Recruiting a CEO can be a challenge for any organization.

Whether you’re looking to replace your existing CEO or hire one for the first time, you should know that it’s not like hiring for other positions within your organization. It’s a process that comes with many unique challenges that working with an experienced head hunter in Colorado can help you overcome.

5 Reasons Finding a CEO is so Challenging

#1. The best candidates may not be actively looking.

One of the most difficult aspects of hiring a CEO — or any C-level executive, for that matter — is that it typically involves recruiting people who aren’t actively looking for a new position. This is also what separates c-level recruiting from recruiting for most other positions within your organization.

Without candidates actively applying for the open position, you have to figure out how to find them, which means that you have to know where to look.

Working with the right executive recruiter is one of the best things you can do for your CEO search because they have a network of qualified candidates and know how to attract the best candidates, even if they’re already in a position elsewhere.

#2. You may not know what you’re looking for.

There are many, many different ways to lead an organization, and some leadership styles may be better suited to your company culture than others. But, before you can find the right person for the job, you need to figure out what you’re looking for in that person, which can be easier said than done.

Take some time to think about what kind of CEO you want for your organization. Are you looking for someone who will lead independently, or someone who prefers to work closely with a team? Are you looking for a CEO who has a certain amount of experience, or a specific skill set?

Work with your team to brainstorm ideas of what kind of CEO you’re looking for. This will help you create a more accurate job description of what you’re looking for.

#3. It takes time to find the right CEO.

While it can take time to fill just about any position, most positions can be filled much more quickly than openings for CEOs and other C-level positions. It’s incredibly important to get it right when you make the decision to offer a candidate the job, and it will take time to find that candidate.

It’s not as if that time is spent inactively, either. It’s spent pouring over resumes, calling references, and researching your candidates. A lot of organizations underestimate the time it will take to find the right candidate and don’t adequately plan for it.

And, when you do finally find the right candidate for the job, you also have to plan for the time it takes to make the transition to new leadership. The transition period can be rocky, but you can make it smoother by properly planning ahead.

#4. The decision shouldn’t be based on the resume.

A resume can only tell you so much about a candidate. It’s great for learning about a candidate’s previous experience and education, but it provides no indication of what working with the candidate will really be like or what kind of impact they’ll have on the organization.

Too often, organizations are so concerned about whether or not a candidate checks all of their boxes on paper that they end up hiring someone who is the wrong culture fit or has the wrong leadership style. The truth is that candidates are about so much more than what’s on their resume, and it’s a mistake to put too much stock in it.

Part of the reason why so many organizations fall into the trap of emphasizing resumes too much is that it’s much easier to look at a resume than it is to gain an understanding of the whole candidate and the impact they might have. Most organizations would benefit from working with a headhunter who knows how to dig a little deeper to learn about a candidate’s potential.

#5. There’s a lot of competition.

Finding the right CEO for your organization often involves searching through a very limited pool of candidates. You want someone who not only has the right skills and experience, but also will be a good fit for your culture. You probably won’t have a huge group of candidates to choose from, and since many other organizations will be looking for similar things, you’ll have some competition to contend with.

Interviews for lower-level positions are typically about candidates selling themselves to you, but when you’re competing for the right CEO with other organizations, you have to learn to sell yourself. That can be a difficult mentality shift for many organizations, but working with the right executive recruiter can help.

Head hunters aren’t solely focused on finding the right candidates for organizations. They are also dedicated to helping those organizations attract the right candidates and stay ahead of the competition.

Finding the right CEO can certainly be difficult, but with the right head hunting firm on your side, it doesn’t have to be. Learn about how the candidate services from Riderflex can help to simplify the process today.