CMO Job Search Success Stories

1. Total search time overall: 1 year

2. Lead source: Network

• Her previous CEO recommended her to a talent person at a PE firm
• Spoke with talent person in September, heard back again in June about 2 companies looking for interim marketing help

3. Interview/negotiation process:

• Was too expensive for one of the above
  
• The other: Had a half-hour call with CEO and two half-hour calls with GMs
  
• Two weeks into the 90 days, was asked to stay full-time
  
• Had another offer (from network) but opted to stay with the above due to more compelling equity options 

1. Job landed time (from 1st interview to offer): 2 months

2. Lead source: LinkedIn: Turned on "Open to Recruiters"

• First recruiter phone call led to job landed
• Recruiter recommendation: Diversified Search Group
• Open to Work has a stigma; Open to Recruiters doesn't

3. Interview/negotiation process:

• 6 virtual interviews, 1 in-person interview
• The recruiter called all 12 references
• Huddler had an in-depth process for briefing references (see below)

4. Lessons learned:

• Round peg, round hole doesn't always apply
  
• She went from a $20M company to $50M, from HR Tech to Healthcare SaaS
  
• She IS a player-coach who wants to build
  
• Had been at previous company for 7 years and left on great terms

1. Job landed time (from 1st interview to offer): 3-4 weeks 

2. Lead source: Inbound inquiry on LinkedIn from headhunter in the K-12 space

3. Interview/negotiation process:

• Had a great interview with the CEO before his vacation and he shortcut the process
  
• The company already knew of him through the PE network; same vertical
  
• No presentation required
  

4. Lessons learned:

• Practiced interviewing with Chief People Officer at previous company for best practices on answering scenario questions
  
• Two other opportunities over the summer were put on hold due to market conditions
  
• A lot of PE firms have talent coordinators who will reach out to build roster/do interviews/check references

1. Total search time overall: 4 months

• Exited end of April, consulted 1 month, summer project work

2. Lead source: Network connection referred her to a recruiter

• Had experience in the private market space for two venture firms
• Hire #12 and first marketing hire

3. Interview/negotiation process:

• 6 virtual interviews
• In-person interviews with 5-6 employees
• Interviews with each founder 2x, then virtual team
• No presentation or 30/60/90
• Used Jeff's ChatGPT tips to build out strategy and hypotheses

4. Lessons learned:

• Amidst ghosting and not hearing back from leads, the Huddler leaned on her Huddle Buddy to stay positive and encourage one another!

1. Total search time overall: 6 months
2. Job landed time (from 1^st interview to offer): 4 weeks
3. Lead source: Recruiter. The job posted on LinkedIn but decided to connect with the recruiter directly rather than submit resume in a sea of thousands of other resumes. The recruiter reached out quickly and started the process.
4. Interview/negotiation process: 
   • 2 interviews with CEO
   • 2 sets of group interviews with two people
   • 1 interview with CRO
   • 1 interview with Board/Investor
   • And presentation. The presentation was detailed. They provided a detailed outline of 6 different requests. The presentation was 60 slides, and took several days of research and work to pull it together. Presented to the executive team + BoD (12 people). 
   • The positive is that the presentation served as a great onboarding. I feel really prepped to hit the ground running.
5. Any lessons learned? 

Total Search Time:

• 5-6 months 
• Took a 7-month break, it ended at the start of Feb, but didn't get serious about job search until early March 

Job Landed Time: 1 month from 1st interview to offer.

Lead source:

• A former vendor suggested them for the role
• The role was not published or advertised publicly

Interview/negotiation process:  

• 3 interviews, first one with CEO, 2nd and 3rd panel interviews (CEO joined 3rd)
• Leaned into strength in marketing but spend significant amount of time talking about sales
• Offered to do a 30/60/90 and fly to present it in a week as a next step following the 3rd interview, they took me up on my offer, but CEO wound up calling me halfway through that week to discuss "more things" and after 1.5 hours on the phone I was offered a job. 
• Accepted two days later after negotiating.

Any lessons learned? Always be networking. Not just when in transition.

Total search time: 6 months

Lead source: LinkedIn Jobs

Search Process:

• Companies Interviewed: < 10
• Personal Brand: Outplacement company helped hone brand (Right Management)
• Recruitment: Contacted by recruiter after applying in LinkedIn
• Triangulating Network: Got in the door through 2nd connection with hiring manager.
• Application Strategy: Focused more on networking than applying. Applied only for jobs on LinkedIn where was 200% match.
• Criteria for 200% match:
• • 100%: You know you’re the perfect candidate
  • 100%: They know you’re the perfect candidate
  • Relevant experience: Sr. Exec. Marketing, B2B/B2C, transformation, global expertise, change agent
  • Location: Same location as company

Interview Process:

1. Recruiter Screening
2. HR Screening
3. Hiring Manager Interview
4. Full Leadership Team

Key Lessons:

Job landed time: 3 months from 1st interview to offer

Lead source: Recruiter (Korn Ferry)

Information

• 2 interview rounds; one round virtual, one in-person
• In target industry (SaaS), will travel to office 2x/month
• CEO, who covered the CMO role, is leaving
• Created a valuable 30/60/90
• Arranged severance in the negotiation stage

Background Checks

• Provided 8 references (2 peers, 2 bosses, 2 directs), and had spoken to all of them beforehand.
• The company called EVERYONE, and asked ~35 questions
• Another CMO said a company has been doing backdoor reference checks

Lessons learned:

• Wish they were more prepared with a firm POV as CMO

Featured Huddler

• Was the CMO elsewhere, left the company in October after managing a 6-month transition period
• Knew was leaving old company in May so began the search process then (and updated LinkedIn profile)

Job Finding Process

• A recruiter reached out in September based on CMO's unique background having marketed both hardware and software 
• Found on LinkedIn
• They had a total of 8 interviews in 4 weeks including a lunch with the CEO

Key Interview Question 

• They wanted to make sure the company was a good fit, could articulate its challenges, and had reasonable expectations for marketing
• Most revealing question to CEO: “What keeps you up at night when you think about go-to-market?”
  
• The answer, "having a predictable, repeatable sales model” enabled them to drive the conversation and offer a roadmap
• Also allowed them to showcase what she already knew about the company’s challenges, industry and path to success

Preparation 

• They did hours of research on the company, its competitors and the portfolio companies of the lead VC
• They were able to develop hypotheses on both their challenges and opportunities
• They also had questions ready to fill in information gaps and to test for fit
• By reviewing the portfolio companies of the lead VC, they tried to identify the role marketing played in the growth of the most successful companies (this was particularly helpful when speaking with the investor)
• They also created visual aids to help explain their marketing approach to the CEO

What’s Your Plus? CMO+ Concept

• Their predecessor was head of marketing and customer success
• Since they had managed CS in a previous role, it made sense to assume this role at the new company
• Being able to wear both hats helped close the deal since it meant one less hire for Sensera
  
• Dare: Identify your potential CMO+ areas based on your career experience (your ability to wear 2 hats should increase the odds of getting an offer).  
  

Networking

• During the search process, they reached out to a wide range of former associates and friends
• Most responded immediately and welcomed the chance to help
  
• Those who were local (Denver area) agreed to get together for a breakfast or lunch
  
• Some offered industry knowledge that proved helpful in the interviewing process, others offered more contacts she could talk to
• Dare: Dedicate at least a couple of hours a week to reengaging with former associates in your network
  

Round Peg, Round Hole x 5

• It’s a buyer’s market so recruiters are looking for perfect matches
  
• Product type: They had experience with both hardware and software products
• Growth phase: They had experience growing a start-up
  
• Investor type: They had worked with VC-funded companies
  
• Location: They were based in Denver and the company HQ is in Boulder
• Vertical: The co. targets the construction industry which is the only “peg” they didn’t have covered in depth (so they made up for it by doing extensive research) 

Lessons Learned

• Believe: They noted how important it was to maintain self-confidence and belief in her own abilities
• Take breaks: They made sure to take “feel good” breaks during the day (i.e. walks, hikes, work-outs, etc.)
• Network: Because they hadn’t neglected her network while they had a job, it was a lot easier to re-engage, AND even long-lapsed associates surprised her with their receptivity 
• Flexibility: At the beginning of their search, they thought they were done with start-ups but came to realize that if the culture fit was right, the current business phase was not an issue 

Total search time: 8 months (turned down 2 opportunities that didn’t feel like the right fit)

Job landed time: 1 month from 1st interview to offer

Lead source: Recruiter (TrueBridge)

Lessons learned:

• “Create a 'must have,' 'nice to have,' and 'not important' list of role/company attributes to help guide your search process." 
• “Create a target company list at the beginning of your search process and leverage all appropriate aspects of your personal and professional network to connect to those organizations.”