Board Recruitment: How to Recruit New Board Members

Board meetings are the place where the most important decisions for the future of the company are made. It is a space in which individuals voice their opinions and concerns about topics presented during the conference. Who are those individuals? and How does their input affect the company’s day-to-day operations?

They are people who were recruited and appointed to the board of directors. But what is board recruitment?

What is board recruitment?

The process of assigning people to the board is called board recruitment. It is based on the unique capabilities of the individuals and their ability to benefit the company.

The potential board members are leaders with the necessary real-world experience who are responsible for hiring company executives and representing the interests of shareholders. They are the type of people, who with their skillset, can set and meet company goals. 

The main stages of board recruitment

To recruit board members, you want to follow these steps:

• Defining the position that needs to be filled – You need to know exactly what kind of person you want to fill the position. The posting should include certain necessary criteria to help you navigate through the candidates. 
• Defining the skillset you are looking for – Are you looking for someone who has put a lot of work into their soft skills, or maybe someone more tech-savvy? Those are the questions you need to answer before you start the recruitment process. 
• Conducting interviews – To decide whether the job candidate is the person you are searching for, you must conduct an interview. You can get a sense of the person’s personality and, later on, decide if they would be the right fit for the board of directors. 
• Making final decisions – After shortlisting candidates, you’ll need to make a decision. Through consultation with other board members, you will choose someone that will best fill the position and satisfy the boards’ needs. 
• Conducting board assessment – When the other board members gather to vote, they will choose from the shortlisted candidates to find the best replacement—the final verdict is made. The board assesses the qualities of the soon-to-be board member and tries to put them into the company’s structures. They prepare the necessary documentation for the job and present it almost like a welcome gift.

There are some peculiarities in board recruitment for nonprofits, read to learn more about this topic.

Best practices for board recruitment

To show you how to recruit board members, we present you with our list of best practices for board recruitment:

• Know what kind of resources you currently have. What is your mission? What kind of abilities do the other board members have? Knowing the available resources will make it easier for you to decide what you lack from the board. 
• When you know what you need, define the process. Using the recruitment stages presented above will optimize your recruitment. Once you know what you are searching for, and putting your expectations into a plan will help you. 
• Make incorporation of the new board member effortless. If you pick your candidate, you need to make sure that you prepared structures for them in advance. Documents, tasks, and dedicated meetings need to be planned for them to have time to acclimate to the company. Relying on a board portal will be very helpful at this stage.
• Measure the progress. After some time on the board, you can see if the newest board member’s skills contribute to the overall functioning of the board. If something is going in the wrong direction, you can fix it if you detect a problem early on.

Board recruitment can be a difficult task to accomplish. Through our stages of board recruitment and best practices presented in the article, we hope to help you in your board recruitment process.