Executing A Successful Executive Search

Sourcing and screening someone for the C-suite is just recruiting on a higher level, right? Wrong! Finding a new executive to lead your organization into the future is a massive undertaking that has little in common with standard recruiting endeavors.

In this article, we lay out the top 3 ways an executive search differs from traditional recruiting, and our 3 steps for executing a successful search.

So, how is an executive search different?

1. They are generally more complex

Ashley Grimm, Senior Client Development Director at Skywalk Group, has led many Executive Searches for her clients and says the process varies greatly from organization to organization. “We’re often working with multiple decision makers who have different sets of criteria they’re looking for. We partner to develop a candidate matrix with each level of the chosen criteria; this makes sure that we are evaluating each candidate on the exact same criteria, and also helps us clearly identify strengths and areas of improvement prior to making the decision.”

2. You’ll need to focus on passive candidates

Because of COVID-19, there are more qualified executive candidates seeking new employment, but the majority will still be already gainfully employed. This means you’ll have to focus your search on passive candidates - successful, qualified executives that are already employed elsewhere.

Recruiting these passive candidates requires a refined message and marketing strategy, and is one step of the process in which having an outsourced recruiting partner can be very beneficial.

3. The stakes are much higher

We’re talking about the leadership that will ensure the future success, or failure, of your organization. While every employee plays an important part, few roles are as high-stakes as executive leadership.

With that said, it might seem shocking that the failure rate among CEOs and other executives is sky-high. When it comes to executives, “at most one-third of [hiring] decisions turn out right; one-third are minimally effective; and one-third are outright failures. In no other area of management would we put up with such miserable performance”.1

How do we get started searching for an executive that will succeed in the role?

1. Partner up

You can try to DIY this search, but we don’t recommend it. For such a high profile, high-stakes role, it’s best to partner with an organization that is experienced in executive searches specifically, and has ties to the industry or community.

2. Develop your metrics, questions, and candidate matrix

With the help of your recruiting partner, you’ll need to develop the executive role fully: determine what skills you’re looking for, how you’ll analyze each candidate, and develop a matrix to keep things consistent.

It’s important that each candidate is asked the same questions and judged by exactly the same metrics so you have a consistent comparison across the board.

3. Determine your dream candidate

A great exercise to get things kicked off is to name a couple “dream candidates”, executives you know of that you think would be the absolute perfect fit for your organization’s goals. While this isn’t a required step in the process, it can give some extra insight to what you think you are looking for, versus what your organization might need.

For example, you may decide Steve Jobs is your ideal executive, but find after creating your metrics and candidate matrix that his type of management style is not at all what you are really looking for.

Finding a new executive to lead your organization is one of the most important decisions you can make. It’s not something to be taken lightly or to “DIY” without a trusted partner to help carry out the process in an equitable and consistent way. Skywalk Group is experienced in executive searches in many industries and locales, and can be that partner you need to find the right leader.

Resources:

1 Peter Drucker, “Getting Things Done: How to Make People Decisions”, Harvard Business Review (July-August 1985), p. 22