The Executive Recruitment Process, Step by Step

A senior hire that goes wrong usually went wrong early. Here's the process in the order it should happen.

1. The brief (week 1)

Agree the three outcomes the hire must deliver in eighteen months, the scale they must have operated at, and the compensation band. Vague briefs are the biggest single cause of stalled searches.

2. Market mapping (weeks 1–3)

Establish who could do this job across the peer group and adjacent sectors — with scale, tenure and pay context, not just names. This is the phase people compress, and the one that determines quality.

3. Longlist and prioritisation (week 3)

Rank by fit and realistic reachability. A longlist of unreachable names is a comfortable illusion.

4. Approach (weeks 3–6)

Direct, researched, specific outreach. Senior people respond to a credible case about the opportunity, not a job description.

5. Assessment (weeks 5–9)

Structured interviews against the brief's outcomes, plus evidence: what did they own, at what scale, with what result?

6. References and diligence (weeks 8–10)

Real referencing, plus verification of scope against public disclosure where the candidate came from a listed company.

7. Offer and close (weeks 9–12)

Where benchmarking pays off. An offer calibrated to the market closes; a guess negotiates for weeks.

8. Onboarding

The first ninety days decide whether the hire delivers. Agree priorities before day one.

Realistic timeline

Ten to sixteen weeks for a well-run CFO search. Compressing mapping to hit a date usually just moves the delay later. The honest way to shorten it is starting with the market already mapped — see building a CFO talent pipeline and the CFO directory.