Executive hiring is different. That sounds obvious. But you’d be surprised how many businesses approach hiring a creative director, CMO or senior leader in exactly the same way they approach hiring a midweight role.
The reality is that by the time you’re hiring at executive level, skills are often the ‘easy’ part and most candidates can actually do the job. They’ve got the experience, the portfolio and the track record to prove it.
The harder question is whether they’re the right person to lead.
Where a bad junior hire might slow down a project, a bad executive hire can change the trajectory of an entire division or company. They’re responsible for shaping culture and influencing decision-making. Often, they also determine whether other talented people stay or leave.
That’s why businesses get nervous, and that’s also where many executive hiring processes start to go wrong.
Over the last few years, we’ve seen hiring becoming increasingly over-engineered, with more stages, stakeholders, presentations and attempts to eliminate risk.
There comes a point where a thoughtful hiring process turns into a nervous one. The irony is that the companies most worried about missing the right person often end up building a process that depletes the appeal of working together completely.
We’ve seen brilliant candidates lose interest after months of interviews. We’ve seen businesses spend so long searching for certainty that they miss the opportunity right in front of them.
At the end of the day, the best senior people aren’t waiting around indefinitely. They have options, and they’re assessing you just as much as you’re assessing them.
One thing we always remind clients is that an executive interview isn’t an interrogation. It’s a conversation, where candidates are asking themselves questions too. Do I trust these people? Do they know what they want? Will I be able to make an impact here? Can I see myself working with this leadership team every day?
The answers rarely come from a job description or a deck. They come from the people in the room. That’s why building trust counts for a lot in this process.
You can learn a lot from a CV. You can learn even more from a portfolio. But neither tells you how someone treats people or handles pressure.
Paula Carrahar, one of our directors here at Craft, has a pretty fool proof test for this. She asks herself, “Could I sit next to this person on a long-haul flight and not want to throw myself out of the emergency exit?”
It’s slightly unscientific, yes, but leadership is a deeply interpersonal endeavour. Chemistry and trust matter, as does the ability to bring people with you and help them develop. You only really discover those things when people are given the chance to be themselves.
The other mistake we see is focusing too much on whether someone will accept the role, and not enough on whether they’ll stay.
Longevity should be a huge factor when making a senior hire, and if you want to ensure you won’t be looking to fill that position again in a year’s time, you need to work out what motivates this person, what would make them leave or stay, and what good progression looks like for them.
One thing we keep front of mind is that the strongest executive hires aren’t simply a match for the role. They’re a match for the future direction of the business. Like any good gardener, you’re not just planting for today. You’re thinking about what something might become with the right environment, support and room to grow.
So, to summarise, the best executive hiring processes aren’t necessarily the shortest or the fastest. They don’t have to be long and drawn out either.
They’re clear and respect people’s time. Both sides know exactly what they’re looking for.
Most importantly, hiring leaders isn’t about finding someone who ticks every box, but about recognising potential and having the confidence to make a decision when the right person is sitting in front of you.
