time data, and allowing the seamless flow of this data between wired and wireless networks.

Team building takes time, patience, and understanding of members' strengths and weaknesses. When building your team it is very important to realize that you, as the manager, have an obligation to your company to get the job done. You are also being observed by your superiors as to the manner and time frame it takes you to successfully complete your assignments. In building your team you must identify each member's strengths and weaknesses early on and know whom to delegate to and mentor in order to move them forward in your organization.

Today's leaders must be very pragmatic and realize that their team's players will not always excel in each task presented to them. As individuals each of us have certain things we love to do and certain things we truly dislike and therefore are not very good at. As a leader it is part of your responsibility to recognize team members strengths and utilize them to the fullest extent when building your team. The best leaders also focus on the individual's weaknesses and find ways to help them overcome these weaknesses and to create ways that will make their team members more successful. Today's leaders also realize that in order for real achievement to become reality they must focus not only on the greatest attributes of their team, but also on their weaknesses and that initiating efforts to mitigate or eliminate those shortcomings will lead to greater success for everyone. Recognizing your teams' strengths and weaknesses can take your team to levels of success that you and they might not have imagined possible. Simply delegating a person's weakness to a stronger individual is only a short term fix. One must constantly help team members' work on their weaknesses while leveraging their strengths in order to build a more productive team.

As your team is assigned different projects you need to observe and track how each individual performs with the challenge presented. As you begin to evaluate and track their different leadership styles, work ethics, and personalities you will start to see certain patterns emerge in relation to their strengths and weaknesses. Some projects may fail and others succeed and you need to identify their personal attributes that may be causing this. Once you have identified the shortcomings you can start to deal with the good and bad attributes of your team.

When individuals excel in something it is always easier for them to acknowledge their success: they probably already know that at least one of their strengths helped contribute to that success. It is harder for anyone to acknowledge a weakness. It is important for you as a leader and a mentor to relate in a positive manner that you recognize the individual's weakness and want him/her to work on overcoming it because once they do they will become a more valuable member of the team. Proactive discussions will accelerate the progress in overcoming these weaknesses and lead to future growth. You may even find it beneficial to offer career coaching sessions or additional training to help your team members as a way to motivate them towards positive change.

Partnering co-workers who have strengths in one area with others that have weaknesses in the same area is another way to foster growth in your team. Since teamwork is about delivering on a common vision most people pride themselves in being able to help other individuals overcome their shortcomings and bring assignments to successful conclusion. Individuals who wish to overcome weaknesses to build their skill sets can also seek help outside of the workplace by attending continuing education courses that are focused to their particular needs.

As a team leader it is important to remember that everyone will, to some extent, fail before they succeed. If team members know they will not be penalized for failing and be given the opportunity to overcome their weaknesses it will build confidence to succeed on future assignments. Once you have built your team by strengthening their personal attributes you, as their manager, will be recognized in your organization as the person who is capable of leveraging his/her team to get the job done.