Are you preparing to hire for your leadership team? Are you already dreading the amount of time you’re going to spend on this and wondering if it’s really the best use of your time? We were curious about the number of hours a CEO would need to dedicate to a search, so we spoke with the CEO of a human services nonprofit. This organization has a budget of approximately $3 million, and the CEO took us through the process of hiring a chief financial officer.
Before the search launches (15 hours)
- Writing/revising the job description.
- Aligning with the board/leadership team on scope, salary, and budget.
- Setting up internal hiring process (who’s on the hiring committee, timeline, etc.). This CEO has procedures in place for those who serve on an interview committee, so she was able to save some time during this phase of the process.
Recruitment phase (40 hours)
- The CEO estimates that she spent half a day for about 10 days on this phase.
- Posting the position to multiple job boards and professional networks.
- Direct outreach to potential candidates and referrals.
- Sorting through all the applicant résumés.
- Conducting initial screening calls. The CEO interviewed 10 candidates for 30 minutes each.
Interview process (35 hours)
- First-round interviews: she whittled her initial 10 candidates down to five, who each came in for a 90-minute interview (30-minute discussion followed by a 30-minute tour), followed by 30 minutes with a leadership team member.
- Second-round interviews took about 20 hours of the CEO’s time, plus a few hours with members of her leadership team and one hour with two board members.
- This phase also includes time for:
- Coordinating and scheduling interviews (often a hidden but heavy time burden).
- Debriefing with staff and board members.
- Checking references.
Final decision and onboarding (20 hours)
- Negotiating salary, benefits, and a start date.
- Announcing the hire to staff, donors, and partners.
- CEO-led onboarding: orienting the new director to strategy, culture, and key relationships.
⏱️ Total Estimated CEO Time: 110 hours
That’s almost three weeks of the CEO’s time! That’s time the CEO isn’t raising money, deepening donor relationships, or advancing strategy — areas where the CEO’s impact is irreplaceable.
Without a search firm, the CEO is absorbing all the front-end candidate sourcing and screening time, which is where the biggest increase in hours happens. The CEO – or someone else at the organization – is also responsible for all of the logistics, without the help of a search firm.
Most nonprofit job postings only reach active job seekers. Spelman Johnson brings in high-quality leaders who aren’t scanning job boards but may be open to the right opportunity.
Every month without a strong staff person at a director level can cost far more in lost fundraising revenue, delayed programs, and staff turnover than a search fee. Framed this way, working with a search firm isn’t a cost — it’s risk management and an investment in stability.
Last, but certainly not least, there is no guarantee that the person hired will stay! Spelman Johnson provides a one-year guarantee – if the person leaves within a year, we will redo the search at no cost.
Does the thought of losing three weeks of your life to the search process make you want to run from your CEO chair? Let Spelman Johnson help you! We can work with you so that you stay focused on the big picture vision of your organization and we’ll do the heavy lifting. We’ll bring you the most qualified candidates, after careful vetting, and we’ll take care of the logistics, start to finish.
Contact us today for a consultation about your search.