Match.com for Board Members? How Matching Algorithms Can Help Find Your Next Board Member

This is a guest post from ExecRank, the leading technology platform for board recruitment. Learn more about finding the right board candidates at ExecRank.com

How Matching Algorithms Can Help Find Your Next Board Member

There is no question that technological advancement and intelligent algorithms have increased corporate efficiency, innovation, and profits across nearly every industry worldwide. They have changed the way we work, play, and connect. Uber is now an option to the traditional taxicab, AirBnB is a unique and personalised alternative to the hotel stay, and Match.com has revolutionised dating by leveraging individual preferences to quickly find their perfect match. The examples are numerous and the number of industries that are being disrupted by similar technologies is growing every day. The latest instance is at the top of the corporate ladder, in board of director recruitment and executive search.

Quickly find candidates that match your requirements

In the same way that Match.com revolutionised personal dating by using the power of algorithms and the ubiquity of the internet, companies like ExecRank are offering similar tools to make it easier and cheaper for companies to find board members and advisor candidates that best suit their needs and governance requirements. This technology can quickly analyse the qualities of thousands of individual candidates and compare them with the requirements of a company. This includes evaluating and weighting candidate qualities including expertise, function, location, gender, seniority, industry, and other key areas to determine where matches exist and which candidates are most likely to fit a company’s candidate profile. Top matches are produced for the company to easily identify a shortlist of the best candidates from a pool of hundreds or thousands of executives. The benefits provided for cost, usability, accuracy, and independence will be sure to profoundly alter the way current and future CEOs approach board recruitment.

Add independence and reduce friction from the traditional recruiting process

Traditional recruitment firms utilise many of the same evaluation and search techniques of their predecessors. Board members are found via standard word-of-mouth referrals and are likely to have similar ideas and viewpoints as the company’s leadership, which can seriously hinder innovation, creativity, and independence. Additionally, without leveraging technology to improve efficiencies, the cost of a retained search remains prohibitively expensive for early-stage, micro cap, and small private companies that arguably have the most to gain from establishing or growing their board of directors.

Where at one time finding a great board member was a daunting, time-consuming, and expensive task; once again intelligent technologies are poised to change the landscape of yet another industry. Platforms like ExecRank that leverage algorithms for matching companies with board members and advisors offer a timely and valuable alternative for lead directors, chairpersons, and CEOs, whether companies are actively trying to fill a board seat or are anticipating future recruitment needs as their companies grow.