You can tell when my executive search practice is rocking because my blog posts fall off. Sue me. Deals pay better than blogging, and I've got kids to feed. Anyway, last month I closed a VP of I.T. search for REI. Great company. Wonderful candidate -- from Whole Foods, no less.
I know what you are thinking: "Harry, why is a marketing recruiter handling an Officer-level IT search?" The answer is simple: REI does an amazing job of bringing to life their brand promise across a thousand far-flung customer touch-points, and they realized that a technology-oriented marketer was better suited for their business than a marketing-oriented technologist. Both are nearly impossible to find, and even harder to differentiate once you do.
So how does a marketing recruiter like me separate the wheat from the chaff during an executive search for the future CIO of one of Fortune magazine's "Best Places to Work in America?" Here's a clue in the form of an article of mine from JDE Tips magazine. I used to write JDE Tips' popular "CIO Strategy Corner" column, and the following snippet appears on their site ...
Why Some CIOs are Ten Times More Effective Than Others - In this popular article for JDE Tips magazine, Harry Joiner examines the three-dimensional career, where an employee's industry-specific experience, company-specific experience, and technical expertise are juxtaposed against his potential. According to Harry, every employee's potential is defined by a set of intangible characteristics that all hiring managers must identify and leverage if they expect to delegate effectively. The article contains links to two great worksheets. Adobe required.
I hope you like the article. When I re-read it this morning, I was struck by the fact that my approach to finding and interviewing C-level candidates has not changed much over the years. Is that bad?
PS -- If you like this JDE Tips article, you might also enjoy my piece for Optimize magazine, How to Hire a Problem Solver. Rock on.
