Industry Insights From C-Level Recruiters

When leading businesses look for top talent to fill their executive and C-level positions, they often utilize professional executive recruiters. They do so because these recruiters have the connections, insights, relation
ships, and expertise to match the top candidates with the top positions.

Recruiting at the executive level is demanding, difficult work that requires the ability to separate true talent from pretense and have a personal, detailed understanding of the culture, character, and quirks of numerous businesses and potential candidates. Then the C-level recruiters are required to use that insight to determine which top talent and businesses will work well together.

That’s not easy. However, because the reputation of those recruiters relies on the quality, work ethic, character, relevance, and culture-fit of their candidate selections, the recruiters who excel in the recruiting business are industry experts for the hiring process and the vetting of candidates. And that knowledge is critical for for sourcing top executive-level talent for your business.

They’ll Select True Talent Over Years Worked

Whether it’s high-level ecommerce recruitment for a tech giant or a middle management position at a small CPG business, recruiters will take the hungry, talented, and proven mover and shaker over the uninspired long-timer who has simply stuck around for years with mediocre results.

That’s not to say that recruiters don’t put a premium on experience and dependability—these are certainly factored in. However, if it comes down to it, when choosing between a candidate with 10 years of experience overseeing growth, innovation, and burgeoning profits and a candidate with 20 years of experience steadily towing the line at the head of a department that hasn’t done much, years of experience is simply not enough.

The takeaway for those aspiring to a C-level position is: When marketing yourself to potential employers, be specific about what you’ve accomplished. Share achievements and specific details, milestones, and actual figures to demonstrate how you’ve succeeded and what you’re capable of accomplishing.

The Interview Process is a Two-Way Street, Really

Many of us have heard, “Job interviews are a two-way street. When they’re interviewing you, you should interview them back.” The concept may sound like one of those unhelpful business clichés that’s a better fit for a slogan on a poster in a hiring center than a useful maxim. However, in this case, it really is good, applicable advice.

For an executive position, particularly in a competitive, knowledge- and curiosity-driven hiring situation, like analytic recruiting, for instance, a recruiter and potential employer are looking for someone who is ready to ask them questions, including thoughtful questions. Any C-level candidate a company considers worth looking at should be familiar enough with an organization to ask pertinent questions about that organization, questions that demonstrate an understanding of the business that transcends their “About Us” page.

They want a candidate who digs deeper, talks to contacts, and does some in-depth research. Not just because knowledge of the company you’re potentially going to work for is generally an employment necessity, but because it demonstrates intellectual curiosity, insight and acumen, and an interest in and commitment to the company.

Additionally, potential executives have to be able to demonstrate that they’re willing to ask tough questions in general, and that they have the confidence, high-level knowledge and experience required to do so. Finally, someone comfortable with asking tough, straightforward questions to a group of executives they’re hoping to work for is demonstrating that they’re someone who can work with those executives as equals.