Executive search: how how to find a CTO for a blockchain project in one month?

Mary
Head of IT Recruitment in Lucky Hunter

What do employers in IT pay attention to when hiring a CTO, as well as what stages of selection take place for this position? Read our new case and find out how our lead IT recruiter Mary managed to find a CTO for an international blockchain project in just one month.

Executive search: the task and difficulties

Once, an international company that creates various products in the field of blockchain contacted us: they need to find a CTO for a new project. Since the project was just beginning its existence, the company was looking for an experienced top manager who would be responsible not only for all the technical solutions of the company but also be able to form a development team from scratch.

Probably, you have already understood — none of our cases is complete without a point about the main challenges :) This is true: firstly, each case is unique and, of course, has its specifics, and secondly, we love difficult tasks. Specifically, this position involves several points that somewhat narrowed the circle of potential candidates:

1

The professional needed was required to have impressive experience in managing new projects, mainly in the fintech industry: in addition, given that at that time companies with a bad reputation began to appear in the blockchain field, the customer very scrupulously studied all the projects listed in the candidates' resumes;
2

Given that the company was international, a high level of English proficiency was required — C1;
3

As a rule, the CTO is the connecting element between engineers and stakeholders: for this reason, the customer focused not only on the hard but also on the soft skills of candidates during the selection. In particular, the perfect candidate should have developed negotiation skills, as well as the ability to work in a team and manage it effectively;
4

The position involved a large number of selection stages, including a final personal meeting with the company's directors in Israel;
5

Even though it was possible to work remotely, the CTO should be prepared for business trips to countries where the company had offices: Israel, Switzerland, as well as the CIS region.

Nevertheless, the conditions indicated by the client were relevant to the market and attractive enough for candidates: a high salary fork in dollars, remote work from anywhere in the world, interesting and inspiring tasks. In addition, the customer did not focus on specific regions but was ready to consider candidates from various countries, which made it possible to significantly expand the funnel.

How we've filled the job opening

Taking into account the key requirements of the client, Mary made the following portrait of the talent needed: it had to be a candidate with experience in managing international fintech projects (from scratch) with a good reputation in the market, excellent English, readiness for foreign business trips, as well as with developed soft skills, according to which they would have a match with the company's stakeholders. Since the geography of the search was quite extensive, Mary used several channels and tools to search for potential candidates at once: LinkedIn, thematic chats and channels in messengers, specialized recruiting services like AmazingHiring, and also carefully worked with our database of candidates.

One of the finalists who received an offer from a client was found on LinkedIn: the candidate had ten years of experience as the head of the development department at a large fintech company, spoke excellent English, and, which was one of the key decisive factors for the client, immediately found a common language with all stakeholders of the project, being very close to them in spirit. In addition, by the time they took part in the selection for the position, the specialist had been living in two cities for several years, so the prospect of frequent business trips did not alienate him, but on the contrary, only increased interest in the vacancy. Even the need to fly to Israel for a full-time final interview did not reduce his determination :)

The candidate accepted the job offer: in general, a month has passed since the job opening was discussed before the specialist entered the project, which is an excellent result for filling a managerial position.

Success factors

The principle of partnership
Mary correctly made a portrait of the right candidate, which made the search more targeted and effective
A competent search strategy
The customer, for his part, actively participated in the process, listened to our recommendations, and was sincerely interested in finding the CTO with which all stakeholders will make a match. When a client loves their project, knows how to infect candidates with enthusiasm, gives feedback on time and promptly agrees on meeting dates, candidates do not lose motivation to participate in the selection even with a large number of stages
Lucky Hunter expertise
For many years we have been recruiting IT personnel and searching for developers not only for linear positions but also offer the Executive search service — the selection of top management in the IT industry. Our recruiters have a deep knowledge of filling top positions, know what it makes sense to focus on when building a search strategy and motivating candidates, and also understand the specifics of selecting top tech managers.