10 steps for landing an executive in under 10 days

One of the silver linings of the COVID-19 pandemic has been faster executive searches. But even in this accelerated environment, the search I closed a few weeks ago stands out: We went from the introductory call to the candidate accepting the offer in under ten days.

This particular search was for a CFO at a large cap technology company, but the tactics that made the search speedy and successful could be used when recruiting any senior executive. These tips give hiring managers and candidates an inside look at what went right:

1. Do your homework. Just like it’s hard to buy the first house you see, it’s hard to hire the first CFO you interview. The hiring manager, in this case the company’s CEO, had already started conducting informational interviews with CFOs in his network before the search kicked off in earnest. This was incredibly helpful because it gave him a sense of his competitors and their senior financial talent, as well as different CFO archetypes. These interviews also helped him ground his expectations for his company’s new CFO in reality. It’s easy to hope the perfect candidate will come along, but these interviews helped show him that every candidate has strengths and areas for improvement. And these interviews don’t need to stop even as you are fast-tracking a promising candidate: Continue to interview others to make sure you’re performing the requisite diligence for shareholders.
2. Prioritize your needs. Once you’ve gotten a sense of the archetypes from these informational interviews, it helps to hone in on a specific set of wants and set your expectations accordingly. Are you looking for someone who’s really strong on SEC compliance? Someone more operational who can partner with your sales force on deal negotiation and commission structures? Or do you want someone who can take your place in effectively communicating with Wall Street? Those are three different people. This company’s CEO wanted a CFO who had a strong reputation with Wall Street.
3. Hire a market expert. Once the CEO called me, we were able to take his groundwork and immediately put it into action. Our knowledge of the sector and my network helped speed up the process because prospective candidates were eager to pick up the phone, even though this was a confidential search and initial details were scarce. Since we are a trusted voice, executives frequently call to discuss whether they should take another offer—giving us a great opportunity to pitch the search we are working on. We also called a dozen buy-side and sell-side equity analysts to get their opinion on the top CFOs in the technology space.
4. Consider recruitability. Based on these equity analyst calls, I developed a short list of ten “Tier A” candidates. We then ranked each one based on the odds that s/he would take this job, based on my sense of their current job satisfaction, career trajectory, unvested equity, time in their current role and other factors. On average, there was less than a 30% average chance of landing any of these top candidates. In an extremely tight CFO market, it helps to have a reality check that the perfect candidate may be nearly impossible to get.
5. Be ready to give up weekends. I called the person who ultimately accepted the job at 5:45 pm on a Friday. He had another offer in hand, so we had to move quickly, but in this extremely competitive CFO market, it’s best to treat every candidate as if s/he already has an offer. This candidate met the CEO on Saturday morning, the CHRO on Saturday afternoon, two board members on Sunday and four executive peers on Monday—all over Zoom. It should also be noted that the “jury members” in this instance were fairly limited, which also helped to aid the speed of the process.
6. Engage the Board early. After the CEO first met the lead candidate, he immediately emailed several board members and, bolstered by what he’d learned in the other interviews he had already completed prior to kicking the formal search off, the CEO was a strong advocate for the candidate.
7. Leverage technology. As the timeline above shows, none of this would have happened without the power of video conferencing. But during COVID-19 and beyond, there is no reason to hinge a search on meeting a candidate in person. A good recruiter has likely met the candidate in person already and can confirm that they can present themselves well at a board meeting or important dinner. In this Zoom-powered world, the importance of referencing and even psychometric testing cannot be underscored enough, as they provide necessary additional data points to get comfortable with a hire.
8. Start reference and background checks early. With the candidate’s permission, given his accelerated timeframe, I started “soft referencing” the candidate on Monday (just two days after his first interview), talking with seven or eight former colleagues. We also started the formal background check that same day. Especially during the pandemic, formal background checks (done through a third party) can take longer, and you don’t want those delaying your press release.
9. Get to comp quickly. Also on Monday, we did an analysis of 15 peer companies by revenue, market capitalization, location and industry, removed some outliers and then compiled salary (cash and equity) numbers at the 25th, 50th and 75th percentiles. This helped the CEO go into salary negotiations armed with the right information. 
10. But be flexible. Although the company historically has not given sign-on bonuses to new employees, the company here ultimately was willing to negotiate on a signing bonus as they got to know the candidate. Compensation is emotionally charged, and it’s easy for both sides to get entrenched or walk away. Help keep the negotiations alive with some flexibility for the right candidate, taking into account the candidate’s current compensation and other offers. It was also important for the candidate to be flexible, given the benefit of this new role to his career trajectory, future compensation and board service opportunities.

After a whirlwind weekend of interviewing, the company extended an offer on Thursday, which the candidate accepted on Friday. When a company can act decisively and bypass their typical search process to capture an exceptional candidate, that goes a long way to making the candidate feel even more positively inclined to accept the offer.

While every situation is unique, this company was able to land a CFO who is a great fit for their needs and culture because they acted quickly and decisively. In a hypercompetitive market, speed is increasingly required to land good candidates before someone else does. Leveraging technology, being specific about your needs and hiring a market expert who can take a data-driven approach can help make searches both swift and successful.