You Might Be Prioritizing the Wrong Qualities in Executive Candidates—And It’s Costing You

There’s always been a way of doing things. For the most part, if a tradition takes root, it’s because it works to some degree. There’s a level of efficacy that has us repeating an act or mode of thinking because, well, it’s proven to be effective historically.

But times have changed, and continue to change. Especially in the world of executive recruitment.

For years, hiring managers and companies at large have been hiring a certain way. They’ve been using specific recruiting models/approaches we’re all more or less used to (such as cold outreach, working with a traditional recruiting firm—wherein a single generalist recruiter works their rolodex until they find a candidate that seemingly checks all the boxes—or simply rifling through inbound applicants and hoping for the best).

The hiring game today is not what it used to be, and what worked before might not get you where you need to go next.

Now, companies are grappling with unprecedented challenges unique to this time and this time only. 

From macroeconomic uncertainty exasperated by sociopolitical stakes like we’ve never seen to the neckbreak pace of evolving technology and AI, and increasingly complex demands both on the employers’ and candidates’ sides that change just as fast, finding a bullseye candidate right for your business has become a complex game of chess. A hard-to-see-through maze filled with dead-ends and wrong turns.

Sticking to old mindsets of “checking off all the boxes” in candidates isn’t made to deliver you from the maze, nor is it made to deliver the best talent out there for your role.

In fact, aiming to check off all the boxes and looking for traditional qualities/skills of success might even be hindering your business more than you know.

Consider this: 61% of organizations do NOT have the right executive leadership to turn their 2025 ambitions/strategies into reality.

Is it because they are prioritizing the wrong things in candidates?

Hunt Club recently conducted a market survey, polling over 500 participants ranging from Sr. Managers, Directors, Vice Presidents, and C-level executives, predominantly in the tech, engineering, software, IT, marketing, human resources, and healthcare industries. 

While companies have grand plans for business transformation and key initiatives in the next 12-24 months, 61% of them reported they lack the right leaders at the helm to execute.

Looking at this, we have to wonder about the process and mindsets going into their recruitment. It begs a few critical questions:

💡Are companies stuck in outdated modes of thinking about talent and general hiring practices? 

💡Why aren’t they attracting or retaining critical hires needed to execute their company’s biggest bets?

💡Are you looking at/prioritizing the wrong things in candidates for executive leadership roles?

Experience steering a company through pivotal change ranks as the last priority in executive leadership candidates.

According to the same survey, experience steering a company through a pivotal change ranks last in a list of ideal qualities. What comes out on top won’t surprise you, but should make you think twice about the lack of the right executive leaders and what companies are currently prioritizing.

What companies are prioritizing in their executive candidates: Industry experience comes out on top as #1 in a list of ideal qualities. Industry experience is undoubtedly an important indicator of a leader’s qualifications for a role and should never fall to the wayside, but this conventional wisdom might not be helping companies find the talent they really need. Industry experience doesn’t necessarily translate to a leader’s ability to drive change and execute material business transformation. 

Is that still the most effective/important marker for transformational leadership and drivers of business strategy and change?

By undervaluing firsthand experience in steering companies through transformations, companies neglect those who can guide organizations through change. This could result in missed opportunities and, ultimately, land an organization right back where it started or worse, even further behind. 

Food for thought: Transformational leadership should be considered its own industry.

It brings with it a unique set of skills, battle-tested strategies, and practices that empower organizations to achieve profound innovation and resilience.

You have to meet change with change. You have to keep up, and to do that — it takes a radical rethinking of the criteria of the right leaders.

What’s the opportunity cost of not hiring the right leader for a critical role when you need them?

To get the right talent through the door, you have to throw conventional ways of thinking and traditional hiring methods out the window. Clinging to outdated hiring practices, checking the boxes just for the sake of tradition and because it’s what used to work, could mean losing millions in missed opportunities, stalled innovation, or compromised company culture. 

What got you here, may not be what gets you where you need to go next. 

Don’t let the future of your organization be dictated by the limitations of the past.