SelectOne Blog

Sales teams can often feel like their own little island, with a culture unique to themselves. This can be quite a positive thing at times; after all, it doesn’t make sense to have a sales team that functions in the same way as a team of accountants or maintenance technicians.

Hiring is never exactly a walk in the park, but hiring salespeople is strangely nerve-wracking to many. For many roles, it’s a simple matter to screen out unqualified candidates. Can they work out a coding problem on a whiteboard? Can they proofread a memo for grammatical errors? Can they prep vegetables in the allotted time without violating any health code standards? Then they can probably do the job well enough. The rest comes down to values, personality, and culture fit.

If you need to know one thing about hiring a chief information officer (CIO), this is it: Demand currently outpaces supply. In the U.S., there are currently more open CIO jobs than talented CIOs to fill them, so hiring one can get rather cutthroat.

The CTO, or chief technology officer, is an unusual role. In many companies, there is no need for a CTO. While there is always a certain degree of technology involved in any business (even a sole proprietor needs to use software or mechanical equipment at some point), the role of technology in the business is often handled by the COO or even the CEO, as it’s not close enough to the core of the business to warrant adding another C-level executive to the team.

The role of COO is a unique one. On one hand, they tackle the everyday operational side of the business that the CEO can’t. On the other hand, it’s often a title used in succession planning, grooming the individual in question to take on the CEO role one day. So it’s both explicitly tied to the CEO … and explicitly separate. No wonder hiring a COO can be confusing.

A superstar chief marketing officer (CMO) helps your business runs more smoothly on many fronts, including advertising, sales, customer service, social media, pricing, research, and strategic planning. In fact, other than the CEO, the CMO can add the most value to your organization out of all C-suite hires, according to Forbes magazine.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a dance troupe, pharmaceutical company, marketing agency, or local food co-op: if your financial situation is not in order, your business has a problem. At a smaller scale, this can be managed by the founder/owner/CEO.

So you need to hire a CEO.

First of all: breathe. You’re probably no stranger to hiring. And all those skills you’ve developed around hiring the right people for the right positions? They’re still 100% valid. You still want to screen your initial applications carefully, conduct phone conversations to make sure you’re on the same page, ask meaningful interview questions, dig skeptically when answers are vague or don’t add up, use assessments where appropriate, and make reasonable offers when it comes to salary.

Does your organization need C-suite executives? Whether you already have a C-suite or are considering adding one, it’s important to know exactly what these roles mean: CEO, COO, CTO, CFO, CMO, and CIO.

C-Suite executives, like CEOs, COOs, and CMOs, are unique and wonderful creatures. While they can guide your company to enormous success, they don’t always make choices you’d expect. During the hiring process, their desires and motivations can be totally different than all other employees you’ll ever hire.