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Executive recruiting is quite different than your average hiring process. To recruit the best executive for a top-level position, you need to apply advanced recruiting methods. In this blog post, you will learn the best recruiting tips for recruiting executives.

What is executive recruiting?

Executive recruiting is the process of finding and hiring candidates to fill top-level positions at the company.

In executive recruiting you to aim to find and hire executive personnel such as senior managers, directors, vice presidents, chief executive officers and similar high-level officers within companies.

Executive recruiting is sometimes called C-Suite recruiting.

This is because the highest-level executives in senior management usually have titles beginning with "chief" forming:

• Chief executive officer (CEO)

• Chief operations officer (COO)

• Chief information officer (CIO)

• Chief technology officer (CTO)

• Chief financial officer (CFO).

Importance of executive recruiting

Finding and hiring the ideal job candidate for your company's C-suite level is critically important to the overall success of your business.

The next “chief” of any of your departments will be making decisions that shape the current company culture and the future of your business. 

This is why executive recruiting needs to be approached with the highest attention and priority. 

Understanding the challenges of executive recruiting

There are many different challenges associated with recruiting executives. Here, I will highlight the 3 key challenges in executive recruiting:

Executive recruiting challenge #1: Competition for top talent

With the unemployment rate lower than ever, companies are competing for the best talent at all levels, especially at the executive level. Top-level executives know they are in demand and that they can choose where they want to work and under which conditions.

Executive recruiting challenge #2: Recruiting passive candidates

The chances are that the top executives are already employed and they are not actively looking for a new job. However, they don’t mind being approach and offered a better career opportunity.

According to Experteer career services survey, an overwhelming majority (97%) of senior candidates in a company want to be ‘found’ or ‘approached’ by headhunters for relevant vacancies!

Executive recruiting challenge #3: Leadership is changing

In 2017, 3.6 million executive leaders have retired, allowing younger employees to move to management positions, according to MRINetwork.

Now, the millennials are moving into leadership roles. Consequently, leadership as such is going through big changes. This is because millennials are moving away from the traditional top-down corporate structure. Instead, they strive towards a collaborative and transparent management style.

If you want to recruit an executive and a leader of tomorrow, you need to acknowledge these changes and look for the right qualities in your executive talent.

How to recruit executives successfully?

Recruiting the best executives is a challenging task. Looking to fill a seat in your company’s C-suite isn’t your average hiring process. Executive recruiting today requires a different and more sophisticated level of recruiting skills.

As the Executive Recruiter Carolyn Carpeneti puts it:

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