C Suite in Interviews: When Should Executives Get Involved
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Transcript Text
Krissy Manzano: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Blueprint Round Table. I’ve got Chuck Brotman me with me today and Lizzie Castro, and we’re so excited to talk.
About, a topic that we’ve personally seen in multiple, interviews. And so it’s around C suite in interviews, when should executives get involved in the interview process? So Chuck, I will pass that on over to you first.
Chuck Brotman: Yeah. Well, I mean, I think obviously whenever they want to, they’re, they’re welcome to join the process. Sometimes if you’re in a mid or larger company and you’re hiring for individual contributor roles, it might beg the question, why they feel it behooves them to be involved. And there may be some issues to, to unpack and understand better if they’re not trusting, they’re, they’re hiring leaders and their leaders to manage that process.
But. if it’s something in an early stage company or if executives are open to participation on requests, I think in general when they’re, important to help sell the vision of the company. So early stage companies that don’t have a great track record, executives and CEOs, founders in particular can be really great to help get candidates excited about what the company’s doing in the market and why it matters.
They can obviously, in many cases, help highlight successes for the business. In some cases, for example, if a company has recently transitioned off a founder led sales, having the founder involved, you can speak to some of the early wins and how those successes. highlight greater opportunity. The market can be really powerful.
So I think there’s a lot in terms of helping to sell and helping to assess candidates obviously can be valuable as well. And some executives will require it. And I think as a hiring leader, it’s important to understand if you’re if your leadership feels it’s imperative, they’re involved that you’re understanding of that, but but also looking for opportunities to maybe understand root cause there.
So if you feel like they may be, uh, Getting in the way of making great hires or slowing things down that you’re positioned to have that conversation without sort of standing in the way of, their sort of interest there. Right? So I think there’s a certain level of deference that’s always required in dealing with sea levels as a hiring leader, but an opportunity to make sure you understand the why and then that you’re leveraging them to help drive the best results for the business.
Let’s go with your thoughts.
Lizzy Wood: Yeah, I agree with all of that. I think that what Chuck said about like early startup companies and having a CEO part of the interview process, just based off some of the clients that we’ve worked with recently and having the CEO be part of either like the final interview or they have the time to Yeah.
Yeah. Call a candidate that maybe is in between 2 companies and 2 offers that are super competitive and having that sea level come in and talk to the candidate and answer any other hesitations they may have and just really explain even more and better view like the company’s vision. I think it’s great.
I definitely think when it comes to. Hiring at a higher level. So if you’re hiring a VP executive, another C level, they a hundred percent should be on it.
Chuck Brotman: Of course.
Lizzy Wood: Yeah, I think, I think there’s a lot of pros to it because at the end of the day, the CEO is able to CEO, I keep saying, but any C level, they’re able to really explain the vision of the company and where that growth is going and what they’re working towards.
And there’s sometimes the best people that can really get a candidate excited.
Krissy Manzano: Yep.
Chuck Brotman: Absolutely.
Krissy Manzano: No, I agree. It’s, it’s all about how you use it. Right? So, it, it should, it should be used as a selling point for individual contributor roles for all roles. Right? But the challenge is when that starts to become a bottleneck or they’re the decision maker over their hiring manager. Right? And then that’s a whole nother thing of like, If you don’t trust them to make that decision. There’s, there’s something awry there, but I agree.
Good advice. Well, that’s all we have today on the Blueprint Round Table, but thanks for joining us. Don’t forget to subscribe to our series on YouTube or at blueprintexpansion.com. See you in the next episode. Bye.
Episode Summary
Hiring the right person and ensuring accountability across the board has never been more important. But the timing and choice of who interviews these candidates remains an open question. This leads us to this week’s topic about the C-suite: when should executives step in?
Join us this week as we share tips on when to bring in executives and how to leverage these stakeholders for maximum impact and efficiency.
*DO NOT USE OR REMOVE*
Transcript
Krissy Manzano: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Blueprint Round Table. I’ve got Chuck Brotman me with me today and Lizzie Castro, and we’re so excited to talk.
About, a topic that we’ve personally seen in multiple, interviews. And so it’s around C suite in interviews, when should executives get involved in the interview process? So Chuck, I will pass that on over to you first.
Chuck Brotman: Yeah. Well, I mean, I think obviously whenever they want to, they’re, they’re welcome to join the process. Sometimes if you’re in a mid or larger company and you’re hiring for individual contributor roles, it might beg the question, why they feel it behooves them to be involved. And there may be some issues to, to unpack and understand better if they’re not trusting, they’re, they’re hiring leaders and their leaders to manage that process.
But. if it’s something in an early stage company or if executives are open to participation on requests, I think in general when they’re, important to help sell the vision of the company. So early stage companies that don’t have a great track record, executives and CEOs, founders in particular can be really great to help get candidates excited about what the company’s doing in the market and why it matters.
They can obviously, in many cases, help highlight successes for the business. In some cases, for example, if a company has recently transitioned off a founder led sales, having the founder involved, you can speak to some of the early wins and how those successes. highlight greater opportunity. The market can be really powerful.
So I think there’s a lot in terms of helping to sell and helping to assess candidates obviously can be valuable as well. And some executives will require it. And I think as a hiring leader, it’s important to understand if you’re if your leadership feels it’s imperative, they’re involved that you’re understanding of that, but but also looking for opportunities to maybe understand root cause there.
So if you feel like they may be, uh, Getting in the way of making great hires or slowing things down that you’re positioned to have that conversation without sort of standing in the way of, their sort of interest there. Right? So I think there’s a certain level of deference that’s always required in dealing with sea levels as a hiring leader, but an opportunity to make sure you understand the why and then that you’re leveraging them to help drive the best results for the business.
Let’s go with your thoughts.
Lizzy Wood: Yeah, I agree with all of that. I think that what Chuck said about like early startup companies and having a CEO part of the interview process, just based off some of the clients that we’ve worked with recently and having the CEO be part of either like the final interview or they have the time to Yeah.
Yeah. Call a candidate that maybe is in between 2 companies and 2 offers that are super competitive and having that sea level come in and talk to the candidate and answer any other hesitations they may have and just really explain even more and better view like the company’s vision. I think it’s great.
I definitely think when it comes to. Hiring at a higher level. So if you’re hiring a VP executive, another C level, they a hundred percent should be on it.
Chuck Brotman: Of course.
Lizzy Wood: Yeah, I think, I think there’s a lot of pros to it because at the end of the day, the CEO is able to CEO, I keep saying, but any C level, they’re able to really explain the vision of the company and where that growth is going and what they’re working towards.
And there’s sometimes the best people that can really get a candidate excited.
Krissy Manzano: Yep.
Chuck Brotman: Absolutely.
Krissy Manzano: No, I agree. It’s, it’s all about how you use it. Right? So, it, it should, it should be used as a selling point for individual contributor roles for all roles. Right? But the challenge is when that starts to become a bottleneck or they’re the decision maker over their hiring manager. Right? And then that’s a whole nother thing of like, If you don’t trust them to make that decision. There’s, there’s something awry there, but I agree.
Good advice. Well, that’s all we have today on the Blueprint Round Table, but thanks for joining us. Don’t forget to subscribe to our series on YouTube or at blueprintexpansion.com. See you in the next episode. Bye.
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Hmm, what does this mean anyhow?! We recommend defining the skills and behaviors sought before running a search rather than using buzzwords or phrases from other people’s job descriptions. We help employees go beyond acronyms to ensure they develop robust job descriptions that tie to specific candidate profiles for targeting in the market. Need help? Let us know!
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Make sure you prep before every interview, particularly by reviewing the company website, recent new articles, and the LinkedIn profiles of relevant interviewers and company leaders.
Consider business casual attire - ask your recruiter for any additional guidance. Try to make sure that you are able to sit front and center facing your camera - test it with friends prior to running an interview. If you need to take a call by phone, it’s best to let your recruiter or the hiring manager know in advance, and offer them an option to reschedule if they prefer.
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Despite so much innovation in HR tech and recruiting, hiring remains broken. As former operators with decades of experience hiring GTM talent, we wanted to start our own business dedicated to helping B2B tech companies across a range of industries do a better job at attracting and sourcing tremendous (and diverse) talent.
How do you charge for your services?
We have multiple services packages, depending on the needs of our clients. Please reach out to us for more information, and see our sales recruitment services page for a breakdown of our packages.
Do you recruit outside of the US and Canada?
What roles do you recruit?
- Customer Success: Standard, Senior, and Principal Customer Success Managers, Onboarding Specialists, Implementation Managers, Community, Customer Support, & Solutions Architects
- Marketing: Growth & Demand Generation Marketing, ABM, Events, and Content / SEO Marketing
- Sales: Sales Development, SMB, Commercial, Mid-Market, Enterprise, and Strategic Account Executives
- Account Management
- Revenue Operations and Enablement: Marketing, CS, and Sales Operations
- Solutions Engineering and Post-Sales Solutions Architects
- GTM Leadership: Front-line, second-line, VP, and SVP / C Level placements (CRO, CMO, COO)
I've worked with so many headhunters and recruiting firms. What makes you different?
Put simply, we aspire to be as proficient in articulating your business value prop as your internal employees. Exceptional talent does not want to speak with “head-hunters;” instead, they want to connect with educated ambassadors of your business and your brand about meaningful career opportunities.
We go deep on your business and into talent markets to foster connections that other recruiting firms tend to miss. And we work with our hiring clients to ensure excellence in their hiring process. Please reach out to us for more information!
Is SaaS experience important when hiring?
Hmm, what does this mean anyhow?! We recommend defining the skills and behaviors sought before running a search rather than using buzzwords or phrases from other people’s job descriptions. We help employees go beyond acronyms to ensure they develop robust job descriptions that tie to specific candidate profiles for targeting in the market. Need help? Let us know!