Executive recruitment: finding the right leader for what lies ahead
Recruiting an executive involves far more than filling a post. An appointment to general, financial, HR, commercial or operational management shapes the strategy, the way the executive committee works and the company’s ability to see its transformations through.
The right profile is therefore not defined by career history alone.
The person must be able to grasp a new environment quickly, make decisions, mobilise teams and respond to the issues specific to your business.
Alixio Group supports organisations in recruiting executives, from defining the need through to selection and onboarding. Our approach combines knowledge of functions and sectors, Executive Search, assessment and the perspective of professionals who understand leadership responsibilities from the inside.
Why does recruiting an executive require a specific approach?
The higher the level of responsibility, the appointment can rest on a simple match between a CV and a job description.
Two candidates may have held comparable roles without having the same ability to succeed in a given environment. A fast-growing company is not necessarily looking for the same leader as an organisation going through restructuring, international expansion or a change of business model.
Before looking for candidates, you therefore need to understand what the future executive will actually have to achieve:
- transform or stabilise an organisation;
- accelerate growth or open up new markets;
- turn performance around;
- change an operating model;
- structure a function that has become strategic;
- support a new governance structure;
- lead a human, digital or industrial transformation.
This reading of the context shifts the focus from replacing a predecessor to defining what success looks like in the role: which experience, skills and leadership qualities will be needed to deliver the expected results?
Expertise in your sector and your function
Recruiting an executive requires a precise understanding of the environment in which they will have to succeed. The same function can involve very different challenges depending on the sector, business model, transformations under way or scope of responsibility. This is why Alixio Group approaches every search from both a sector and a functional angle.
The Partner leading the search knows the sector, the function concerned, or both. A former executive themselves, they understand the operational realities, issues and talent of their market.
This experience allows them to engage with executive candidates as peers, probe their experience and achievements, and assess their ability to succeed in your context.
Our main sector expertise
Our main functional expertise
Conventional recruitment or Executive Search: which approach should you choose?
For leadership roles, the most relevant candidates are not necessarily looking for a move. Executive Search lets you identify and directly approach profiles that match the demands of the role, including people who have shown no intention of changing employer.
Conventional recruitment
- Search built mainly around a role and a set of expected skills
- Active candidates and available talent pools
- Assessment of track record and skills
- Process suited to higher recruitment volumes
- Decision focused on the ability to do the job
Executive Search for leaders
- Search built around the strategic context and expected results
- Direct identification and approach of targeted executives
- Analysis of track record, leadership, motivations and fit with the environment
- Targeted search for key roles and rare profiles
- Decision focused on the ability to succeed in the specific situation
For manager or specialist roles that do not require this level of approach, Alixio Group also offers recruitment solutions tailored to different levels of responsibility and hiring volumes.
When needs become larger or recurring, our support can also take the form of RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing): we handle all or part of the recruitment process to strengthen your in-house capacity, temporarily or over the long term, particularly for large-scale recruitment campaigns.
How does Alixio Group recruit an executive?
Frame the challenge
Understand the context, responsibilities, governance and results expected of the future executive.
The Partner draws on their knowledge of the sector and function to refine the need.
Define the profile
Identify the experience, skills, leadership qualities and criteria that genuinely determine success in the role.
Identify candidates
Draw on networks, market knowledge and direct approach to target and contact relevant profiles.
Assess
Compare experience, achievements, motivations and behaviours against the situations the executive will actually have to handle.
The Partner tests the candidate as a peer on their achievements and their ability to succeed in your context.
Confirm the decision
Support the final selection, align expectations and guide the executive's first steps in the role.
Recruit on a permanent basis or bring in an interim manager?
Not every situation calls for a permanent appointment straight away.
When a role must be filled immediately, when the future organisation structure is not yet settled, or when a critical project needs to be led over a defined period, interim management can be the better option.
Your situation
- The role is permanent and the need is clearly defined
- The role is vacant and continuity must be ensured immediately
- The future organisation is not yet defined
- A project or transformation has a fixed duration
- The need is long-term but highly urgent
Recommended approach
- Executive recruitment
- Interim management during the search
- An interim manager to prepare the function ahead of recruitment
- Interim management
- Fast-track recruitment, with the option of an interim manager in parallel to keep the role covered
This complementarity is one of Alixio Group’s strengths: rather than fitting every need into a predefined solution, we identify the most relevant type of talent according to urgency, duration and the scale of transformation involved.
Why choose Alixio Group to recruit an executive?
- A business understanding of the need. We start by understanding the situation the future executive will have to take on, before defining the profile.
- Dual functional and sector expertise. Our experts know the functions, environments and issues they recruit for.
- Partners who are former executives. Their operational experience allows them to engage with executive candidates as peers.
- A direct, targeted approach. Executive Search reaches relevant profiles beyond the candidates already on the market.
- Assessment that goes beyond the CV. Experience, achievements, motivations, leadership and fit with the environment are measured against the demands of the role.
- A link with interim management. When the need is urgent or the function still has to be stabilised, we can combine several solutions.
- The strength of an integrated HR group. Recruitment, assessment, coaching, leadership and interim management services can all be brought together around a single challenge, in particular to de-risk the selection, onboarding and the executive’s first steps in the role.
Recruit the leader who can drive your next phase
Recruiting an executive is not about finding the best CV available. It is about identifying the person able to understand your context, mobilise your organisation and deliver the results you expect.
Alixio Group supports you from defining the need through to selection and onboarding.
FAQ – Executive recruitment
How do you recruit an executive?
The first step is to define what the executive will have to achieve, not just the skills they need. An Executive Search firm can then build the profile, identify and approach candidates, assess their ability to succeed in the company's context and support the final selection.
Why use a firm to recruit an executive?
An Executive Search firm gives you access to leaders who are not necessarily on the market. It also brings an outside perspective to frame the profile, compare candidates and make the decision more objective.
How do you assess a candidate for a leadership role?
Assessment should connect past experience with the situations the candidate will have to handle. It looks in particular at the results achieved, how the person makes decisions, their leadership, their motivations and their ability to work within the company's culture and governance. Assessment tools can complement interviews when the stakes require it.
