Enhancing Your CFO Hiring Strategy: 5 Essential Steps for Success

1. If possible, avoid confidential searches.

   It is better to involve the incumbent executive and work through a staged transition, which will allow you to control the narrative while softening the blow of

   a difficult conversation. Bringing the incumbent into the process will also allow for more of an orderly transition when you make your replacement hire.

   
   

2. Uncover the most critical candidate requirements by stress-testing your thinking with your inner circle. Partner with your CHRO and executive recruiter to summarize “Version 1” of your core requirements and be prepared to amend as you gather input from various stakeholders, including the Board/investors and key peers to the CFO in sales, marketing and product. Hearing from a diverse audience will help you contextualize wants and alert you to potential trade-offs inherent when evaluating candidates.

   
   

3. Do your homework on compensation and address the topic with candidates early in the process.

   Depending on the search, you may be recruiting executives from start-ups, private equity sponsored and/or public companies. Comp structure and magnitude at these companies varies, so mandate your recruiting partner alerts you to price points on candidates.

   
   

4. Engage a portfolio of candidates and avoid the "insularity trap” by seeking at least two “challenger candidates” from outside of your immediate sector. Doing so will help you weigh the tradeoff between “knowing our business” and catalyzing “new ways

   to approach the problem”. Outsider candidates can be ideal agents for new approaches. However, ensure that your culture and organization will respond well to being challenged.

   
   

5. Elevate the “art of executive assessment” by leveraging timesaving and insight-gathering tools.

   With the proliferation of interview tools that listen/transcribe/summarize conversations each interview should be at least 25% more insightful, helping hiring teams be better judges of talent and reduce biases. HireLogic and Metaview.ai are two tools I seamlessly use in interviews that have improved both interview throughput and assessment quality.