By Charles Shanley, SPHR, & Steve Swanston
Do you want to be a CEO this year? Next year? In 10 years? As members of the John M. Floyd & Associates executive search team, we have helped place hundreds of executives in new positions. And we've learned what works and what doesn't when you're looking for a new job. First, our top recommendations to better prepare you for the CEO job hunt. Our next post will examine what not to do when looking for a CEO job.
- Education: You need to have the right educational background. For CEOs, that means a bachelor's degree at the very least. A graduate degree is better.
- Diversity: Position yourself in as many possible areas in the credit union as possible. This will be a huge advantage for the CEO who will be overseeing all areas, including marketing, lending and operations. The board of directors will look for candidates with a diverse background.
- Tenure is important. There is a big difference between having 10 years of progressive experience vs. having two years in five different places. Be very prepared to explain your moves and if it was a bad decision on your part, take responsibility for it.
- Upward mobility: You want to show growth in your career from an assistant vice president to a vice president to an executive vice president or senior vice president. Also, you should be able to cite specific examples of times when you took on new responsibilities in different areas.
- Be tech savvy. As a CEO, you won't need to show programming skills, but you do need to have knowledge of the current technology options out there and how they fit into your business.
- Show risk. You need to demonstrate that you have the ability to take risk. Show how a risk paid off for you in the past. Or explain when you took a risk that did not work and what you learned from the experience.
- Be prepared. Anybody can spend two minutes before an interview to look up a little bit of information on the hiring credit union's Web site. You need to do more than that. We make all our candidates go through a business plan based on guidance we receive from the hiring board. These are usually quite in depth, up to 20 pages long and include the job candidate's goals for the credit union, a short-term strategy for the first six months and a vision for the future. You need to know the CU's financials; get that from the National Credit Union Administration's 5300 reports. Also, identify some current problems at the hiring credit union and have solutions to offer. Finally, prepare good questions to ask during your interview. For example, a CEO candidate could ask, "What is the board's current vision or strategic direction for the credit union?"
- Research the area: We suggest that you fly into an area to get a feel for it. Mystery shop the credit union's branches, in person and on the phone. Talk to community leaders about their perception of the institution. Know the geography. Know the market. What is the cost of living? Who are the major financial players?
- Check out the CU's culture. As you are researching, pay attention to the culture of the organization you want to work for. What is the dress code? Is it a social group of people who get together outside of work or not? You need to make sure you match your personal philosophy with that organization.
- Have good references: Pick the right people. These can be board members, the chairman, or your former CEO. Throughout your career, be building these references and stay in contact with them.
- Be conservative in appearance. Always wear a suit, no matter what the culture is. Even if you know the CU has a business casual dress code, still wear a suit.
- Be prepared for your financials to be examined, both on the professional and personal level. The hiring board of directors will want to know about your credit union's current financial outlook. And they will also run credit reports and background checks.
- Run your own credit report to see what pops up. Make sure there aren't any mistakes and, if so, fix them beforehand.
- Network. Pick a good recruiting firm. Network with your contacts in the industry. Join local chapters, councils and leagues. Use social networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook.
- Finally, be accountable for what's not working in your job search. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is Einstein's definition of insanity. If you are not getting the results you'd like during your job search, examine the layout and structure of your resume and review your interview techniques. You'd be amazed by how often people are not prepared for an interview, how many don't do the required homework. JMFA can help coach you through these problems but, in the end, the job seeker has to take the ultimate responsibility.
Charles Shanley, SPHR, is senior recruiter and Steve Swanston is EVP/business development at JMFA Executive Search Group, Baytown, Texas. Contact Steve at steve.swanston@jmfa.com or by phone: 866.264.5017.
Read another post by Charles and Steve: "Top 10 Mistakes When Searching for a CEO Job"
CUES partners with JMFA ESG on executive search.
Expand your network via CUES' LinkedIn Group.
