Recruitment Isn’t Broken. Transactional Recruitment Is.
At senior levels, recruitment is one of the highest-risk decisions an organisation makes.
Yet many CIO, CTO and CISO appointments are still driven by a transactional model designed for volume hiring — not enterprise-critical leadership roles.
The result:
Questionable decisions
Frustrated candidates
Damaged employer brands
Leaders who look strong on paper but struggle to deliver the expected impact
In 2026, this approach is no longer just outdated — it’s actively risky.
The hidden problems with transactional recruitment at senior levels
Volume hiring logic applied to strategic roles
Senior technology roles posted on LinkedIn often attract 100+ applicants
Signal-to-noise is low, making meaningful evaluation difficult
Speed and volume are prioritised over judgement and insight
2. Brand damage through a lack of expectation management and poor communication
Automated rejection emails with no feedback are common
Senior candidates feel undervalued and disengaged
Poor experiences travel quickly through peer and board networks
Your hiring process is part of your employer brand — whether you intend it or not.
3. Only accessing active job seekers
Inbound recruitment mainly reaches candidates already actively looking
High-performing CIOs and transformation leaders are often not
The talent pool becomes narrower at exactly the wrong moment
4. Over-reliance on inexperienced collegues to conduct candidatescreening
Early filtering is frequently handled by junior staff or algorithms
Nuance, judgement and leadership context are lost
CVs are assessed mechanically rather than holistically
Senior leadership decisions deserve senior-level evaluation.
5. Poor assessment of real leadership risk
Transactional processes optimise for speed, not outcome quality
Cultural, motivational and contextual fit are under-explored
Organisations confuse experience with impact
This is how costly mis-hires occur — often slowly, and expensively.
It’s why Talent Advisory is replacing traditional recruitment
The most progressive organisations are shifting from transactional hiring to talent advisory, particularly for senior technology roles.
From roles to outcomes…
Focus on what must change under the leader’s watch
Clarity on risk reduction, value creation and pace
Alignment between leadership capability and business ambition
Context-led assessment, not CV matching…..
Leadership effectiveness is situational
Success depends on organisational maturity, culture and stakeholder dynamics
Candidates are evaluated against your reality, not generic benchmarks
Accessing the full leadership market….
Proactive, discreet engagement with passive candidates
Exploratory conversations focused on challenge and purpose
Long-term relationships, not transactional outreach
Experienced judgement at every stage…
Senior practitioners lead search and assessment
Trade-offs are surfaced and discussed openly
Decision quality improves through informed challenge
A better experience for candidates and clients…
Candidates feel respected, informed and engaged
Clients receive insight, not just options
Decisions are made with confidence, not hope
What this means for Hiring Managers:
If you’re hiring senior technology leaders in 2026, the recruitment model you choose materially affects your risk, your brand and your outcomes.
For CIOs, this shift means:
Moving away from volume-driven, inbound hiring for strategic roles
Prioritising leadership impact, judgement and learning agility over linear CVs
Protecting your employer brand through respectful, high-quality candidate experiences
Accessing the full leadership market — not just active job seekers
Partnering with advisors who understand context, culture and transformation risk, not just roles
Hiring well is no longer about filling a vacancy.
It’s about securing leadership that can deliver change.
