This document highlights the most common mistakes of CEO hiring and ways to avoid them.

1. Husys Consulting Pvt Ltd
Common Mistakes of
Hiring CEO

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CEO Hiring:
A hiring mistake at CEO is expensive both in terms of time, money and most importantly the opportunity and
reputation lost, none of which most Founders have enough of to waste. Husys based on the past experiences
of hiring, list the most common mistakes.
1. Cash
Cash most significant constraint to offer to CEO, For Founders, it’s all too common for them to go shopping
for new talent with a specific dollar figure in mind. That’s a first mistake. “Don’t stick to your pay scale rigidly
is the mantra, but think the value someone brings on board with his//unique talent , be open to pay for it
and if you hard on cash, do your math to negotiate on non-cash dealings.
2. No Proper Job description
Most business owners have an aversion to red tape, so it’s no surprise that most would rather keep things
simple when it comes to hiring. One example might be skipping the time it takes to write up a job description
for the position you’re trying to hire.. Sometimes it is difficult to fully explain the position if you are growing
with no clear business plan. But if the position is not well-defined before you hire the person to fill it, a bad
fit is all but inevitable. Know who you want and evaluate.
3. The pedigree
Making the assumption that success in one company would equate to success in other company. The
evaluation need to be on the situations and the reactions to the situations that helped the CEO to perform,
which gives the insight of how the new CEO will perform in the given conditions that are unique to your
organization. Also If you base that decision on the big-company credentials and experience that a candidate
pastes all over his resume, you may be in for a disappointment.
4. Overlooking personality fit
Founders tend to make decisions based on their gut. While that can be a positive thing at times, it would be a
mistake to rely on just your gut when there are an increasing number of personality tests and tools available
to help screen potential candidates on aspects such as how detail-oriented they tend to be or how conscious
they are about status. Not only these tests provide clues to a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses, they
can also provide benchmarks for the kinds of personality traits that fit best in certain positions. And most

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importantly the reliability of the test and the certified Assessor of the test are important to have good
assessment report giving the feedback.
5. Rushing a decision
Create an impetus to hire that someone, today at CEO level will run into a disaster. That can mean that your
company is willing to settle on whatever candidate walks in the door next–a big mistake, set a reasonable
target date and focus to close. Even you delay the target by few weeks to month or so no harm the objective
is to get a better fit CEO into the company.
6. Not considering the growth stage of the company
Understand the stage of the company and set the skills required for the stage of the company and the
business plan in front. The skills required of a CEO will differ depending on the stage of company and culture.
You must understand expectations for the next two years to properly match CEO skills with your company's
current stage of growth.
7. Forgetting to sell
The CEO candidate you want must be wooed! Too often, much time is spent on assessing prospective
candidates with little attention given to why the candidate should join the company. A candidate needs to
hear, see, and feel the passion of the Board and executive team. They must be given an opportunity to see
themselves as part of the "dream" and the exciting possibilities that your company holds out. Spending as
much time as possible engaging and continuing engage your best candidate during the process is crucial to
landing the CEO you want.
8. Hiring similar skills and personality traits
It’s natural that we like to surround ourselves with people who are similar to you but this is not so smart
when it comes to hiring. Ideally, your goal should be to hire people with different and complementary skills
to your own.
9. Failing to provide support
Even if you have done everything right in terms of extending an offer to the best candidate for your company,
it doesn’t mean your job is done. A proper programmed induction and handholding from founder
responsibilities to new CEO should be clearly documented and practiced. And last piece, do not think the
person come with a have a magic wand.