Finding new executives who can lead your company to its next stage is a crucial part of successful strategy and planning. These efforts tend to be female-focused and aimed at promoting more women into leadership positions. It takes time to find and attract the right candidates, because they must fit the culture of the organization and have the necessary skills. What should the recruitment strategy for female executives be based on?
Recognizing female leaders in the business strategy and planning activities
Executive recruiting efforts could and should begin to change this. Women are still a minority in C-suite positions, but they can and must start changing it. The first step in progress is to identify the barriers that make women less likely than men to accept leadership roles or even become candidates. To determine if things are moving in the right directions, it is important to monitor larger social trends.
The study, which was conducted in 2024, shows that women’s leadership positions have not increased by more than 0.5% in the last year. In addition, only 11.8% percent of the C-suite positions at approximately 15,000 publicly listed brands were held by women. Other areas are also underrepresented – women make up only 10.9% in the construction industry.
In some industries, women are now a more important part of executive recruitment strategies. In 2023, a study of supply chain executives revealed that women now occupy 26% leadership positions – a record high. This is an increase over 2022 when only 19% were female. The study revealed that more women in leadership positions means more women within an organization.
Involving female leaders in business planning and strategy is a great way to establish a company as progressive and inclusive. Moreover, companies should regularly review their DEI strategies and make a commitment to pay equity to lower the wage. This is just one way to make a positive impression on current and future employees. Women will want to be leaders in organizations that reflect their ideals, and they’ll notice other women exhibiting those qualities.
When to Use a Search Company in Executive Recruitment Strategy
The expertise of professionals from executive search firms will help you to find women who are capable for leadership positions within your organization. They can save you time by utilizing their skills and networks.
It is important to thoroughly vet these brands before using their services. Find out about the reputation of the company and how long they take to find candidates. You will find it easier to evaluate the value of the capabilities if you have more information. Maybe a company has a high rate of filling a particular service. Compare this to other recruitment packages offered by the service provider, or from elsewhere.
The timeframe for executive recruitment depends on several factors, including the size of the pool and the complexity of the job. Using an external service provider to streamline leadership recruitment can be a good idea due to their experience and insight.
Prioritizing women’s leadership development
In order to be successful in your efforts to improve the pipeline of women leaders, you may need goals that focus on improving it. This is particularly true, since statistics show that not enough companies have adopted this approach.
A 2023 study of 2,560 enterprises from 12 countries in 10 industries found that only 45% had set formal priorities for the advancement of women leaders, despite modest gains. The research showed that compared to the 2021 figures, there was a 12% increase in women filling board and C-suite roles.
A more alarming finding is that the number of women in senior and vice-president roles has remained lower in 2019 than it was in 2018. The COVID-19 pandemic was also named by those polled as the biggest disruption for women in the research of 2023. It caused them to have a lot of problems.
Unconscious biases continue to exist, for example, despite the fact that women’s career initiatives post-COVID have included diversity training and networking groups. In the study of 2023, for example, a question asked if women with children at home were just as committed to their job as those who did not have them. Only 40% of male managers agreed with the majority. These perceptions can limit women’s advancement in leadership, but prioritizing progress may make people aware of these issues and encourage them to change their minds.
Flexible Work Arrangements
Women’s leadership can be taken more seriously in organizations that have agreements allowing people to split their time between the workplace and their home office. Reports from 2023 on international companies showed that, although the number of women holding leadership positions had increased, this improvement was too slow. Researchers believed that hybrid working, if it was more widely accepted, could help to increase momentum.
Researchers studied female leadership in mid-market companies and found that 29% of the senior leadership roles were held by women. These organizations had a predominantly office-based work environment. Females held 36% of these roles at companies that offered fully flexible work arrangements. Women held 34% of the leadership roles in companies that offered hybrid options rather than full flexibility.
Researchers clarified that employers who do not offer flexible work options forced women to seek out part-time jobs, which could stifle their career advancement. Those in senior leadership positions tend to prefer companies that offer flexible working arrangements. Addition of these benefits to existing programs or enhancing current ones could help women develop their leadership.
Find female executives more effectively
A strategy for executive recruitment to find more women leaders should take into account the enterprise’s overall goals, current situation and growth plans. The above tips will help you attract leaders with the qualifications to move your organization forward. Include them in your recruitment plans to produce better results.
