Recruiting Giant CareerBuilder Names New CEO

Irina Novoselsky has been named chief executive officer of CareerBuilder, taking over from Matt Ferguson who has assumed the role of executive chairman after 14 years at the helm.

Before joining CareerBuilder in October 2017, Novoselsky served as CFO and then president of Novitex Enterprise Solutions and was an investment strategist at Dubin & Co. She also worked as an investment manager at CareerBuilder owner Apollo Global Management and Morgan Stanley.

Novoselsky takes over at a pivotal time for the Chicago-based company primarily know for its online job search services. Private equity firm Apollo Global along with Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board took over ownership when they bought a majority stake in the company in 2017. In June 2018, the company was slapped with lawsuit by a former marketing director that alleged sexual harassment was “the norm” at the company. The company also faces market headwinds as online giants Google and Facebook elbow into the recruiting industry alongside a host of aggressive startups applying emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence to recruiting.

“Our strength in online recruitment – combined with new, AI-powered solutions that span the end-to-end candidate and recruiter experience – puts CareerBuilder in a unique position to help our global customers improve their workflows, integrate their processes to drive profitability, increase productivity and maximize business results,” Novoselsky said in a press release announcing her appointment.

Novoselsky joins the ranks of women CEOs just as that group lost one of its most high profile members. PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, one of just 25 women currently running a Fortune 500 company, announced that she would step down later this year and will be replaced by her male deputy, Ramon Laguarta. Novoselsky will also have to contend with the “glass cliff,” a term coined by researchers to explain companies’ tendency to name a female leader during a time of transition or after a stretch of poor results. High profile examples include former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and Ellen Pao, who resigned as CEO of Reddit.

Despite the challenges ahead, CareerBuilder executives report confidence in the company’s direction. “With Irina assuming the CEO role, we have a determined, passionate leader to take CareerBuilder’s strategy and innovative technology solutions to the next level and continue helping people and businesses succeed in the new world of work,” said Ferguson in a press release.