How to Hire Great Executive Director for Your Company In UAE? & What to Look For

A competent Executive Director is indispensable for a company if it wants someone at the helm to implement its mission and vision. But finding the right candidate for this position is not easy. That is why you should seek professional intervention in this regard. An experienced Executive Director recruitment agency offers you the right guidance to help you rope in the kind of talent your company needs to exponentially grow in a competitive environment. Overcome the challenges related to hiring an Executive Director by getting the right insights and assistance.

The Executive Director’s role comes with numerous responsibilities. This makes the recruitment process for this position different from the one used to recruit other employees.

Hiring for a senior-level position translates to facing increased competition for highly qualified talent. Besides, companies now face new challenges thanks to global competition and rapid digitalization. In order to maintain and draw ahead in such a competitive environment, the company must identify and hire top executives.

It is imperative to be careful when hiring an executive director as a company’s future and the culture of the workplace depend solely on the decisions made by them. Decisions made at the executive levels determine the fate of the company. That is why recruiting an executive director requires exceptional planning and strategizing skills.

Also, executive director recruitment involves passive candidate outreach and engagement. According to a LinkedIn report, 70% of global workers are passive candidates who aren’t actively searching for jobs. You would need to have quite diverse and wide talent access to find the best candidates for top positions.

Traditional approaches to recruiting don’t work when there is a need for large-scale passive candidate engagement. A better alternative is to work with an executive director search firms that provides an executive search for hiring top executive directors.

The Role Of An Executive Director – How Do You Define It

A company’s executive leader oversees and executes tasks related to growth, operations, and efficiency. The executive leader guides the company on the path to success and ensures that the company’s culture and goals are in line.

But these are not the only responsibilities of an executive director. Here are some other responsibilities that they shoulder—

• An executive director gives a strategic overview and provides valuable insights into top-level strategic planning. The professional also helps to achieve key business objectives.
• He or she ensures that the company’s goals and projects are in line with its vision, values, and social and ethical responsibilities.
• The executive director has responsibility for improving the quality of the directors under his supervision by serving as a mentor.
• The position holder is responsible for financial planning and budgeting decisions. This allows the organization to evaluate its financial needs and prepare financial reports that can be reviewed by all stakeholders.
• He or she regularly consults with department heads to discuss current and future opportunities for the growth of the company.
• An executive director in the HR department is responsible for improving workplace policies and talent acquisition.
• It is part of the executive director’s duties to provide highly relevant and valuable advice on how to overcome business growth bottlenecks.
• A company’s executive director represents the company before key clients and investors, as well as other important stakeholders.

Key Steps To Hire A Great Executive Director – Tips From Recruitment Agency

Step 1: Form a Committee – Include a C-Suite Leader and Another Top Management Member

Frame The Scope of Functions, Key Duties and The Metrics To be Managed

For executive director recruitment, it is a good idea to start by creating a committee that includes a C-Suite Leader, another top management officer, like Vice President, along with an HR director and one or two other top leadership position holders. This committee will decide what functions, duties, and metrics the new executive director must manage.

The committee should consider the future and current needs of the organization when deciding on the functions and duties that the new executive director will perform.

Determine the Terms of Offer

The hiring in dubai committee must identify the necessary qualities, skills, and assets for the position, then rank them according to their importance. After they have identified the perfect skill set, it is time to decide on the salary range.

Select a Team To Supervise Executive Search

The committee must decide on a team to monitor the executive search. To ensure a professional, efficient and disciplined search process, it is important to have a strong search team. It would be great for the search team to have a strong leader who can build consensus and is an effective communicator.

Select an Interview Panel

Set up an interview panel. The entire interview process must be transparent, and all progress should be reported to the committee. The panel must also be able to guide the committee to a decision when there isn’t a consensus.

Hire an External Expert in an Advisory Capacity

An external expert can be hired to assist the committee. The external expert provides objective guidance to the committee and assists in flagging problems that are not within the experience of the internal interview panel.

Step 2: Hire An Executive Search Agency

Get An Excellent Job Profile Description

The committee is responsible for defining the job description, but it’s better when the process is consultative and includes the opinions of internal staff. You will gain a deeper understanding of the organizational culture by listening to the external executive search experts. This will also help you find the “undiscovered” requirements of the role.

Coordinate to Finalize Employer Branding Techniques and Materials

Candidates consider a company’s reputation before making the decision to switch. An external executive search agency could provide valuable information to help the search committee and HR to create actionable employer branding strategies for marketing the post efficiently. This also enables you to develop relevant employer branding material, a compelling profile description, and a pitch for the passive candidate approach.

Frame a Hiring Approach and Criteria in Coordination with Executive Search Expert

Coordinate with the executive search expert and create plans to have a realistic picture of how the entire hiring process will look like, how much time it will consume and what roles each team member will play. By doing so, you will be able to conduct the recruitment with an outcome-oriented approach.

Get the Right Interview Formats For Each Round

Each interview session should be different and should have its own objectives. So, interview sessions based on presentations or discussions should have their own assessment criteria. These should differ from technical and personal interviews that ask deeper questions about past records, goals, skills, personality traits, etc.

Decide Voting, Scoring, and Selection Formats

Always have an objective, fact-driven, and impartial selection process for each interview and screening activity. Depending on the purpose of the interview session, the voting rights may vary among members of the panel. For instance, for an interview and screening round that is technology-oriented, more voting rights may be given to members with a technology background.

Step 3: Search and Shortlisting

Tap Into National Talent Pools

With the help of a competent hotel recruitment agency Dubai, you can tap into nationwide talent pools for hiring an executive director. Limiting your search to 1-2 cities does not get you an exceptional candidate.

For Global Operations, Find a Candidate with Global Operations Experience

Shortlisting candidates with global experience is a good idea if your company operates internationally. Offer proper inputs to the executive search consultant regarding which regions you want covered, in addition to the scale, scope, and size of your operations in the mentioned areas.

Get 5-10 Candidates Shortlisted on Best-Match Criteria

The committee will interview five to ten candidates at the beginning of the process and then move on to the second round with the top three to four performers.

The search committee should shortlist candidates for interviewing with board members after the second round of interviews. The candidates should not be ranked at this stage as this could influence the board’s decision.

Execute the Best Candidate Engagement Techniques

Good communication skills are essential for attracting the right talent. The interaction should be such that candidates get a clear picture of the company’s vision and can find out precise details regarding the position.

Schedule Interviews

Interview sessions must be scheduled well in advance to ensure candidates don’t need to rush. Also, make sure the interview questions don’t promote discrimination or involve other risks.

Step 4: Screen, Assess, Validate and Select

Assess Attributes – Not Just Experience

Although it’s great for candidates to have positive experiences, you must also evaluate their abilities. While a candidate may boast a track record of success, it is possible that this was the result of their superiors’ leadership abilities or their subordinates’ exceptional work management. Failure is unavoidable without the right attributes.

Virtual Site Visits, Presentations, and Assessments

The final round of interviews will require candidates to get to know your company. Virtual visits are the best way to achieve that. Virtual site visits can include presentations by managers and a virtual tour around the workplace.

You should ask cleverly disguised questions that are based on virtual tours.

Identify Culture-Fit Traits

This is an important factor in the acceptance of the selected top leader. It is possible to find a great candidate, but without their personality traits in line with your company’s culture, there could be a lot more conflicts and less value in the solutions offered by the new hire.

Get Background and Documentation Checks Done

It’s never a good idea to hire a candidate without checking their background. Your candidate may have some kind of criminal record or might be facing lawsuits, or could be someone with behavioral traits that gets him or her fired from several companies.
By hiring an executive director without being aware of his or her professional history and personal reputation, you will only put your business and your employees at risk.

So, simply avoid hiring a candidate without proper background and document checks, especially for an important position like the executive director. Make sure to start the process before the third round. This allows the search committee to have answers to any questions they might have about the candidate.

Negotiations and Discussions – Compensation, Roles, Responsibilities, Etc

It is important to be open and flexible while deciding on the compensation package. The non-monetary rewards should also be attractive. You should also explain what the future responsibilities will be for the candidate and the kind of flexibility needed to carry on the duties, such as frequent traveling, liasioning, etc.

Agreements and Offer

You should choose an executive search agent expert to help you negotiate and have discussions with the selected candidate with regard to agreement and offers. Based on the reviews and inputs of the executive search specialist, you can make an informed decision that will be beneficial not just for your business but also for the candidate.

Alliance Recruitment Agency-UAE

Alliance Recruitment Agency is a global manpower agency providing customized executive search services to corporates and small and mid-sized cap companies. Our executive search experts have served more than 1,000 companies over 11+ years, helping them find the best-match candidates for top management positions like an executive director.

Our agency has specialized executive search teams managing hard-to-fill positions involving challenging roles. We help you hire top executives in the UAE through best practices in executive search that optimize the recruitment outcomes for your company.

If your company is in the UAE – find talented executive developers that best fit any hiring criteria you specify. With a huge network across the globe, we can help hire the best candidates for top-level positions.

Connect with us for your next top-level recruitment!