How to Choose And Hire a Great CEO for Your Startup Company?
A CEO is an important individual in not only large companies but also in startups. Startups need special attention as they are yet to grow in many folds. Hiring a CEO demands special recruitment criteria. Whether emphasis has to be laid on expansion or changing the operational system, it has to be decided by the CEO. CEO hiring can be done smoothly and efficiently with the help of Alliance Recruitment Agency.
For young companies and startups, it is challenging to find a CEO for the very first time. The functioning of a company depends on the CEO, and therefore hiring the right person is crucial. Detailed research and dedication is the key to finding the right talent.
Usually, startups do not know from where they should start while hiring a CEO. However, lack of experience should not be a barrier. In countries like the USA, the challenge of hiring the perfect CEO is finding the right one out of numerous options.
With different kinds of visionaries to choose from, one should be aware of their company’s needs. In countries like Australia and Canada, the biggest dilemma is to hire a CEO from external resources or to offer the position to a top employee from within the company.
Define Your Requirements and Expectations For CEO Recruitment
1) Prepare a CEO Recruitment Documentation – Goals, Objectives, Recruitment Committee, Interview Panel, Etc.
The very first step in CEO recruitment is not merely listing down but also documenting the needs, goals, positions, and other aspects. A startup should begin by deciding its goal.
It helps in hiring a CEO that matches the visions of the company. The documentation acts as an outline for CEO recruitment and eventually acts as a manual and checklist. Documentation justifies the recruitment process. It should be a step-by-step process. The prior documentation should be prepared with the help of all the people holding major positions in the startup.
2) Discuss and Prepare a Highly Detailed Profile Description – Roles, Responsibilities, Performance Expectations, etc.
The task of CEO hiring is not easy, and that is why you would need a highly detailed profile description. This description is required to describe each and every role, responsibility, and performance expectations, which would then help you in shortlisting the right candidates for your startup.
Having a highly detailed profile description can even help you in understanding if you’re going in the right direction. In case you miss out on that point which would be highly required in the near future of the company or in any circumstance which might become a hurdle to your success.
3) List All Key Skills, Experience, Knowledge, Abilities, Etc. For the Position
The next step is to list all the key skills, experience, knowledge, and abilities that you’re looking for in the position. Since you have a highly detailed profile description now, you’ll have to understand the description and make a list that would consist of all the factors just mentioned above.
This list would help you indirectly match with the portfolios of the candidates for the position of CEO. The list acts as a checklist for the recruiters. The candidates who do not possess these skills would be eliminated.
4) Ensure Approval and Agreement on All Profile, Skills, Experience, Etc From Key Stakeholders
Now that you have a list of all the key skills, experience, knowledge abilities, and you have a highly detailed profile description, it is now time to get the opinions and feedback and make sure that the work you’ve done is right. This process helps you figure out if the candidate in question, when compared to the expectations, is the right fit for the startup too.
You can take up the list of the key stakeholders to get their insights and to edit your research if required. Since CEO hiring is a long, tiring, and very important process which would be in a big way responsible for all the C level management decisions, it is important to make sure that you put all the effort into ensuring that you are making the right decision.
Identify What CEO Types Are Best Fit For Your Startup
According to the needs of your startup, you could choose the CEO that has the qualities to lead your establishment.
1) Risk Taker Champion
A CEO should be a firm decision-maker as well as a risk-taker. Especially for a startup, taking risks is important to grow. A potential CEO will be able to exhibit such traits in the interview itself by the leadership skills and confidence they portray. Your startup might lack direction, especially in the initial stages. Therefore, choose a CEO who would direct your company in the path along with risk-taking.
2) Client Acquisition Champion
If your startup needs more clients, then consider hire a CEO who is a client acquisition champion. He or she needs to be a people person who has the convincing power to widen the client base of the company.
The candidate should be an expert in various marketing strategies, digital channels, and tactics that are both online and offline. It often involves a mix of cross-channel marketing campaigns, which includes advertising, social media marketing, content marketing, etc.
3) Critical Thinker and Strategy Champion
If you are in need of the appropriate strategies for developing your business, then hire a CEO who is a critical thinker. The executive intelligence is needed to direct the startup. To prioritize conflicting goals, it is a critical thinker who can resolve the issue. Open-mindedness needs to be present in the CEO to inculcate new thoughts and try giving new strategies a shot.
4) Technology Market Expansion Champion
Every startup depends highly on technology in some way or the other. Leadership, in terms of technology, is definitely needed by companies. Therefore, hiring a CEO who is a technology market expansion champion is important if your startup’s progress depends totally on the quality and effectiveness of technology solutions.
5) People and Change Management Champion
With time, changes in the way of work need to be brought in a startup. By reviewing the present conditions of work and its outcome, the CEO can understand if some new change needs to be facilitated. Such a CEO can become a people and change management champion.
6) Organic Growth Champion
In a business, growth is not only measured in terms of profit and loss. It should also be seen in terms of internal or organic growth. The productivity of the employees contributes to the output. Hence, if you feel the need to hire a CEO to check on the internal conditions, then consider hiring someone who is an organic growth champion.
7) Inorganic Growth Champion
Startups that aim to expand themselves by buying other businesses and widening their territory of functioning definitely need to hire a CEO who is an inorganic growth champion. It is profitable as well as sustainable. However, doing so needs proper guidance, which only a CEO can offer.
Partner with a CEO Search Agency
1) Ask The Agency To Conduct Market Mapping and Compensation Benchmarking
The analysis of the market and the competitors needs to be done. It can, however, be time-consuming and needs years of experience and great expertise. This is why having an agency do that is convenient. They carry out surveys and collect data about what are the new trends in terms of salaries, skills, softwares, etc.
2) Ask The Agency To Define The Search Criteria Based on Market Research and Internal Inputs
On the basis of the market mapping and compensation benchmarking findings, you can ask the recruiting agency to carry out the CEO search. It will help in conducting a refined search that combines key insights from market mapping with your own internal expectations from the future CEO. The agency then scans every specification framed in the ideal CEO persona to find candidates who have quite similar profiles.
3) Let The CEO Executive Search Expert Source 3-4 Ideal Candidates First
When it comes to hiring a CEO, the initial search cannot be about sourcing 10-15 candidates. Shortlist the 2-4 ideal candidates who meet most of the specifications based on the perfect CEO profile. Reach out to them with the best company presentations and a well-designed profile description. You need to test their responses and find out what kind of changes you need to make in your search and outreach approach.
4) Fix The Right Interview Formats And Screening Criteria
The interview sessions with potential CEO candidates cannot be a simple question-and-answer round. Create interview formats that involve asking the candidates to give presentations based on pre-agreed objectives.
Understand their vision through relevant questions at the end of the presentations and judge reactions that go beyond the matters covered in the presentation. For every round of interviews, there should be activities that help assess CEO candidates’ knowledge, practical business acumen, personality traits, behavioral traits, and other matters.
5) Scrutinize Outcomes and Further Refine Search Criteria
As CEO search is a sensitive one, merely interviewing does not guarantee the hiring of an efficient CEO. The outcomes of the interview should be thoroughly scrutinized. You might have found that your current expectations and requirements are somewhat off-track, or exaggerated, or not the best. It is always better to brainstorm and refine the search criteria based on this analysis.
6) Background Check The Final Round CEO Candidates
The next step is the background check which is an extremely important step. Background checking prevents many risks. Having a background check done on the CEO candidates of the final round can guide you to know and then confirm that the person you might appoint as your CEO has a good background, and you do not have to worry.
7) Finalize Terms of the Offer and Negotiations
The last step is nothing but just to finalize the terms of the offer and negotiations once you have decided upon the right suitable CEO for your startup. It is time to offer them the position and hence negotiate on their terms the salary, the benefits, and the work they would be required to do. Keeping the terms open makes your potential feel important and respected, too.
Alliance Recruitment Agency
Alliance Recruitment Agency is the go-to recruitment company for hundreds of companies worldwide. We have facilitated more than 1,000 senior management and C-level recruitment for organizations from 20+ sectors. You can trust our team of executive search consultants for CEO recruitment. We will ensure outstanding CEO search, interview management, and other recruitment support that enables the best CEO hiring outcomes.
