CIO, CTO & IT Directors

The CIO Practice has been established for over a decade and has successfully placed numerous CIOs, CTOs and IT Directors in a spectrum of companies.  Whilst we have a dedicated team of consultants specialising in CIO placements, our knowledge encapsulates other functions of leadership, such as; CTO, IT Directors, Heads of IT and IT management roles.

So what makes a good CIO?

So what makes a world class Chief Information Officer today and how do we, as an Executive Search firm, recognise these attributes in the people we search out?  Quite a subjective topic I’m sure you will agree, as different organisations place different emphasis on the criteria of their own CIO. 

Whatever organisation structure is in place, whether centralised or federated, our experience is that companies today are demanding far more from their Chief Information Officer than ever before.  Whilst historically the criteria for a good CIO was relatively simple: technology savvy, people/project management and commercial acumen; today, the emphasis has shifted significantly towards being politically savvy, possessing demonstrable leadership skills with the ability to influence multiple stakeholders across multiple cultures.

So, how do we as head-hunters recognise and test these skills in people? Well, whilst we are keen to get to know a candidate’s career background and achievements, we place significant emphasis on their leadership, influencing skills and levels of self-awareness. We look for candidates to be able to articulate their vision but more importantly evidence how they have translated their vision into compelling change programmes that drove competitive advantage for their organisations. 

We don’t let them off that lightly though, they can’t just be a “gifted amateur”; successful CIOs need a solid understanding of the technology function that they own (strategy, process and governance) and its role in helping reduce business complexity through process simplification and systems standardisation.  And lastly, as the Managing Director of their business, we expect them to be fluent in managing their P&L and deliver IT at the lowest possible cost.

At Harvey Nash, we have been helping organisations on this journey for over 20 years, through the introduction of the talented IT leaders.  However, as the demand from our customers for this new breed of IT leaders grows – then the supply needs to align.

We work across all industry sectors as our speciality lies in the functional capability not the sector.  We work in partnership with our colleagues within our sector practices to ensure we understand both the cultural nuances and business challenges of our customers.