When it’s time to hire executive leadership, each role comes with its own requirements. That’s why figuring out how to hire your Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or second-in-command can be more complicated than deciding who to hire. The way you evaluate candidates and make the final decision changes dramatically depending on which seat you’re filling.
If you can understand the differences between recruiting a CEO and a Chief Operations Officer (COO), you can set yourself up for a winning hire. But if you don’t get clear on the differences, you could end up with a misaligned mistake that could cost your company hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The CEO is a Visionary Role
Recruiting a CEO is unlike filling any other role in your company. Your top executive is a visionary and a future steward of the company. You’re looking for the candidate who can represent the company at the highest level, earn the trust of all stakeholders and C-leaders, anticipate the company’s future, and craft a strategy to bring it all together.
Because of its importance to the company, CEO recruitment tends to be slower, more formal, and more consensus-driven than other executive recruitment process. Resumes matter, but alignment and track record matter more. You’ll spend more time talking about long-term strategy, capital allocation, and culture in CEO interviews. You’ll also want to find out how candidates have handled pressure, conflict, or downturns.
Companies commonly partner with CEO executive search firms for this critical hire. An expert recruiter has connections within the small candidate pool to both active and passive candidates, giving you discreet access to successful leaders.
The COO is an Operational Role
Hiring a COO, while important to your company’s growth, may be simpler than recruiting a CEO. Your second-in-command translates vision into action, so you need candidates who can run things for the founder and collaborate with other C-level leaders.
The second-in-command hiring process tends to be faster and more practical. The chief executive heads up interviews and dives into systems, methods, metrics, team structures, and execution habits. You want candidates with experience scaling operations and managing teams.
You might include C-suite leaders in your interviews to measure a potential COO’s cultural fit in the executive team. Seeing how the candidate communicates and solves problems tells you how well they can manage and inspire their teams.
Executive recruiters for second-in-command positions can be very valuable resources. The hiring firm handles the heavy lifting, finding qualified talent and vetting them for interest and cultural fit. This simplifies the hiring process for busy executives.
Distinct Evaluation Criteria
Evaluating a CEO is often subjective by necessity. There’s no perfect scoreboard for leadership presence, strategic thinking, vision, and adaptability. Interviews for a CEO usually feel more conversational or scenario-based to get a feel for leadership philosophy and past decision-making.
Evaluating a COO is more concrete. You’re leaning more toward execution than vision. You might ask candidates to complete case studies or operational audits as part of the hiring process. And interviews typically focus on experience, like key performance indicators (KPIs), handling operational problems, scaling teams, and efficiency initiatives.
Separate Stakeholder Involvement
CEO hiring usually requires alignment across the board of directors, major investors, and company founders. Involving more people means more expectations for the roles, more interview rounds, more feedback loops, and more negotiation around authority.
The large number of people involved is also why CEO recruiters can be so helpful. They serve as the point person and project manager for the hiring process, keeping all stakeholders on the same page and efficiently moving candidates through the stages.
Hiring a COO is usually more centralized. The CEO or founder has the most say, with one or two other executives who know the operational pain points weighing in. It’s simpler to define role expectations, outline the necessary values and qualities, interview candidates, and provide feedback on potential seconds-in-command.
Who has a voice in the hiring process dramatically affects timelines. It might take three to six months to hire the right COO, while recruiting a talented CEO often takes twice as long.
Different Onboarding Expectations
CEOs have a much less structured onboarding process and longer timeline than many executive roles. You probably expect your new hire to spend months listening to stakeholders and leaders, assessing operations and the market, learning the culture, and refining their strategy before they make any significant changes. Onboarding for a CEO focuses on alignment and trust, rather than a specific or immediate output.
On the other hand, COOs are expected to deliver fast wins. During the hiring process, you’ll often define specific problems you want them to tackle in the first few months. You and your new second-in-command may discuss onboarding before the offer is even made or accepted.
A retained search firm for COOs or CEOs can help with onboarding. They help you outline your expectations, and then check in with your new hire throughout their first year. This ongoing support maximizes your chances that the new leader will smoothly mesh with your company and be ready to perform.
Unique Risks for Each Role
The CEO hiring process is often cautious and discreet because change for this position carries unique risks. The wrong hire could change the company culture or penalize C-suite leaders, causing turnover and structural changes.
Your reputation can also suffer if your new CEO clashes with investors or confuses product strategy in a way that alienates customers.
Hiring a COO is still a big decision, but the risk is more contained. Your second-in-command can impact company culture and operations, leading to turnover and lost revenue. But as the CEO or founder, you can minimize the consequences and reset the course. Your COO hiring process can be more iterative or include phased responsibility increases to find the right candidate.
Start with Clarity
Whichever role your company needs, clarify the position’s authority and expectations first. This sets a solid foundation to keep recruitment aligned to your needs and the candidate’s expectations. Get clear on the how of hiring, and the who will follow.
