Straight to the Top: CIO Leadership in a Mobile, Social, and Cloud-based World, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 6

What Executive Recruiters Are Looking for, from Consulting Experience to Leadership Skills

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.

—Dwight D. Eisenhower1

I thought it would be as important in this edition as it was in the last to provide expertise and recommendations from some of America's top recruiting experts. I have selected regional, national, and international firms and individuals to ensure that the readers will receive the proper blend of executive recruiting insights to help them in either a first CIO quest or a repeated opportunity.

How to Get Noticed

Finding an executive recruiter who can help you in your career is not an easy task but one that takes a significant amount of time. It's about building a relationship with a person who knows your skills, accomplishments, and capabilities and who, when the time is right, can present you as a candidate to an employer for a top IT position. Relationships can take years to build. In my career, I've met most of my recruiting contacts through the following methods:

• By attending IT conferences and other events
• By doing speaking engagements
• As a byproduct of publishing an article or a book
• From introductions by mentors

Any way you cut it, executive recruiters should be part of your extended network, especially as your career advances. My network has actually shrunk since I started in IT 26 years ago. The reason is that the higher my role as a result of promotions ...