Five Things CFOs Look For in Job Candidates
JobsInTheMoney.com
By Emma Johnson
"What are they looking for?" Everyone who has responded to a job ad has asked themselves that question. To shed some light, we called several CFOs to find out what those elusive honchos seek in new hires.
Communication Skills
Patti McKee, chief financial officer of the soon-to-be IPO ViewPoint Bank in Plano, Texas, uses the interview process to vet the communication skills of candidates she interviews for controller, SOX compliance and marketing vice president. "I want to know how they will approach certain situations within a team environment, and how they work with people with different ideas than their own," McKee explains. She looks for concrete experience - such as presenting in front of a board of senior executives - as well as clues like eye contact, professional appearance and involvement in community activities.
Quantifiable Improvements
For Joan Brubacher, CFO of Mobility Electronics in Scottsdale, Ariz., it's important to hire senior directors, vice presidents and senior managers who can prove in hard numbers what they can do for her company. "I don't want to see experience with this or that, I want to see numbers," Brubacher says. "I want to see where that person has driven meaningful cost reductions or logistics costs. It doesn't have to be dollars-based, but it often is."
Business Instinct
When he's hiring controllers for overseas subsidiaries and product CFOs, Charles Trunz wants more than number crunchers. He wants to see evidence of a gut instinct combined with common business sense. Once CFO of JPMorgan Investment Bank and now chief operating officer of North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, Trunz says he assumes CFO candidates have accounting acumen. "I don't assume a level of confidence, knowledge of business or an ability to develop people," he says. "A CFO must understand the business and the strategy as much as he or she understands related financial and accounting measures."
Technological Savvy
Today more than ever, CFOs must surround themselves with people hip to the latest industry technology, Trunz believes. "They have to have a very strong knowledge of technology, how it enhances the processes and provides information, whether it's operating, business information or financial information," he says. "Technology is the means by which we gather, collect and analyze data, and that is the most critical thing for a CFO."
Integrity
Employers, or at least the ones most people want to work for, are honest people who want to hire the same. In today's age of compliance and regulation, this rings especially true for those working in the increasingly transparent financial department of a public company, Brubacher says. "The risks for my company - and my position directly - are very high with regard to day-to-day decisions made by the people hired by me," she says.
© Dice/Emma Johnson