Smart Lemming Diary: Recruitment at the C-level – How Does It Work?
How do recruiters identify candidates for their clients for executive level positions?
When I was still a Product Marketing Manager, my VP’s phone would always ring during our meetings. He’d let it roll to voicemail as he said, “It’s probably just another recruiter.”
At that time, I always wondered how executives were recruiter for other C-level positions.
Below is my journal entry from a key time when I was a VP of Sale Operations and Marketing, learning about this recruiting tactic.
July 26, 2006
First Contact by a Recruiter
For the first time in my career, I was contacted by a recruiter. I was in a meeting with my Marketing Manager, but I decided to answer the phone. I listened to the caller.
At first, I was confused because the woman went straight into her pitch for a VP of Marketing for my industry. She introduced the company, what they did, and did I know who they were.
In fact, I do know of two people, who currently worked there. This company was recently acquired by a VC firm; a fact the recruiter didn’t know I knew. And my company’s offices were one floor above them in our building.
The Pitch
I listened to her pitch about the VP position. The scope of the job was impressive. It’s a new position that reports into the President and responsible for the functions:
- Strategic and tactical planning
- Market segmentation
- Product marketing
- Product management and development
- Recruitment and management of the marketing team
- Marketing communications such as lead generation, creation and support of joint-marketing partnerships
- Educating potential clients
- Optimizing resources to assist the Sales team
I told the recruiter to email me the job description and that I would l think about and get back to her.
I listened to the responsibilities of the pitch. What do you think caught my eye? It’s what I’m not doing right now, but I have experience in and love doing; it’s Product Management and Development. This lead was very enticing for me. Once I realized what was happening, I wanted to confirm that she was, in fact pitching me. She said,
“I wanted to let you know this position is available. Let me know if it interests you or if you know of anyone else I should contact.”
Not wanting to say “no,” I told the women to email me the job information and her contact information, so I could take a look.
Temptation for 0.68 seconds
I admit it. I was tempted . But then I realized that the company has 200+ employees, which is not my ideal company size. I love startups and early stage companies. I think I could do the job, but I’m not certain. Besides, I love my job, management peers, Marketing team. We may be acquired sooner than later, so I certainly don’t want to miss that event.
Right after the call, I went into our Controller’s office and said, “You won’t believe what just happened.” I told him about the call and the job responsibilities, and then continued,
“I’m not interested, but it was flattering. We’re in a small industry, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by it all. I think I know who I’ll flip this to, but it depends on how this week unfolds as we wait to see if my former colleague will accept the position.”
Food for Thought
What I did learn was that once you hit the C-level, recruiters for specific industries troll around the related companies that are in the same industry, and then try to poach them.
Of course, this was in 2006, before Twitter and Facebook becoming one of the largest social networks. Today, recruiters used LinkedIn as part of their online search.
So if you’re not on LinkedIn, then how can you hope to move up the corporate ladder? Like Meg Guiseppi says,
“If you’re a top-level executive -Â actively seeking your next gig or thinking ahead -Â get on LinkedIn and get busy.”
The Smart Lemming Diary is a series that chronicles a journey of laid-off worker, who becomes a Vice President of Sales Operations & Marketing for a small entrepreneurial healthcare technology company. For previous entries in this series, click here. For the first diary entry, click here. For the highlighted Smart Lemming Diary entries, click here.
