A question on a Linkedin group. What's your feeling.
When hiring a CFO, most companies require previous experience in the same field. Do you agree with this fact ?
Answers
I do not find that to be true with my clients.
I know a
I would have to say no, at least not the best CFOs. Maybe the mediocre CFOs that are not willing to really expand their
2
Chris,
I think you misread the question. It's not the CFO whose limiting their career choices, it's the Hiring Managers.
Awe....Yes, I see now, Wayne. I didn't take the question originally to mean hiring managers, but rather the CFOs themselves.
Are hiring managers in charge of hiring CFOs? If that is being done, no wonder some CFOs are being excluded from new opportunities in different fields. Depending on the size of the company I would think the BOA or BOD along with other executives would be more involved in looking for a CFO that could deliver the company's strategic vision, irrespective of their prior industries.
A hiring manager can a single person, a group, based on advice from a trusted advisor or consultant. So if you look at the marketplace, many firms are IMHO pigeon holing themselves by thinking that their industry is truly unique, where most, not all, are very similar.
I see it as inbreeding issue which causes stagnation and doesn't permit the CFO from thinking outside that proverbial industry box...very limiting to the company.
1
IMHO, based on my own experience - more than 30 years worth - anytime a company or an industry claims it is "different" or "unique" from other enterprises, usually to justify going with something custom rather than tried and true off the shelf, they are setting themselves up for failure. This applies whether they are purchasing
Business is business. Nuances perhaps. Uniqueness? Not so much.
Hiring managers are one of the worst IMHO. Robert Townsend in his book "Up the Organization" singled out
Which only supports what you are saying about limiting recruiting to industry specialists.
"singled out HR departments as the most useless departments in any organization"
Here, Here!
Below is a post from Proformative on Switching Industries.
I often find that it's urgency that pushes people to seek similar industry experience and how much time they can afford to get someone to understand the business, especially in a
There are some firms where the skills are simply difficult to learn without hands on experience - heavy regulatory, international scope, etc.
Having moved into financial services myself, I can say that the regulatory environment was a major challenge as my response to business issues had to be filtered through what we were allowed to do via regulatory requirements.
All of your skills of business, leadership, etc. will absolutely transfer - no questions asked.
https://www.proformative.com/blogs/mark-richards/2011/07/30/trying-switch-industries-what-skills-transfer
Hope this helps.
Mark
Filed Under:
Human Capital