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A gap in management skills at a senior level can seriously harm a company’s overall success, which is why it’s imperative you hire the right executives for your business. We recently published a helpful article on everything you need to know about onboarding executives, but finding the perfect manager with the right credentials can often be the real challenge. Below we discuss what makes a good leader and attributes to look out for as well as ones to avoid and our top tips when searching for the perfect leader.

Finding suitable candidates

Currently, good management skills are in high demand, particularly since the global pandemic lead to new and difficult challenges for businesses. In order to survive tough situations, along with other predicaments that may arise, a good leader is vital.

A competent executive should be able to not only take care of urgent tasks, but they must also be able to plan for the future – a sense of reality and an aptitude for visionary thinking is a must.

Many companies are currently struggling as there is a limited selection of suitable candidates to fit into executive roles. However, it is not just about finding the perfect leader, it’s about convincing the right person to make a change and work for you.

The supply of talented leaders is scarce, and you have to remember that you are also in competition with other businesses to win over the right person. It’s worth personalising your approach and presenting your business in an exclusive and exciting way - it’ll be worth it when you win over a brilliant leader.

Related: Time to Hire: Streamline your hiring process

The impact of a bad decision

Hiring the wrong person for a managerial role can unfortunately have a negative impact across the entire organisation. Choosing an unsuitable leader can leave long lasting damage that will take a lot of time and effort to repair, even after they have left the company.

The possible consequences:

  • A loss of productivity: One bad decision made by an executive can impact long-term strategies that a company put a lot of effort in to produce and plan, which in turn can dampen employee satisfaction and motivation. When a mistake like this is made, a lot of time and capital must be invested in order to compensate and reeducate.

  • A bad company image: When a company experiences poor leadership, negative comments will often appear on various social media platforms and employer review portals. This can have a long-term negative impact on a company and can make hiring future employees challenging

  • Bad rating: If executives come and go often and unexpectedly, it can lead to shortfall losses for listed companies. Customer satisfaction and retention also suffer from personnel turbulence in management.

Related: 3 serious consequences of a bad hire

Our top executive recruiting tips

The criteria for the selection of executives are one thing. Something else is to actually find personnel reinforcement for the management. The following tips can help you to find, convince and retain suitable candidates in the current, tense situation.

Our advice will help you to find, persuade and retain suitable executive candidates, even in today’s difficult circumstances.

Tips:

  1. Understanding your values: Before you even think about starting the hiring process, you need to know and understand your company’s culture, values, workflow and weaknesses. This helps you to define exactly what you need for the business, as well as managing your own expectations about who you can bring on board.
  2. Knowing what you need for the business: Where do you want your company to be in the coming years? What difficulties might you face in the process? What kind of support will you need through this journey of growth and development? These are important questions to ask yourself so you can find a manager that can meet these vital requirements specifically related to your business needs.
  3. Take advantage of networks and partners:The best employees are not always the ones that are searching for a new job - the right person can sometimes be an undiscovered internal candidate. A recruitment partner can also be helpful as they have the experience, expertise and existing relationships which can all go towards finding the right fit for your company.
  4. Decide quickly: Once you have found a good leader, you should try and complete the hiring process quickly, otherwise you could lose them to a competitor.

Do you need to fill a new management position? Our executive search team will be happy to help you select executives who fit your business. You can also find more executive and management advice here.