I’ve Been Keeping a Secret about Search Across the C-Level
A Partner at a PE firm strongly suggested that I need to market my firm’s success placing candidates across the C-team. I quickly realized he had a point. I’ve been a bit narrow in my focus sharing only just the wins in Finance and HR and not the numerous other executive positions we fill across functional areas.
The Partner explained to me that his portfolio companies prefer to work with a firm that can recruit the entire C/exec team after growth funding is secured. It’s significantly more efficient for the client to use one firm that quickly gets the cultural match than spread the hiring organization’s time and resources over many recruiters. The right retained search process requires a tremendous on boarding investment to really know the hiring CEO, the company, the context of the department within the company and the context of the specific role in the department. Not to mention the on-going time commitment once recruiting is underway.
Reflecting on this, I realized that my excuse for “secrecy” is my natural introvert inclination. Most of my energy replenishes through one-on-one or small group interactions. Marketing is by definition a broad-audience “relationship”. I am a deeply, direct-relationship driven person. Some people think of introverts as shy or even anxious. Not me at all. I’m often complimented on Colosi Associates’ attention to relationship and personal detail, not just during the search but after the placement. It’s mattered.
My internal excuse has been that I don’t want to advertise the wins, because I don’t need internet approval. But I should share more. Our wins help clients achieve their most important task of hiring the best. CEO hiring manager approval IS critical for continued success for us all.
Once we’ve placed one position, we understand the client company culture. In each next hire, we see how the team is forming. We can see how personalities, working styles and actual job duties build a team dynamic. In the case of a smaller, growth company that may need to “over hire” to meet the needs of today and where they are quickly going, there will likely be overlap in experience sets. We help the client constantly review “Who will be doing what?”
Now, taking credit….
Taking stock, Colosi Associates has successfully completed searches for COOs, Finance Officers, HR executives, Chief Revenue/Growth/Business Development Officers and Customer Experience roles. We seamlessly crossed industries from technology to financial services to health care and others.
Wins in the last few months:
We completed the C-team build out for Opya, a fast-growth autism service for young children in the San Francisco Bay Area:
Chief Financial Officer
Chief Growth Officer
Chief People Officer
Chief Operating Officer
Director of Client Experience
Our other recent wins include:
Pacific Vision Foundation, Chief Financial Officer, San Francisco Bay Area
Sunwave, VP Finance, Delray Beach, FL
Elder Care Alliance, Controller, San Francisco Bay Area
Why were we successful?
In today’s world, the “population” of potential talent is known to everyone on line. Success today depends even more on a cohesive working-style between search firm and client. We’ve found our greatest success as our relationship meshes with the client, and the CEO commits the necessary time to the search project.
Clients say our thoughtful, thorough evaluation is key. Combine that with decisive action from the hiring CEO. Now that’s a recipe for success!
This may come more naturally with the smaller, fast-growth companies in tech and beyond, but any sized company could adopt a decisive hiring culture. The going gets rough in the search process. So, we’re here taking credit and addressing the secrecy. But really, we need to give credit to our clients who committed to a great search project along with us.