Your search for the best executive candidate should reflect your organization. One way to ensure this will happen is to work with an executive search firm to develop a recruiting strategy that reflects the traits you most need in your next leader. Creating a list of the most pressing criteria is a strong first step in this process, and deciding which criteria should be on that list requires some thinking.
In an article for Forbes, Joel Trammell lists several areas for boards to consider when preparing for an executive candidate search. While he says that boards will need to ultimately develop this list of traits on their own, he also highlights some fundamental questions to ask about CEO candidates: What size of business have they worked with? Do they have any international experience? How much do they know about the industry?
Most importantly, Trammell says that in most cases, it is best to hire someone with CEO experience, as opposed to a person who has never held this title before. Although candidates from non-executive positions could have proper knowledge and exposure, Trammell says they will usually simply lack the necessary job experiences.
"It is rare to find a large company sales executive who can transition well to the role of CEO at a smaller company," he writes. "Following my rule of ten in terms of size, I would much prefer finding a successful CEO at a smaller company to run a bigger company."
Sometimes the most important quality you need from a leader is easy to define, and other times, it's more abstract. To come up with the most specific and productive terms possible, your business should work with a recruitment firm that will take the time to understand your needs before the search.
Finding people is easy, but finding the RIGHT people is not. YES Partners helps companies FIND the right people – for all company functions, across many industries and globally.
