At GatedTalent, we work with a lot of Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs). Marketing is a personal interest of mine but there is no doubt that the role is very different today to how it was when I started my career.  As a result, the CMO executive search process is changing too. What is the career landscape for senior marketing executives, and what are marketing headhunters looking for when recruiting for senior marketing roles?

Fewer firms employ Chief Marketing Officers

Today, several global brands do without CMOs entirely. Uber, Johnson & Johnson and Hyatt Hotels are all examples of this, and they are not alone – according to executive search firm Spencer Stuart, only 70% of Fortune 500 firms have such a leadership role, down from 74% a decade ago.

The good news is that, of course, while the specific requirements of the position may change, the broad need for a leadership role responsible for marketing the organization and positioning its products in front of potential buyers does not.

The rise of positions such as “Chief Growth Officer,” “Chief Experience Officer” and similar all contain aspects of the traditional Chief Marketing Office job.  CMO executive search firms will not be going out of business for a while yet!

Key skills for the modern CMO

The role today involves a broad range of skills and responsibilities.

Whatever the pros and cons, as markets change, executive recruiters search for different things. A CMO wishing to be “on the radar” for a “Chief Growth Officer” role, will need to understand how to position herself to be found on a search where a matching job title is not enough.  It comes down to highlighting transferrable skills to ensure that CMO executive search firms – or, should I say, CGO executive search firms (I’m not sure what the abbreviation for Chief Experience Officer is?  CEO is already taken… as is CXO!) – find her.

Do headhunters believe CMOs make good CEOs?

What about the executive who is currently in a chief marketing officer role but wishes to take the corner office?   Well, historically, it’s not been a path well followed (our CEO got lucky!).  However, research from search firm Egon Zehnder suggests that on several criteria, the skills of a good CMO are a better match for the CEO role than the skills typically possessed by comparable positions such as COO or CFO.  The research highlights the correlation in terms of soft skills such as team leadership, collaboration and influencing, change leadership, customer impact, and market knowledge.

Executives looking to highlight these “softer skills” to CMO executive search firms might wish to have a read of our blog on how search firms find candidates. Fundamentally, it’s all about branding and marketing… and of all of the leadership roles, CMOs should be good at that!