It is a long and delicate process and may take 4-8 months to find the right person. Plus, the person will need a lot of reassurance before he/she is convinced enough to make a decision. In this article, we will discuss the best practices while hiring senior-level executives often known as C-level hiring.
Hiring Senior Level Executives Is Very Different From Hiring Other Employees In An Organisation
Look For Them
C-level executives are usually not job hunters and hence stay passive. But that doesn’t mean they are not interested in new opportunities. Look for them on professional networking sites and approach them with your offer. Experteer career services survey mentions that 97 percent of senior-level executives don’t mind when they are ‘approached’ for a new opportunity.
Do Your Homework Well
C-level professionals are usually super busy and you won’t have much time to pursue them. So, do your homework and prepare well. If needed, seek inputs from your internal leadership team. Draft a job description keeping the ideal candidate persona in mind.
Do a thorough profile check of the candidate you are going to pursue. Understand if he/she fits the role and have your answers ready why you want the person to be in your leadership team.
Understand Your Company Culture
The company culture at any workplace depends on its leadership team to a great extent because they are the ones who drive it along. While developing your candidate persona, be sure to include the traits you want to have in your leadership to blend with your existing company culture.
Emotional Intelligence Is Equally Important
Even if the person comes with excellent educational qualifications and industry experience, it is important to evaluate his/her emotional intelligence and fairness to deal with people. Assess them for accountability, responsibility, if they believe in a collaborative style of working, self-management, social awareness, and self-awareness skills. Ethics and attitude are extremely important attributes to look for when it comes to hiring senior-level executives.
Be Discreet
When reaching out to prospective candidates, respect their privacy, and keep the entire process as discreet as possible. The best way to reach them is through their networking site or private email or phone. Assure them that you will maintain complete confidentiality about the entire procedure. Stick to your promise.
Create A Case To Pursue Them
As already mentioned, senior-level executives are mostly passive. You need to seek them out and pursue them to join your organization. For this, you need to build up a compelling case and ‘sell’ the opportunity to them.
While doing so, mention at least one compelling reason for them to join your organization and why you think he/she is the right fit for them. Research and gather enough information about the person to find out what will make your offer attractive to him/her.
Personalization Is The Key
Remember, finding the right executive leader is difficult, but persuading him/her is even harder. Adopt a highly personalized approach with the candidate in your focus. Invest time to build a relationship without trying to sell the position immediately. Get to know the person and establish a rapport before you discuss the finer details of the job.
Last but not least, as Gartner mentions, the pace of change in an organization continues to accelerate, and being able to respond to that is difficult.
To embrace this changing dynamic, we need to ensure we have the right leadership team to lead the way. The points discussed above will help you on your journey to find the best leader for your organization.
