CEO Experts

Finding the right CEO can literally be matter of life and death for any organization. This is because he is the most important employee in the organization, responsible for carrying out the mission and goals of the organization. Selection of a CEO is a very important decision for the board and hence it should take the most comprehensive approach to ensure that they have made the right choice. Finding the CEO normally involves 3 steps which are steps before the interview, steps in the interview and steps after selecting the CEO. Let us have a look at each of these steps in detail.

Before the interview

First of all, the company has to decide whether it really needs a CEO or not. If the company is small then it might not appoint a CEO at all and the Directors will interact with the managers. However in big companies where there is the board of directors, a CEO needs to be appointed for the day to day operations of the business. He needs to be the man in charge who will direct the various heads of the departments in the organization.

Once the company decides to appoint a CEO then the next step is to find sources from where they can pull up the candidates for interviews. Many companies try to find a candidate from within the organization. This can prove to be beneficial as the candidate knows the company in and out along with its day to day operations. The company can also save costs that it could have spent on putting advertisements or appointing a recruitment firm. In case the company decided to appoint a CEO from outside then it will start advertising for the same through sources such as its website and newspaper. It may also appoint a professional recruitment agency for the same.

Appointing a CEO does not take place in a jiffy. It is a multi level procedure where the candidates who meet the eligibility criteria (as laid down by the company) have to first submit their resumes. The team of experts then goes through the resumes and then shortlists the candidates for their first interview. Once the shortlisting procedure is over, the candidates will be notified their email or telephone and they will have to reply whether they will be coming for the interview or not.

The company also sends a list of things to bring in the interview such as resume with photo, past work experience certificates, education certificates and any kind of presentation that they may have to make. Normally the candidates who pass the first round of interviews are instructed to make a presentation based on a case study.

The company can then start conducting the first round interviews. Here the board of directors is not necessary for short listing the candidates for the subsequent round. Along with the interview an organization will conduct reference checks as well as psychometric tests. A reference check will establish some facts about the candidate and the tests will test his skills at handling different types of situations and handling pressures.

Since it is the question of employing the most powerful and high positioned employee, the organization should leave no stone unturned in selecting the right CEO. It may have to incur costs for tests, interviews, etc but in the end it will be worth it for the company.

In the interview, the most common questions asked to the candidate is about his past working experience, the challenges that he has faced and how he has solved them, his personal temperament, his soft skills, human interaction skills and how quickly he can adapt to the changing scenario. He may also be given a real life case study so that the solution that he devises can be checked by the interviewers. He may also be asked about his main career achievements as well as his strengths and weaknesses.

The shortlisted candidates of the first round interview are called for the second round interview. Some organizations may also have 3 to 4 levels of interviews with the last 2 interviews conducted by the Board of Directors. This way the number of candidates go on decreasing till the company selects its new CEO.

After the Interview

Once the new CEO is appointed, he needs to be briefed about the most important priorities in the organization which he needs to fulfill as soon as he joins. The organization has to give him an appointment letter which states important figures such as the salary, perquisites, etc. When he joins office he should be introduced to all his subordinates with whom he is going to interact. The selection committee should be active for at least 6 months to see how the CEO is doing and then a performance appraisal report should be presented to him at the end of 6 months.