Hiring a senior executive for a specialized role can be a high-stakes process. Often, the CEO or leadership team doesn't fully understand the function and expectations of the role they're trying to fill. According to John Boehmer, founder and managing partner...

Landing a top executive role is about more than the right experience or an impressive resume. According to John Boehmer, founder and managing partner of Accelent, Inc., there is a framework that will not only help secure the role but also set the stage for success in the role. Boehmer says that it takes strategy, preparation, and a clear understanding of what success looks like to get your perfect role in the executive job market.

According to the Executive Search Information Exchange (ESIX), 40% of all executive searches fail to make a hire, and more than 50% of leadership hires don’t succeed, leading to significant costs and years of lost productivity for companies. These statistics highlight the harsh reality of executive recruitment, but John Boehmer, the founder of Accelent, Inc., has cracked the code on how to defy these odds.

Strong leadership is at the core of every successful business. However, many startups face the challenge of finding talented leaders with the right experience. John Boehmer is an executive recruiter with 35 years of experience serving early, mid-, and late-stage software/SaaS/AI and Internet startups of various types.

*Originally published May 2010 I have spent most of the last 20 years helping early- and late-stage Internet startups as well as larger enterprise technology companies acquire executive talent and helping executive talent manage their careers. Over the years I’ve also...

*Originally published May 2010 Integration is key to getting immediate value from a new executive hire. The best “onboarding” programs I’ve seen include an effective and efficient education on how things really work at a company: how decisions are made, who is...

*Originally published May 2010 Historically executive talent has been assessed on the basis of prior duties, responsibilities, accomplishments, and ability to lead and manage. Just look at a typical resume. Redefining Executive Talent Assessment It’s time to change...

Nothing blows up an executive search process like a surprise, whether it’s a surprise from the candidate or the client. Venture-backed startup or mid-sized public company, surprises detonate with equally devastating results. In the search process, a delicate chemistry...

Betsy L. Morgan is an Executive in Residence with LionTree, an advisory firm focused on technology, media and telecommunications. She is the former President and CEO of TheBlaze and was the first CEO of The Huffington Post.  She is on the board of Chartbeat,...

Michael DeSimone is the President and CEO of ShopKeep, the cloud-based point of sale and business management solution used by more than 23,000 small businesses. A global chief executive with over 25 years of experience working within the fintech industry, Michael...

 Dafna Sarnoff is the SVP Marketing at Yodle (a Web.com Company), a global leader in local online marketing. We got to know Dafna four years ago when we placed her at Yodle, where she was promoted in her first year. One of the aspects of Dafna’s story we’ve always...

Arden Schneider, SVP Human Resources & Facilities at Integral Ad Science (center in image), has helped NYC-based Integral win multiple “best” workplace awards since she arrived in 2014, including Crain’s New York Best Places to Work in New York City, Best...

Why go to the trouble of refreshing a search firm’s brand? Executive search isn’t that complicated, right? You know someone at a firm? You like them? You hire them? They’re all the same, so it’s easy, right? Not remotely. There is actually a broad spectrum of...

Dan Neely, CEO of Networked Insights, talks about his most recent executive hire, what went well, lessons learned, and how to discover a new executive's "blind spots."  Q # 1 Accelent: What did you learn in your last executive hiring process? A# 1 Dan Neely: The...

In my 35 years as an executive recruiter, I’ve witnessed interviews go wrong for a number of reasons. Some of the most frequent and unfortunate reasons pertain to silly, stupid misunderstandings due to poor communication by one or both parties, or by either party just...

It’s amazing how clear the view is from the other side of the fence. After years as a media executive, I've recently become an executive recruiter. While you might find the story of my personal transformation interesting, you'll really want to know what I've learned....

Once you have an Engagement Spec you are satisfied with, your assessment team (A-team) can move forward with evaluating resumes and potential candidates against the spec. But first you, as the hiring manager, must set the right expectations. Assigning Responsibilities...

I have grown tired of the typical useless position spec. They are filled with boilerplate language, tell you little about a company’s story and very little about what is critical for a candidate to be successful in the role. Position specs have become generic. Here’s...

In our last blog post we talked about creating a more useful and informative Engagement Spec for candidates. Adding another level of detail to this document will give your assessment team a roadmap for the evaluation process. This internal “Company” version of the...