Hiring Senior Managers

 Share the job description within your Company

Internal promotion. There might be a great experienced candidate in your team already.  The regular offering of internal job positions gives employees goals to aim for and a clear vision for progression in your business.  It also offers lateral movement across departments to help provide cross-functional experience to your team.  This helps with retention and may assist in helping employees find a role where they may excel.

Referrals are incredibly valuable and often have the highest success rates.  Why?  Because your employees will not refer just anyone, they are putting their names on the line with recommendations.  They only recommend people they perceive to be good fits, especially if they will work with them.  An example of the value that this can provide can be seen in the bonuses that a company like PWC offers.  PWC awards the referrer for any candidate suggestion that is hired and passes their probation period (differs by region):

• Associate – $3000
• Senior Associate – $6000
• Manager – $6000
• Director – $7000

Screen Candidates

Once you have your applications, you can filter out those who don’t meet your core requirements.  Simple things like ensuring the applicants are legal to work in the country are sometimes overlooked.  Many businesses at this stage also do short screening interviews to verify questions that may have been raised during the resume review process before committing to full interviews.

Interview Candidates

You invite your remaining candidates to full formal interviews, which often take longer.  More in-depth questions are asked, such as how they would address specific tasks given their experience.  How they perceive they would excel in the role, allowing them to share examples of how they problem solve, work with teams, address conflict, or train and mentor employees.

It’s also a great time to discuss aspects not included in the job description.  Many companies, at this point, inquire about the applicant’s expected compensation and how they would organize their team.  Also, it’s a time for them to ask any questions they may have.

Choose your Finalist

Based on the success of the interviews, you will want to narrow your selection to who you perceive is the best for the job.  Your decision will likely have many factors such as how you perceive the person fitting in your company, alignment in compensation expectations, the new skills they would enhance your company, etc.  All this while ensuring you observe local ethical and legal standards in hiring.

Perform background and reference checks

One of the final and most critical steps is to perform reference checks.  Usually, a candidate is asked to produce 5-6 references.  These should be a good cross-section of people the candidate has worked for, peers, and subordinates.  This will provide a full-circle picture of how people perceived things like technical skills and management style. . 

It is also essential to verify that the information presented in the resume was factual by verifying both education and employment history.  Depending on the role being filled, conducting a credit, criminal, public records, and driving abstract check is not uncommon.

Make your hiring decision

Hiring for a new branch in a different country or continent?

Hiring reliable management abroad can be extremely challenging, especially trying to do it remotely.  In these cases, most companies choose to partner with executive search firms.  If you need to be connected to one, contact me. You may be asking what does an executive search firm do? An executive search firm can help your company find top leaders in that country, from identification to final selection.  With the experience and understanding of the local business landscape, it will greatly reduce the risk and time in establishing your company’s presence abroad.

Trying to build full teams abroad?

Not only can executive search firms help with finding the people to lead your international expansion, but they can also facilitate the establishment of entire teams.  They can also help newly appointed Regional Directors or Managers get their leaders of sales, marketing, finance, human resources, etc., and sometimes help establish the teams that report to them.  All of this, with a high level of local expertise and track record, can help ensure the success of your business abroad.