Most of the potential CEO & CXO level aspirants I have spoken to, share that a number of opportunities knock their door through referrals/internal channels. While some of them leverage their relationship with executive recruiters to vet potential CEO job opportunities. If you have opportunities coming into you- that is awesome. However, an executive’s career comes to a point when they should look for opportunities aligned with their career goals. If you can leverage your market, you do not have to rely on opportunities to come to you rather you can manage & drive your own transition.
We are going to discuss how chief executives can full leverage market opportunities for their next executive jump:
- Job Boards: You can use blue steps as a paid job board option to scout for CEO opportunities. You can set up email alerts on various job board aggregators such as Indeed, Glassdoor etc.. You can also set up such alerts on LinkedIn. Once you set up, you will get a weekly list of opening positions in your inbox which you can scan for relevancy. It is important to note that positions paying in excess of US $ 250K represent only 10% of total online jobs available. Ideally, you should not spend much time here. You can also consider these CEO open positions as market indicators & trends which you can run through to learn who is growing & hiring in your niche & which headhunters are posting multiple positions that align with your career goals.
- Executive recruiters/headhunters: Search & identify for recruiters who handle & place CEO positions. Specifically look for headhunters who work/have worked with CEO that work in your industry. They have mandates to fill up CEO positions which are never advertised. If you are looking for an industry change, such specialized executive recruiters placing CEOs might not be a good choice since they would look for a “match”. In such a scenario, you should look at general recruiters who place CEOs in multiple sectors. You can search for CEO recruiters in LinkedIn or google “CEO recruiters+ your industry”.
- Direct company contact: Connecting with your company directly, knowing that there will be multiple positions which are not advertised, is a great way to take control of your job search. Whether you are interested in the healthcare sector in the US or financial services domain in your city, you can easily gather a list of companies in your identified sector & tap them. Some of ways in which you can connect with stewards of your identified companies:
- Send a letter to the CEO of large &/or fortune 500 companies: They might need you as GM, COO or vice president/president of divisions. If you are CEO of small company, you would fit as COO, AVP of division president of a larger organization.
- Send a letter to the CEO of smaller companies: The incumbent CEO must be looking for a successor due to retirement, business expansion or because he/she wants to make a shift or venture out something. It may also be a possibility that existing CEO wants to step back or step up as a chairman & is looking to hire CEO.
- Send a letter to VC funds & investment companies: Reach out to the VCs, Investment Bankers, Holding Companies, and others who invest in companies. There are more than 20,000 in the database, and they might need you for a portfolio company.
- Send value proposition letter/elevator pitch to decision makers who are most likely to hire you. This is a great way to reach out to a number of decision makers at same time- when you are available.
- Leverage LinkedIn: You can grow your network by potentially targeting to connect with companies of your potential interest. Besides you will be able to tap the first, second, or third degree network of more companies that will now be able to see you in their network. When these companies are looking to scout for candidates in LinkedIn, your profile will appear in their search results.
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