It’s difficult to find the right person to fill a vacancy in your C-suite. From finding someone who has a personality that fits your culture, has the necessary experience, and is driven enough to hit the ground running, your pool for potential candidates is relatively small. With help from James Allan Executive Search, you can find the right person for the job. To help you get started, we have some tips that can help you be successful in hiring the right executive.
Understand the market
Finding an executive isn’t like finding mid- to low-level employees with traditional hiring methods. It’s not as easy as putting a listing out on an online job board and finding the right person. Instead, you need to get an idea of who your qualified candidates are, where they’re coming from, and the kind of experience they have in your industry. For example, you could be looking for a CTO for an insurance company but there was just a mass exodus of executives from the food processing industry. While some of their skills will translate, you’re going to want someone who’s familiar with insurance and finance. The easiest way to do this is by working with a recruiting firm to do street-level research for you.
Define your expectations
It doesn’t matter if you’re hiring an executive on your own or if you’re working with a recruiting firm, you need to know what you’re looking for in a candidate. Work with your team to establish the characteristics, experience, and personality type that you want to be working in your C-suite. You’d be doing yourself and your candidates a major disservice by bringing them in before you know what you expect from the person you’re going to hire.
Be proactive
As we previously mentioned, hiring for the C-suite isn’t like hiring other employees for your company. It’s not common for a person to walk in on the street and ask to join your executive team. While this might be a bold move that pays off for both of you, this is the exception, not the rule. You have to make the effort to start looking for potential candidates rather than waiting for them to come to you because hiring executives requires a unique set of skills and experience.
Get everybody on the same page
No matter how big or small your business is, its success depends on the cohesion and long-term vision of the executive team. Yes, a business can run effectively in disarray for a few months because of the momentum that’s been created by your leadership. However, you’ll eventually need everyone on the same page to continue building momentum and sustainable success. Get your entire team on the same page before hiring your new executive because there could be some growing pains in the process.
Do your homework on candidates
Each candidate who walks through your doors for an interview is going to have their own story. You can gain insight into their story by thoroughly reading their resume, cover letter, doing a Google search, and even quickly looking through their social media presence. You can learn a lot about who candidates are and where they’ve come from to see whether or not they’ll be a fit for your company leadership group.
Book a free consultation
Get started looking for qualified candidates in your executive search with help from James Allan Executive search. Our team of recruiters has a proven method that will help you find the perfect addition to your C-suite at a 94.7% success rate in 90 days or less. Use our booking tool to schedule a free consultation or get in touch by calling 616-825-1565. You can also send any inquiries using our online contact form.
