3 Ways to Find a CEO Quickly
If you’re operating without a CEO, or with someone ineffective in the top spot, your company is very vulnerable. This situation is kind of like a country without a president or a ship without a captain. For that reason, you need to find a replacement as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, an executive search is always a lengthy process, and to fill a spot as important as CEO it can take even longer. Here are three tips to help you find the right person faster:
Look Back Through Your Archives
You probably have a file cabinet full of resumes and cover letters you’ve received from candidates interested in a previous vacancy. This is a great place to start your search, especially if you have filled executive positions in the past. In all likelihood, you will hear from many of these people again as soon as you advertise that the CEO position is open. Create a stack of promising candidates, and reach out to them to find out if they are available and if their credentials have changed meaningfully since they last applied. Moving forward, make sure you continue to backlog and even catalog resumes so that you can fill future vacancies faster.
Reach Out on Social Media
You might not expect to find your next CEO on Facebook, but there is no reason you can’t use social media to fill even your highest executive positions. LinkedIn is a great place to focus your efforts because every professional worth his salt has a profile. Make it known that you’re looking for a CEO, and reach out through some of the channels you have established. You never know where connections will come from, and at the very least you can grow your candidate pool this way. Make sure to also use social media as an evaluation tool once you start vetting candidates.
Rely on an Executive Search Partner
A rushed search often leads to rushed decision making. Rather than scrambling, enlist the help of an executive search firm. They can use the significant resources at their disposal to help you find eligible candidates within the time frame you specify. Not only is speed improved, so is overall quality. Since a search partner has an already-established roster of carefully vetted professionals, you don’t have to worry about your next CEO having inflated credentials. In every way, this is simply the smarter strategy for filling a mission-critical vacancy when time is of the essence.
Don’t let your C-suite sit empty. The team at Artemis Consultants has the network and the expertise to help you uncover valuable C-Level talent.