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A former vendor surfaced an unposted EVP Sales and Marketing role for one Huddler after a five-to-six-month search. Three interviews led toward a proposed 30-, 60-, and 90-day presentation, but an extended CEO call produced the offer first. The story shows why relationships built before a transition can create access to opportunities that never reach the public market.
One Huddler landed her next executive role without ever seeing a job posting.
A former vendor suggested her for an EVP Sales and Marketing position at a small event services company. The role was not publicly advertised.
The Huddler had been searching seriously for approximately five to six months when the opportunity emerged. Once it did, the process moved quickly: one month from the first interview to the offer.
Her experience reinforced the central lesson she took from the search: always be networking, not just when in transition.
Search Snapshot
The relationship that produced this opportunity existed before the Huddler needed a new role.
A former vendor knew her professionally and later suggested her for an executive position that was not available through the public job market.
That distinction matters in a senior-level search. If a role is never posted, an executive cannot discover it through applications or job alerts. Someone already connected to the opportunity has to create the introduction.
For this Huddler, that person was not a former boss, colleague, recruiter, or investor. It was a former vendor.
The experience broadened the definition of who can become part of an executive network. Relationships built through everyday work can remain relevant long after the original professional engagement ends.
The Huddler's transition included a seven-month break that ended at the beginning of February. She did not begin searching seriously until early March.
Once the active search began, it lasted approximately five to six months.
That distinction provides useful context for the timeline. Total time between roles and time spent actively searching are not necessarily the same measurement.
The opportunity that ultimately worked moved much faster. From the first interview to the offer, the hiring process took approximately one month.
The position combined responsibility for sales and marketing.
During the interviews, the Huddler leaned into her strength in marketing while spending significant time discussing sales.
That created a different positioning challenge than interviewing for a marketing-only role. She needed to establish the experience she brought most strongly while also addressing the broader scope of the opportunity.
Rather than allowing the combined title to shift the conversation entirely away from her marketing background, she used that experience as part of the case for the larger commercial role.
The source does not detail exactly how she positioned her sales experience, but the amount of interview time devoted to the topic shows that it was an important part of the company's evaluation.
The process included three interviews.
The first was with the CEO. The second and third were panel interviews, and the CEO joined the third conversation.
After that third interview, the Huddler proposed an additional step herself: she offered to create a 30-, 60-, and 90-day plan and fly in to present it within a week.
The company accepted the offer.
That willingness to propose a next step demonstrated that she was prepared to keep moving the conversation forward rather than simply waiting to learn what the company wanted next.
But the presentation never happened.
Halfway through the week she was preparing the presentation, the CEO called to discuss “more things.”
The conversation lasted approximately 90 minutes.
By the end of the call, the CEO offered her the job.
The sequence is notable because the Huddler had volunteered to invest additional effort in a 30-, 60-, and 90-day presentation, but the hiring decision arrived before she needed to complete it.
She accepted the offer two days later after negotiating the terms.
From first interview to offer, the entire process had taken approximately one month.
The successful opportunity combined a relationship built before the search with a fast-moving interview process once the introduction happened.
A former vendor surfaced an opportunity the Huddler could not have found through a public posting. Three interviews gave her opportunities to discuss both her marketing strengths and the sales responsibilities attached to the role. When she reached the end of those interviews, she proactively offered a strategic next step.
Then an extended CEO conversation produced the offer before that next step was necessary.
The Huddler's own lesson from the experience was simple: always be networking, not just when in transition.
Her search shows why that advice matters. Networking does not only help an executive compete for visible roles. Sometimes it creates access to opportunities that would otherwise remain invisible.
Professional relationships can surface opportunities before or instead of a public search. In this case, a former vendor recommended the Huddler for a role that was never advertised.
Yes. This opportunity came directly from a former vendor who suggested the Huddler for the role. The experience shows why an executive's network can extend beyond former bosses, colleagues, and recruiters.
This Huddler offered to create and present one after her third interview, and the company accepted. She ultimately received the offer before presenting it, so the source does not tell us how the presentation itself would have affected the decision.
The Huddler's active search lasted approximately five to six months. Once this opportunity began, it took about one month from the first interview to the offer.
Read the original CMO Job Search success story.
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