Hiring a Chief Marketing Officer is a critical decision that can significantly impact a company’s trajectory. The process is often multifaceted, involving several stages of interviews, personality assessments, and careful consideration of a candidate’s professional history.
At Be-EXEC, we specialize in helping companies find the right executives for their businesses, and in this article, we’ll explore the key steps involved in the CMO hiring process and the common mistakes both employers and job seekers should avoid.
CONTENTS
1. What Does the Hiring Process for a Chief Marketing Officer Involve?
2. Methods for Assessing Candidate’s Personal Characteristics
3. About CMOs Who Frequently Change Jobs
4. What to Pay Attention to When Choosing an Employer
5. The Most Common Mistakes CMOs Make as Job Seekers
What Does the Hiring Process for a Chief Marketing Officer Involve?
The number of interview stages varies depending on the employer. Large companies like to have a minimum of 5–6 interviews in their decision-making process, others need 2–3 steps.
However, on average, the process for hiring a CMO involves multiple stages, and can take several months.
We believe it’s important for a CMO to evaluate the number of interview stages — more stages often indicate that the company takes hiring very seriously.
It usually starts with an introduction to HRD, followed by case studies that the candidate is asked to complete, communication with the CEO or a shareholder, and then with the related teams — such as the Sales Director, CFO, or others.
If the decision is made by a business owner, there might be only 2–3 interviews — an introduction to the HRD or manager, followed by a meeting with the owner. If there’s a match, they might hire immediately.
Methods for Assessing Candidate’s Personal Characteristics
Personality questionnaires would not be a rare case for a CMO position. This can be the one created by the company itself or some industry-known Hogan or DiSC assessments. Hogan is typically conducted for director roles, while DiSC is used for managerial ones.
Both are very reliable methods for profiling, being a good way to understand the person’s key and core values. Hogan is great for understanding the candidate’s values and motivators (motivations are not always easy to determine during an interview, which is why Hogan provides a deeper insight), strengths and what hinders the performance under stress.
Hogan doesn’t assess how we see ourselves but rather our reputation — how others see us, which often differs.
For management positions, many companies use the DISC assessment, which allows them to learn about their types of leadership, interaction and management, and behavior in a stressful and comfortable environment.
About CMOs Who Frequently Change Jobs
Can the executive search consultant convince the employer that the candidate is a great match even if they have not been working in one company for many years? Everything depends on the company’s belief. Some of our clients say, “We won’t consider candidates who change jobs more than once every 2–3 years.”
However, we try to gently convince them to consider different options:
-If there are fair reasons for changing jobs.
-If they have impressive case studies demonstrating a high level of CMO expertise and progress.
-If they come with strong recommendations from former managers.
We had a case where a company hired a candidate who had been changing jobs every 1.5 years. During the 1st interview, we found out that he had really understandable reasons for the transitions and perfect references. The client hired this candidate, and he stayed with the company for almost 10 years! So it’s worth giving it a try.
What to Pay Attention to When Choosing an Employer
The number and quality of interviews really matter. For example, the first conversation is crucial. Analyze how it was:
-How was communication structured, was it respectful and professional?
-What types of questions they asked
-Do they discuss your case studies?
-Do they ask any personal or uncomfortable questions?
-Why did the previous CMO leave the position?
All of this gives insight into the company’s internal culture and helps you understand the decision-making process.
However, the most reliable way to check an employer is to conduct small investigations on the company by yourself: find people who know the company or their leaders, e.g., the CEO, and get fresh recommendations from your network.
The Most Common Mistakes CMOs Make as Job Seekers
The biggest mistake is making demands before you’ve even been hired. Before asking about your financial compensation or work schedule, it’s important to have a conversation about the position itself. To start with, understand and evaluate the expectations from the role, discuss the tasks and the conditions. Without that, it’s difficult to assess the scope of work.
The second mistake is to be in a rush. We’ve seen cases when a CMO is desperate for a job without analyzing the company and its values. This often ends with burnout and demotivation.
The third mistake is to use only job boards. LinkedIn can be very helpful in job searching and it’s easy to make your page look professional (btw, we help with that on our career consultations). Highlight your experience, achievements, get some recommendations, post and comment regularly, and network, of course.
For CMOs, avoiding common pitfalls like rushing the process or making premature demands can make all the difference.
Hiring a marketing director is no easy feat. It’s a complex process that calls for a systematic approach. Thankfully, modern tools and technologies as well as a smart approach to executive search can make this process more efficient and precise. So as soon as you need a great CMO — drop us a line, and we’ll be glad to help.
