I have spoken recently with two of our clients who have implemented the hiring practice of having candidates meet with the CEO or President of the company.  As a result, in both cases, the companies are experiencing recruiting results significantly above other companies who use our service.

  While this is not the only factor leading to the success of these clients, they may have discovered a best practice that could benefit many more companies who want to improve their hiring results. 

I thought we had just serendipitously found this technique, but it turns out that many high performing companies use a meeting with the CEO to improve their recruiting effectiveness–especially with candidates who have a lot of potential.  Recruiting guru, Dr. John Sullivan, recently documented some of the reasons these meetings are so effective:

"If you’ve ever eaten at a high-end restaurant you know that it isn’t uncommon for the executive chef to visit the tables of VIP customers in hopes that he can influence them to refer their friends and return.  Using the CEO in recruiting efforts is very similar.  The act has been encouraged for years, but doesn’t happen nearly as much as it should.  Some of the reasons why this approach is so powerful include:

• CEOs are great salespeople (usually) — It’s hard to ascend to the role of CEO without being able to sell a vision and market your organization’s ability to attain that vision.  When effectively briefed about a candidate’s 'job acceptance criteria' most CEOs can close the deal.  In the rare cases where the candidate doesn’t accept, they often come back a month later.
• The feeling of a partnership and an impact — When I advise firms on this practice, I recommend that the CEO use a phrase similar to 'I need your help. I know that with you and I working closely together, we can build an exciting future for this company.'  The goal is to build the feeling of a partnership and a close working relationship that will directly impact the future of the company for many years.
• Straight from the horse’s mouth — Talking directly to the CEO means that the candidate will receive direct unfiltered messages.  That alone can be reassuring when they might not trust the word of a recruiter oblivious to the inside story.
• High probability of execution — The candidate knows that any promises that are made have a high probability of coming true because they are backed by the power, resources, and integrity of the CEO.
• Future access — The fact that the CEO will meet with a candidate now should leave the impression that they will have continuous access as an employee.
• Power by association — Because everyone at the firm knows that the candidate met with the CEO, they’re likely, at least initially, to listen to them.
• Bragging rights — Talking directly to the CEO is something notable that the candidate can tell their friends, even if they never accept a job.  It’s an honor merely to be invited."

In real estate recruiting, I believe that this technique can have an even stronger impact on younger candidates.  It is a big risk for many individuals to start a real estate career–this is especially true if you're young (not much experience yet), need a primary income (not the spouse who supplements the family's income while the kids are in school), and have talent (have options to work in other career fields).  If someone like this is on the fence, it is a great time to bring in the big guns.

What if your CEO is reluctant to play this role?  Dr. Sullivan offers some advice on this as well:

"Some CEOs are smart and automatically assume the role as 'the chief recruiter' for the firm.  In other cases it takes some convincing and building the business case.  Some approaches to consider include:

• Others do it — Demonstrate to her/him that other CEOs who they admire are successfully using this technique.
• Consider a pilot — Offer to run a small-scale pilot program for a month in order to judge the results and the ROI.
• Show the impact on recruiting — Show them the percentage increase in the number of difficult candidates who are hired as a result of the CEO being involved.  Also, during onboarding, ask new hires with CEO involvement to rank the factors that influenced their decision to say yes.  Report the importance of their involvement back to the CEO.
• Show the impact on performance — Periodically report the superior business results and innovations produced by individuals who were recruited using this approach.
• Place limits — Show them that you respect their time by setting a limit on the number [of meetings] they are requested to do each month.  Also limit it to high-impact jobs and hard-to-recruit candidates for those jobs."

Question:  Does your company's President or CEO meet with candidates?  If so, what has been the result of these interviews?

Editor's Note:  This article was written by Ben Hess.  Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.