Recruiting C-level leadership is a high-stakes, high-impact arena. You may want to save money and take the “do-it-yourself” approach to executive hiring, but that’s like navigating the Amazon River on your own.
An excellent guidebook and wilderness experience can only get you so far into the jungle before you face weather, animals, insects, river hazards, or a wrong turn, any of which could easily ruin your trip or even end your life. Only a paid and professional guide can help you avoid the many hidden dangers so you can appreciate the Amazon.
Luckily, C-level recruitment isn’t a life-threatening activity. But we’ll reveal five hidden dangers of DIY executive hiring and the real risks you face approaching an important leadership change without expert support. A trusted search partner is the difference between getting lost in an unproductive recruitment process and painlessly securing top-tier talent.
#1: Your Reach Is Limited
When you handle executive hiring yourself, you’re limited to candidates actively job hunting. The majority of executives aren’t browsing job boards or scanning corporate emails. Without a deep market network to access passive executives, your candidate pool shrinks.
The level of talent falls, too. The candidates actively pursuing a C-level position are usually people moving into higher-level positions for the first time or learning how to become long-term leaders. The effective, visionary leaders you want aren’t usually the ones looking for new employment.
Your limited reach creates a supply problem because the best-qualified people usually have plenty of options. So, a DIY executive search becomes a competition for the same easily accessible talent. As a result, you end up paying premiums to attract average candidates.
When you partner with a retained search recruitment firm, you can transcend the status quo. Good firms have extensive networks and strategic outreach processes so they can connect you with the right people to drive your business forward.
#2: You’re Too Close to the Problem
One of the most subtle yet serious risks in DIY executive hiring is lack of objectivity. As a founder, CEO, or internal leader, you’re embedded in the culture and legacy dynamics of your organization. That closeness, while helpful in many areas, clouds your ability to evaluate candidates with clarity.
You might overvalue shared backgrounds, hiring the wrong fit just because they went to your alma mater or have a similar family dynamic to yours. You may miss warning signs because someone “gets” your industry or reminds you of a former colleague. Your emotional proximity to your company can make it hard to ask the hard questions—or even realize which questions are most important.
For example, let’s say you are DIY hiring a CEO for your drywall company and lean toward a candidate whose backstory is similar to yours. Like you, they started doing drywall back in high school. Then, they rose through the ranks into the leadership of their company. You did too, so you really connected in the interview.
But at the end of the day, you have a vision to expand your company into several new markets. You need someone who is a strategic planner. They need to be able to scale your operations and launch marketing initiatives to break into new areas. An executive headhunter for construction can make sure you’re doing more than just aligning styles. They can help you find the candidate who can drive your company toward your ultimate vision.
#3: Negotiations Can Get Sticky
Executive negotiations are a foreign language. Each detail of your offer communicates a different meaning to the candidate. With bonus structures, relocation perks, vesting terms, retention incentives, and equity deals on top of a competitive salary, even a DuoLingo for negotiations won’t save you from blunders.
Your top candidate may demand outsized equity or unrealistic guarantees. Making a nuanced counteroffer is a tricky balance. On the one hand, you may overspend, costing your company. On the other hand, you may barely budge on your original offer, costing you the candidate. Even the most seasoned hiring firms find this process challenging.
Partnering with a C-suite recruiter is like using a translator to smooth negotiations for both parties. They work with you to shape offers that appeal to leaders emotionally as well as financially. They coach you on when to push and when to ask candidates open-ended questions during counteroffers. As experienced negotiators, these recruiters help you avoid costly errors and communicate professionally.
#4: Delays Happen
With a DIY executive hiring process, things can fall through the cracks. Someone forgets to schedule an interview, the feedback loops stretch out, vetting references takes an extra day, and momentum stalls. After frequent delays, that ideal candidate may no longer be available.
Consider a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company hiring a chief marketing officer (CMO). During a DIY approach, recruitment is slow and unstructured. Top leadership is juggling multiple priorities. Nobody’s primary focus is tracking candidate integrations. It doesn’t take long for elite candidates to find new opportunities and move on.
The experience for the same situation is entirely different with a SaaS leadership recruitment agency leading the hiring process. Recruiting is the search firm’s priority, and they have structured timelines to maintain momentum. Through 14-day shortlisting phases, they communicate next steps to clients and candidates while prioritizing top prospects. Within a few two-week cycles, the Saas company hires an ideal CMO.
An internal hiring effort can move much slower than an executive search firm’s well-oiled process. Professional recruiters can keep the process flowing, the candidate engaged, and the opportunity top-of-mind so your ideal options don’t drop off.
#5: A Clunky Experience Hurts Your Reputation
Your recruiting process is an extension of your firm’s brand. An opaque or unorganized process doesn’t reflect well on your company. Executive candidates who feel devalued, misled, or left in limbo during a poor C-level search share their experience with others in the industry, closing you off from potential talent now and in the future.
A reputable search partner protects your reputation. They manage candidate expectations and drive consistent communication. You safeguard your brand and leave every candidate impressed, even if they don’t join your company now.
Actual Cost of Going Alone
Internal executive hiring seems appealing when you want to save on recruitment fees. But here’s the harsh truth: getting a C-level hire wrong can cost you millions of dollars and months of progress.
Economist Eileen Applebaum and sociologist Ruth Milkman found that turnover at the executive level costs a company 213% of the salary for that position.1 That’s five to eight times more than the money you’d pay most recruiters. Those numbers also don’t account for indirect expenses like decreased productivity, decreased morale, lost talent and knowledge, or reputational damages. That’s an expensive DIY project.
Rather than facing the dangers and costs alone during one of your company’s essential hires, partner with an executive search firm. Like a trustworthy guide, they can help you avoid hazards and elevate the hiring experience for everyone involved.
1americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/08/CostofTurnover0815.pdf
