Why Does your Organization In UAE Need a Director? What Is The Role Of A Company Director

Startups, small businesses, and mid-sized companies hiring directors for the first time are often faced with quite a lot of confusing information about what the position entails. Also, companies looking for successors to replace departing directors struggle for 6-10 months to close the position. Hiring directors is more complex than people are prepared for in most cases. Getting the services of an expert team of headhunters who offer director search and recruitment support could make the entire process easy to manage, efficient, outcome-oriented, and affordable. Here are some insights into director recruitment that will help you make a better hiring decision.

The UAE is a highly preferred destination for businesses worldwide. Numerous startups are getting launched every year. There is no shortage of small-sized businesses that gained exponential growth within just a few years. 

There is a time when your company in the UAE needs its first director to take full responsibility for directing, supervising, and managing specific operations – be it business development and sales, accounting and finance, IT and data security, etc. Handing over the reins from a central management direction to the hands of one particular individual is never an easy phase.

When hiring a director for the first time, it is also not easy for HR to manage this huge responsibility. With so many titles that share the name director, many business owners find it confusing to understand the roles that a director they hire can undertake and where the boundaries should be drawn when it comes to authority and span of control.

To help you get a holistic view of all aspects of director hiring, we have covered many points on the topic. First, let us get the implications of the word director hiring right.

Types Of Directors

Independent Directors

Independent directors are part of the board of directors of a listed company. They hold tenure of 5 consecutive years and are even entitled to reappointment by passing a special resolution. These are not the directors you hire for supervising and managing any kind of operations.

Executive Directors

The Board of Directors of corporations and listed companies may appoint an executive director search firms. In many cases, there is a voting process requiring that the vote must be approved by a specified percentage of the board members. Again, these are not the type of directors you, as a business owner or HR head, hire to monitor certain operations.

Non-Executive Directors

A non-executive director is a member of a company’s board of directors but not part of the executive team and does not engage in the day-to-day management of the corporation or company. A non-executive director could be involved in policymaking and planning exercises and supervising the performance of executive directors.

Directors Of Specific Operations

These are the directors a business owner or C-suite members hire to direct specific operations. These directors help a company achieve goals related to the functions they direct, such as marketing and sales, administration and operations, productions, IT, cybersecurity management, etc. 

These are the professionals you can hire based on your own list of duties and responsibilities based on the goals, targets, and performance KPIs and metrics you frame. So “director hiring” refers to these kinds of directors who you hire to direct certain departments, functions, and operations based on the profile and terms you decide.

Associate Directors

An associate director generally reports to a director and assists the director in managing day-to-day responsibilities based on the line of authority and control pre-decided by the top management. 

Associate directors offer strategic advice and take charge of the actual implementation of the strategies and play a number of roles to assist the director in achieving departmental goals and targets. They also offer guidance, instructions, and support on complicated projects and analyze their performance.

The associate director hiring process is the responsibility of the C-suite and other top management stakeholders with responsibility for the functions the position will manage.

Roles Of a Director

Now, you would have a clear understanding of what positions come under director hiring by C-suite and other top-level employees of an organization such as presidents, managing directors, etc.

The next important point is about the roles a director could play. There are some roles that are not common to all organizations. For example, a finance director of a manufacturing company might have a huge role to play in approving which suppliers to contract with. But a finance director of a software company might not be interfering with the vendors chosen by a product or project manager. 

Here, we are going to discuss what are the general roles that are common to most directors.

1)Strategic Advice for Business Growth

One of the basic duties of a director is to promote the growth of the company by considering its strategic vision. For example, a director must formulate policies, strategies, and performance metrics for the people working in his or her department in a manner that aligns with business growth goals and projections.

When you opt for a “director for hire” model, the chosen professional would be serving more as a consultant than a permanent employee. When you are hiring directors as permanent employees, you find professionals who can shoulder more responsibilities for achieving business growth.

2)Oversees Performance of Specific Operations

A director is directly responsible for the performance of the departments of operations he or she is handling. Everything from operational costs, target achievement, production efficiency to employee satisfaction comes under his sphere of duties, with direct accountability of outcomes and consequences.

This is one of the reasons why you need expert help when hiring directors so that you can identify talent from wider, richer, and more diverse talent pools, which are accessed only by established and reputed director Dubai hiring agencies.

3)Takes Responsibilities for Specific Business Goal Achievement

A director is held directly accountable for the specific business goal he is assigned for functions that come under his supervision and control. 

For example, if a company has set a goal of 10% revenue growth for a particular, fiscal year, with the C-Suite having laid out the strategies to achieve that goal, then the marketing and sales director would be having direct responsibility for achieving that goal, as revenue growth is directly linked to marketing and sales.

At the same time, the finance director also has the responsibility to intervene wherever necessary if any ambitious plans of the director could have a bad impact on finance. The finance director will have to share his projections about how the revenue growth could be achieved. 

The expertise of a director in the type of business operations you run and the markets you serve is essential for business success. When you consult with a “director for hire” company or a recruitment agency offering director hiring services, you would need to select candidates who fulfill all the criteria about your business-specific requirements. 

4)Oversees The Implementation of Practices for Increasing Profitability

Every director participates in the revenue growth strategy and implementation planning. They share responsibilities to contribute to overall decision making based on practical insights into how client acquisition, supply chain, payments, customer experience, and other matters relevant to achieving specific target profit margins. 

The top management would intervene in fixing targets and KPIs for each director based on the enterprise-level performance planning for increasing profitability. When hiring directors, frame interviews and assessments in a manner that you get concrete information about how the potential candidate has improved profitability in his previous employment. 

5)Participates in C-Level Decision Making

The directors are often called upon to give insight-driven and fact-based inputs, reports, and accounts by C-suite executives for various initiatives and decision-making activities that concern the company. 

For major operations, people, and transformational initiatives, the C-suite could ask directors to take extra responsibilities other than the one associated with their departments and general duties. Director hiring for growing startups and mid-sized companies is, therefore, a more complex and challenging process, as the kind of abilities, a company need goes beyond a general set of duties and expectations. 

6)Supports Change Management Planning

Although change management planning is mostly driven and supervised by the top management positions, the inclusion and buy-in of directors are of importance. The directors might not be happy with certain changes affecting their established practices and making the whole change management process difficult to achieve. 

This is one of the reasons why if you are a company in an industry sector where changes could give rise to conflicts and tricky situations, you could go for a “director for hire” consultancy role before hiring a permanent director. Find out how your business transformation initiatives could be taken by the new director you are hiring.

7)Oversees And Enhances HR Practices and Policy Making

A director must ensure a healthy work environment for all employees by overseeing and enhancing HR practices and policymaking. He or she is expected to work in close coordination with HR to improve employees engagement, performance levels, and satisfaction levels. 

When hiring directors, it is essential that you set some scoring criteria about people skills and find out his or her track record in people management. 

8)Supervises Compliance – Legal, Environmental, Regulatory, Etc.

It is the responsibility of a director of a company to supervise compliance management matters related to the departments or operations he or she leads. It could be about consumer, legal, environmental or other compliance requirements.

Hire a Director Through Alliance Recruitment Agency Executive Search Services

The process of hiring directors is always a complex one and demands a lot of time, effort, and money. On the one hand, HR faces quite some pressure to find professionals who could not only have just the knowledge and experience for carrying out specific responsibilities but also with qualities and track records that give competitive advantages to the company. 

Whether you are choosing a “director for hire” consultancy or hiring directors as permanent employees or as an interim role, the most efficient manner to hire a director is through a director executive search dubai consultancy like Alliance Recruitment Agency. 

Alliance Recruitment Agency enables you to get efficient support right from the very beginning of the director search process through to the offer management stage.

• Complete support in framing the requirements of the position through identification of best-matched candidates for a position through internal and external talent mapping.
• Impartial, objective screening of director-level candidates from various perspectives – skills, track records, performance records, knowledge, and certifications, overall professional background, etc.
• Support with virtual interviewing, interview analysis, and assessments.
• Provides specialty services to the company to ensure compliance with your diversity and inclusion practices.
• Helps you reduce time, costs, and efforts in the director hiring process, making it Lean, SMART, and outcome-oriented.

Alliance Recruitment Agency UAE

Alliance Recruitment Agency UAE is a global manpower agency with a track record of 1,000+ director hiring projects. Hiring directors through our services helps you achieve the outcomes you have outlined from the recruitment.

We have extensive experience serving diverse industry sectors in the UAE. With a presence in 25+ countries, through our recruitment agency, you will be able to find the best-matched, brilliant candidates for regional, nationwide and international director positions.

Our expert director hiring headhunters has assisted companies in finding candidates who have won client trust and admiration while cutting down recruitment time and costs by 40%. If you are planning to hire a director for your company, please reach out to us! Find a quick response and comprehensive assistance!