Key takeaways
- Many companies require far too many interviews to hire executives.
- Interview creep often turns off qualified candidates.
- Typically, 4 interviews should suffice to hire an executive.
Imagine that you find a candidate who matches all your criteria for a chief financial officer (CFO). You interview them to make sure they’re the right fit in terms of business culture and technical skills, and you’re preparing an attractive offer, only to lose them to a rival company. Many private equity firms have dealt with this scenario. What drives these top candidates away? In many cases, it’s endless rounds of interviews and a lack of clear process—employers routinely exceed four interviews for everything from entry-level jobs to executive roles.
Avoiding the pitfalls of this trend will give your organization a distinct competitive hiring advantage, especially for in-demand talent, like chief executive officers (CEO), chief operations officers (COO), and CFOs, with experience in private equity.
The rise of interview creep
The toll of interview fatigue
How to fix the problem
Enough executive interviews versus too many
Frequently asked questions
The rise of interview creep
One or two interviews used to be enough for lower-skilled jobs, while two or three sufficed for more senior-level positions. In recent years, however, media outlets like The Wall Street Journal have reported that these numbers appear to be rising. There are even some accounts of an absurd number of interviews, like 29 for a senior director role.
A streamlined interview process is key to avoiding unnecessary delays. According to Workable, a leading human resources and recruitment software provider, it costs 6 to 9 months of an employee’s salary to replace them. In the C-suite, that can equate to hundreds of thousands of dollars, and with mishires, companies incur even steeper costs.
But the fear of hiring the wrong candidate is only part of the story. Although this interview creep started well before the pandemic, the rise in videoconferencing since 2020 has accelerated it by removing many of the constraints associated with in-person interviews. As a result, hiring managers can now easily connect candidates for any role with a seemingly unlimited number of interviewers.
As a result, more executive interviews now occur, whether in person or via video conference. Even hiring managers who initially set a goal of four interview rounds for executive candidates frequently extend that to add more stakeholders to get more opinions or assess a cultural fit.
The toll of interview fatigue
Endless interview rounds on top of assessments and case studies place unreasonable demands on executive candidates with existing job commitments. Providing support during the interview process helps candidates manage their current job and maintains their interest in the role. Instead of leading to the hire of a company’s choice, overinterviewing generates a variety of negative consequences.
The loss of A-list candidates
An exceptionally lengthy or disjointed hiring process frustrates top talent, especially when they’re being recruited out of roles they are generally satisfied with.
Hiring strategies like custom personality profiles can help identify the right person for the job and make sure they fit well with job requirements and the company culture.
Reputational damage
A bad experience can lead candidates to share negative reviews about the company and its hiring process. Prime candidates fatigued by endless rounds of interviews at one company may also decline to pursue future executive opportunities elsewhere in the portfolio. Finding the perfect fit between a candidate’s goals and the company’s mission can make a big difference in creating a positive hiring experience and avoiding any negative impressions.
Wasted company time
Excessive interviewing hurts the ability of key stakeholders in the company to do their jobs. Improving hiring efficiency by reducing the number of interview rounds can save valuable time and resources for the company and their most valuable talent.
How to fix the problem
Once known for a marathon interview process, Google wondered about the effectiveness of putting candidates through upwards of 10 or 12 interviews, studying their results. Their research found that four interviews was enough to predict whether someone should be hired at Google with 86% confidence.
In most cases, that same rule of four yields a confident executive hire. The key lies in making the most of the interviews that are conducted using the following tactics:
Developing a strategic hiring process
Improving your executive hiring is easier than it may seem. You can save time and money by creating and implementing a standard executive hiring playbook complete with predefined lists of the positions and who should interview candidates for various executive roles. For example, the process for a CFO hire might include a private equity representative, the CEO, and COO, along with the collective group of direct reports for finalist candidates.
Rating candidates with scorecards
Using a scorecard to identify the requisite skills and experiences for a role makes it easier for interviewers to rate each candidate and compare them in a fair and efficient manner.
Using behavioral interview questions
You can gain tremendous insights about a candidate by asking them to describe how they have handled situations they will be expected to navigate as part of your C-suite.
Dividing up interview questions
Approach interviews strategically by asking distinct questions during each round. This allows each interviewer to cover different aspects of the candidate’s experience and skills, creating a comprehensive assessment.
Conducting joint interviews
When you have a longer list of predefined interviewers, consider putting them in groups of two or three to avoid exceeding a four-step interview process. This reduces the time required to complete the process and allows multiple people to hear a candidate’s responses and assess how they interact with superiors, peers, or subordinates.
Understanding the market
Adjust your interview expectations based on the talent pool. For example, the demand for CFOs with experience in private equity-backed healthcare services exceeds the number of candidates. You risk losing them to another company by insisting on an excessive number of interviews or by subjecting them to a complicated interview process.
Encouraging interviewers to sell
Candidates, especially at the senior-most level, are assessing their interviewers as much as their interviewers are assessing them. They consider their interviewers’ competency and ability to sell the organization. If interviewers fail at selling the opportunity, they risk losing good candidates to other organizations that do a better job at sharing their mission, vision, and values. Bottom line, interviewers must sell executive candidates on the company and role as much as they expect candidates to sell themselves.
Enough executive interviews versus too many
While the number of executive interviews appears to be increasing, companies aren’t necessarily making better hiring decisions. Sometimes, it’s quite the opposite. Today’s executives face a myriad of challenges in their normal day-to-day—finding their next career opportunity shouldn’t be one of them. By respecting a candidate’s time and following a concise interview schedule, companies help themselves attract top executive talent to their C-suite.
Frequently asked questions
Q: How many interviews are ideal for executive-level hires?
A: Four interviews are generally sufficient to confidently assess executive candidates, according to a recent Google study showing 86% confidence after four rounds. Keeping the process concise prevents delays, ensures efficiency, and reduces the risk of losing top talent.
Q: What are the risks of having too many executive interviews?
A: Excessive interview rounds can frustrate candidates. It can even lead to the loss of A-list talent, reputational damage, and wasted time for both candidates and company stakeholders.
Q: How can companies improve the executive interview process?
A: Companies can boost efficiency by developing a strategic hiring playbook, using candidate scorecards, and dividing up interview questions among rounds. Conducting joint interviews and making interviewers actively sell the role and organization also help attract top candidates.