Last week, a CMO candidate gave me an ultimatum.
They’d commit to the interview process. The whole thing. But only if they could meet the CEO first.
Not “somewhere along the way.” First, before anyone else on the team.
I get where it comes from. At the executive level, the CEO relationship is the job. A CMO who doesn’t click with the CEO doesn’t last. So they wanted to know before they invested the time.
Fair instinct. Wrong move.
No company is going to rebuild its hiring process for someone it’s never met. The process might be great or it might be clunky. Either way, it’s theirs.
You earn the right to change the process by nailing the parts you didn’t pick.
Here’s what this candidate missed. In an executive search, the people in the first rounds aren’t a speed bump. They’re usually your future peers, the leadership team you’d be working next to every day. They’re also the people the CEO trusts to say who’s worth meeting.
When you put conditions on talking to them, you’re telling them they’re not important enough for your time yet.
And you’ll meet them eventually. Maybe in round three. Maybe in your first leadership meeting. Either way, they’ll remember you tried to go around them. Good luck explaining that one.
If you’re the candidate
Go into the first rounds and crush them. Once they’re interested, you have leverage, and that’s when you can ask about the process.
If meeting the CEO early really matters to you, ask about it without making it a condition:
“I’m serious about this role. For a CMO, the CEO relationship is everything. At what point in the process will I get time with them?”
That shows you’re interested and you know what the job is. The other version sounds like you’re making demands before anyone knows who you are.
If you’re the hiring manager
Don’t just roll your eyes at this. A candidate who’s pushing to skip steps is sometimes just full of themselves. But sometimes they’re telling you your process is too slow, or that the CEO is too hard to get time with.
Look at every round and ask whether it tells you something the other rounds don’t. If it doesn’t, cut it before your best candidate takes another offer.
So what am I doing with this one?
Honestly, I haven’t decided.
The background is strong. On paper, this person could do the job.
But how someone behaves in the hiring process usually tells you how they’ll behave once they’re in the job. And an executive who puts conditions on meeting the team before they’ve even met the team makes me nervous.
So I’m asking you. Would you push this candidate forward, or pass?
Hit reply and tell me. I’ll share what I decided (and what you all said) in a future issue.
And if you’re stuck in a slow process on either side of the desk, hit reply for that too. I’ll tell you what I’d do.