CMO Job Search Success Stories

1. Total search time overall: 16 months

2. Job landed time (from 1st interview to offer): 2.5 months

• First Outreach: Oct 28 
• Offer received: December 11 (A couple days to sign + background check)
• Start date: Jan 13 (a week later than asked due to personal commitments)

3. Lead source: A recruiter reached out on Linkedin. 

4. Interview/Negotiation Process

• 6 total meetings. 
• 5 remote including a presentation that was intended to be in person but I was out of town. The additional in-person interview was bc of this.
• They asked me to present a 30/60/90. My email after the ask: 

"I am very excited about the marketing leadership role with [COMPANY] and have enjoyed the conversations thus far!  The excitement grew when [RECRUITER] shared that I’d be moving to the presentation round. After reviewing the prompt, I wanted to voice a concern.  

After just a few conversations, I don’t know your business well enough to create a comprehensive strategic marketing plan. And even if I did, 3-4 hours is not enough time to do so well.  I would love to continue in this process but want to make sure I’m showcasing what I’m capable of. Would you be okay if I adjusted the presentation to include how I would approach creating a plan like this and some thoughts/ideas I have from what the team has shared?”

5. Lessons learned

There were a lot of lessons over the 16 months that I believe went into making this interview process smooth and effective.

One that stands out was booking the interviews at times I would be energetic and able to prep. After hearing a couple times that I didn’t seem that excited about an opportunity, I learned pushed back on very early or late conversations. 

1. Total Search Time: 14 months. 

2. Lead source: LinkedIn.

• Applied on LinkedIn
• Researched company's hiring manager / recruiter, any potential connections. Messaged company's marketing executive who was on the way out, and they shared hiring manager and recruiter contact info.
• Also found a connection with the company through Phil Terry's Never Search Alone group.

3. Interview process:

• 4 interview sessions: 
• • Recruiter call
  • Hiring manager call
  • Team call (3 people for 30 mins each)
  • 1 hour presentation (To group of 6)
  • Executive call (2 people, 30 mins each): This one took place after the offer and counter-offer conversations. 
• Shared 3 references (former supervisor and two peers). They used another Huddlers references worksheet to prep references. All were called for 15-minute conversations. 

4. Negotiation process:

• Used learnings from initial budget conversation with recruiter to negotiate higher base offer.
• Jacob Warwick's #ProTip: Wait until you have the contract. Then you say, "Oh, I don't see anything about severance in here." 

5. Lessons learned:

• Take time to figure out what you're looking for. 
• Follow through on every role that interests you.
• Was a great match, and found they were even better matched throughout the interview process. 
• On presenting during interviews: "The best way to get to Carnegie Hall is practice, practice, practice."
• Create a spreadsheet of Power Stories and sort it by topic. 

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 (in Huddle Buddies Playbook)  

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