How to avoid the common traps of Executive Recruitment
Executive recruitment can contain many pitfalls for the uninitiated employer. When undertaking your search for your next Executive superstar, implement the following strategies to ensure your new executive is an exact fit for your business:
Target top executives with top quality job adverts:
• Ensure you have enough market knowledge to compare salary and conditions for the type of role you are recruiting to be confident your role will be attractive to quality executive candidates.
• Run an executive recruitment campaign that also shows candidates the point of differentiation between yourself and other companies
• Ask questions in your ad to encourage executives to respond
• Be clear about the type of executives you are looking for applications from
Be clear about what type of candidate will suit your business, before you start the executive recruitment process:
• Develop a strong set of parameters, or criteria to recruit candidates against. Ensure these are strictly recruited against, and need to be met before a candidate can move through to interview.
• Ensure recruitment doesn’t begin until there is a clear understanding of the type of Executive who will suit the team.
• Don’t allow yourself to be tempted to interview “likeable” executives, who don’t meet the criteria you are looking for.
• Ask peers to contribute to the selection criteria, an executive will likely have interactions with many areas of the business, recruitment involvement is important for peers also.
Do whatever it takes to be available for interviews:
• Quality executive candidates wait for no man. Your executive recruitment process may be extensive, but that doesn’t mean it has to take a long time. Ensure quality executive candidates are treated as such, snap them up for interview as soon as you have identified their suitability for the role.
• Quality candidates will be working in good roles already. Allow interviews to be scheduled after hours, or in alternate locations to make the recruitment process easier for them also.
Remove bias from executive recruitment interviews:
• Develop a standard set of questions for executive candidates to allow a transparent process
• Ensure those who need to know are aware that you are recruiting, set aside diary time, book quiet office space, turn of mobile phones etc.
• Ensure executive candidates feel comfortable with the privacy of the interview
• Allow enough time for the interview to run without feeling pressure to run off to another meeting
• Allow candidates to ask questions to get to know your company and the executive recruitment process you are following
Grab your Executive superstar and lock them in quickly:
• When following up on interviews with candidates, engage them in the executive recruitment process by advising how long it may take, and when to expect a response.
• Recruitment for Executive roles can be expensive and time-consuming. Don’t let a recruitment campaign fail due to sloth. Make formal job offers to executive candidates quickly, and follow them up in a timely manner.
