Samuel's CFO Website

  • Home
  • CFO Blog
    • Samuel’s Other Blogs
      • CFO Moves
        • USA
        • Canada
        • UK
      • CHRO Moves
  • CFO Book
    • Buy your copy
    • What others have to say about Guide to CFO Success
  • How Samuel Helps
    • Hire your next CFO
    • Build your Finance Team
    • Financial Executive Coaching
    • CFO Peer Groups
    • Speaking & Training
  • About Samuel
    • Media on Samuel Dergel
  • Contact Samuel
  • English
  • Français
You are here: Home / How long should it take to hire a CFO?

January 19, 2012 By Samuel Dergel 3 Comments

How long should it take to hire a CFO?

According to an article in Wall Street Journal’s CFO Journal by Maxwell Murphy, it took Illumina 2.5 years to hire their Chief Financial Officer, Mark Stapely. (Illumina’s CFO hire was reported in our CFO Moves blog).

Now that, my friends, is a long search.

From my perspective as a CFO Search specialist, 2.5 years is a very long time. There were many reasons cited by the CEO as to the reason that it took that long, but in reality, they sound like excuses, not reasons.

Let’s put it this way. If a company is serious about hiring a CFO, then they will make hiring their CFO a priority. They will retain an experienced executive search firm, create appropriate assessment of the specifications needed for the role together with the search firm, and work to identify the potential candidates that could be appropriate for the role.

Why did it take so long?

Here are some (potential) reasons:

They weren’t serious about hiring. To hire a CFO, you need to be serious. CFOs are smart people. CFOs know when a company that is going through the motions of looking for a Chief Financial Officer, but don’t mean it.

They had a CFO. According to the article, the CFO spot was covered, even though the person covering it was happy to move on to an operational role now that he is relieved from his CFO duty.

There was no pain. Illumina was growing rapidly, cash was coming in, and they didn’t need to raise financing. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

So what made Illumina finally get serious and hire their CFO? Good chance that it was beginning to feel the pain of not having a top quality CFO at the helm and they had to make it a priority.

Lessons Learned?

For the CFO – just because a company says they are hiring a CFO, you should evaluate how serious they are about hiring the best person for the job.

For a company needing a CFO – before you tell the world you are looking for a CFO, make sure you are really ready to go through the process and make the decision. Otherwise, you may have a credibility problem when people know that it took you 2.5 years to hire your CFO.

How long should it take to hire a CFO?

If a company is truly serious about hiring their next CFO and is willing to make the search a priority, it shouldn’t take more than 3 months to complete the search.

How long did it take to hire your CFO?

Share this:

  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Print

Related

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Comments

  1. david k waltz says

    January 27, 2012 at 7:10 AM

    Samuel,

    Isn’t the timing somewhat dependent on the extent of the criteria? I once had an executive recruiter tell me that the person you want or the position you want is out there, but depending on the definition of “you want”, it will be harder or easier to find.

    For instance, tracking down that rare individual who has 10 years of history as a CFO, with a CPA, top-ten MBA, and CFA, coupled with deep experience in Alpaca sheep herding, Himilayan expeditions, and an interest in stamp collecting might take awhile!

    I realize that a good recruiter will work with the client and attempt to develop criteria that is truly relevant, but ultimately if the customer wants some unusual and perhaps frivilous criteria, that will end up being in the scope of the search.

    Reply
    • Samuel Dergel says

      January 27, 2012 at 8:38 AM

      David,

      Yes, the client has to be reasonable in their search. It is the search firm’s responsibility to educate their client on what is possible/reasonable and what isn’t.

      If a company is serious about hiring a CFO, then frivilous or impossible requests will be minimized, and they will be able to hire the best CFO that match their real needs.

      When I started in search, I learned that there were A clients, B clients and C clients. I also learned that there were A candidates, B candidates and C candidates. The challenge for a recruiter is to be honest enough with a C company that wants an A candidate.

      A good recruiter has to realize that just because a company wants to hire XY&Z, maybe they should not accept a mandate that is difficult or impossible to fill. It doesn’t help the client, and it doesn’t help the search firm either.

      Thanks for your feedback.

      Samuel

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. How long should it take to hire a CFO? | Stanton Chase International's Executive Newswire says:
    January 26, 2012 at 3:05 AM

    […] Please click the link to read the full article: […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Get Samuel's CFO Blog by Email!

Join the 571 people that receive new blogs by email when published.

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Search in Samuel’s CFO Blog

Like what Samuel has to say?

Great! The goal of Samuel's CFO Blog is to engage with CFOs and those who work with CFOs.

Please feel free to comment on any of the issues raised in Samuel’s CFO Blog. Your input, positive or not so positive, encouraging or critical, will add value to all readers of the blog.

You can reach Samuel...
Telephone
San Francisco: +1 (415) 738-2070
Montreal: +1 (514) 907-0925
Email: samuel@dergelcfo.com

View Samuel Dergel - The CFO Expert's profile on LinkedIn

Twitter: @DergelCFO

Follow
  • @JohnGradek joins @DergelSearch #SupplyChain #Aviation #Logistics #ExecutiveSearch https://t.co/5tw8mQ4SxI https://t.co/kmACmVgnrX
     
     
     
  • RT @diginomica: hits/misses - automate deep learning, software audits (yuk) https://t.co/6HP7zkzsaC -> Jon's picks include @UpperEdge, @krm…
     
     
     
  • RT @jonerpnewsfeed'>jonerpnewsfeed: A CFO Success Story: Sajid Malhotra, CFO of Limelight Networks - by @dergelCFO https://t.co/O3q28683k3 (via @jonerp) #e…
     
     
     
  • @jonerpnewsfeed'>jonerpnewsfeed @jonerp @sajidmalhotra @llnw
     
     
     
  • Read our newest #CFO #Success Story - @sajidmalhotra of @llnw'>llnw https://t.co/DhvOlzRlDk https://t.co/9bZkTIk1bN
     
     
     
  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Archives – Samuel’s CFO Blog

Categories – Samuel’s CFO Blog

All of Samuel's Blogs Assessment Blog Board Board Books books for CFOs Build your Finance Team Career Management CEO CEO CFO CFO Buzz CFO Coach CFO Coaching CFO Consulting CFO Moves CFO Peer Groups CFO Relationships CFO Research CFO Search Chief Financial Officer Executive Coaching Executive Search Finance Team Financial Executive Coaching Great CFO Guide to CFO Success Hire your Next CFO How Samuel Helps HR Investors LinkedIn New CFO Personal Branding Recruiters Social Media Speaking and Training Successful CFO Succession Planning Talent Management Team Structuring The Strong CFO Training and Development Wiley
  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Contact Information

You can reach Samuel by:

Telephone
San Francisco: +1 (415) 738-2070
Montreal: +1 (514) 907-0925

Email: samuel@dergelcfo.com

Copyright © 2011-2016 - Samuel Dergel (Dergel CFO Search & Consulting Inc.) Note: Opinions expressed on this website are the personal opinions of Samuel Dergel only, and not any other person or entity, unless attributed otherwise.

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.