Yes, we are in a war for talent again. Make sure you and your hiring team are giving great executive candidates a reason to say yes to you. We consult with our clients on how to succeed in all parts of the executive hiring process but for this blog we will focus on these 4 things.
Don’t lose a great executive talent that can accomplish what you need by refusing to be flexible.
We just worked with a client who was so focused on getting an executive talent that filled every single aspect of their job description that they lost sight of the overall goal which is to find an executive candidate that can get the job done and accomplish the goals of the role and the organization overall. The good news is that we found several executive candidates who filled their very niche specific and highly in-demand position. The bad news is they offered no flexibility in terms of virtual or flex schedule components. The San Francisco Bay Area has seen an increase of over 100,000 in its population over the past year alone and the result has been felt in commute times everywhere in the region. But our client refused to offer any part-time virtual component or even a modest flex adjustment on schedule, citing the team needed hands on supervision every single day. The result was that they lost out on a half dozen highly effective executive team leaders for their role. If your team needs hands on supervision every single day, you probably have the wrong team. A good executive team leader can just as effectively guide them from 10am – 7:00pm as they can from 8:00am – 5:00pm.
A bit of flexibility is key. The workforce has changed so don’t stay stuck in refusing to allow some virtual components and flex schedules to help with terrible commute times. If the executive candidate can get you the result that your company needs but needs some flexibility in how that is done, have that conversation.
Try to move people though the hiring process quickly (but thoroughly) and stop creating interviewing roadblocks.
Another client was interviewing an SVP executive level talent and required them to take part in 16 separate interviews, resulting in an executive candidate who was left having serious question about the decision making ability of the hiring company and at the end of the process refused the offer. There’s nothing your team is going to learn in interview 12 that they couldn’t have learned in interview 4 if the team had been properly trained to interview beforehand. If you do need to have multiple interviewers screen a candidate, we recommend that you top load your interviews. Arrange for interview teams of 2-3 people at a time, to increase the speed, decrease the repetition, and to prevent candidate interview fatigue. Your organization will benefit in a multitude of ways: Having 2-3 person interview prevents the executive candidate from having to answer the same basic questions over and over, and while one person questions the executive candidate, the others can benefit from actively listening to the answers and being able to compare perspectives once the interview is over. Putting an executive candidate through multiple, repetitious interviews shows lack of preparation and commitment to the process from your organization.
Train your hesitant hiring managers with unrealistic candidate expectations on the hiring process.
If you have a heads down hiring team that is not keeping their finger on the pulse of the job market, it is your job to make sure they are aware of the competitiveness for executive talent and keep that in mind when putting their wish list together. We are not recommending that you accept less of what it is your organization truly needs for the executive position that you are hiring for, but that the expectations are realistic for this executive role. Try to build consensus with the hiring team before you start the executive search, not during or after, if possible.
Don’t let your team make the final decision on hiring an executive leader, the executive team should make that decision.
Though collaboration is very important, and it is important to get buy-in from everyone on the team, also realize that the decision on hiring an executive team member ultimately is up to the executive team. Yes, they should like their new boss, but they shouldn’t get a “vote” as to whether that boss is hired.
Streamline your hiring process as much as possible without sacrificing thoroughness and due diligence. Always remember the executive talent and hiring companies objective is for both to build a 50/50 partnership for success. Give the best executive talent a reason to say yes to your opportunity!