As Global Head of Research & Leadership Advisory at JRG Partners, I want to lay out what actually works here, because the gap between common practice and best practice on this topic is wide. When employers need a leader, they look for people who have already held that exact role, and in doing so they ignore a large, high-quality talent pool hiding in plain sight. Some of the best executive candidates come from adjacent functions, not the obvious feeder role, and employers who only look at the obvious pool systematically miss them.
Key Takeaways
- Employers over-focus on candidates who have held the exact target role.
- Adjacent functions contain strong, overlooked candidates for many executive roles.
- Cross-functional candidates bring fresh perspective and transferable capability.
- The key is identifying which capabilities transfer and assessing for them.
- Widening the pool beyond the obvious feeder role expands access to strong talent.
The Obvious-Pool Trap
The default in executive hiring is to seek candidates who have already done the exact job: a CFO search targets sitting CFOs, a CMO search targets CMOs. This is natural but limiting, it restricts the pool to a specific, often scarce and expensive group, and it ignores that many capable leaders in adjacent functions could excel in the role. The obvious-pool trap narrows the search to the most competed-for candidates while overlooking strong talent one function over.
Where Adjacent Talent Hides
Adjacent functions often contain excellent candidates for a role. A strong strategy or corporate-development leader may make an excellent COO; a commercial leader may make an excellent CEO; a business-unit head may make an excellent functional executive. These candidates bring much of the required capability plus fresh perspective, and because they are not in the obvious pool, they are less competed-for and sometimes more available and motivated. The adjacent pool is both high-quality and underexploited.
What Transfers and What Does Not
Recruiting from adjacent functions requires clarity about which capabilities transfer and which must be present or quickly built. A candidate from an adjacent function brings transferable leadership and often much domain-relevant capability, but may lack specific expertise the role requires. The key is identifying the role’s genuinely non-negotiable requirements versus what an adjacent candidate can bring or acquire, and assessing honestly whether this specific cross-functional candidate has or can build what the role truly needs.
Assessing Cross-Functional Candidates
Assessing an adjacent-function candidate means focusing on transferable capabilities, leadership, judgment, learning ability, and the specific competencies the role requires, rather than penalizing them for not having held the exact title. It also means honestly evaluating the gap between their experience and the role, and whether it is bridgeable. Done well, this assessment identifies adjacent candidates who will excel; done carelessly, it either wrongly excludes them for lacking the exact background or wrongly includes them despite an unbridgeable gap.
Widening the Pool Deliberately
The practical takeaway is to widen the search deliberately beyond the obvious feeder role, considering the adjacent functions that could produce strong candidates, and assessing them for transferable capability rather than exact-role experience. This expands access to talent, reduces competition and cost, and often surfaces candidates with valuable fresh perspective. Employers who confine themselves to the obvious pool compete hardest for the scarcest candidates while ignoring strong talent hiding one function away.
What This Looks Like in Practice
In practice, tapping the hidden pool means, when scoping a search, deliberately asking which adjacent functions could produce strong candidates for this role, then including them and assessing for transferable capability rather than exact-title experience. A COO search might consider strategy and corporate-development leaders; a CEO search might consider strong commercial or business-unit leaders. The candidates are assessed on the leadership and competencies the role genuinely requires, with honest attention to any bridgeable gap, expanding access to talent the obvious-pool search would have missed.
The Mistake Employers Keep Making
The mistake is confining the search to candidates who have held the exact target role, competing hardest for the scarcest, most expensive pool while ignoring strong adjacent-function talent that could excel. Employers who require exact-role experience miss capable cross-functional candidates and fresh perspective. The fix is to widen the pool deliberately, identify which capabilities transfer, and assess adjacent candidates for what the role genuinely requires rather than for the title they have held.
The Bottom Line
Some of the best executive candidates come from adjacent functions rather than the obvious feeder role, and employers who widen the pool deliberately, identifying which capabilities transfer and assessing for them, gain access to strong, less-competed-for talent that exact-role searches systematically miss. None of this is complicated, but it is uncommon, and that gap is precisely where the advantage lies for employers willing to do the work.
Related Reading
For employers going deeper, see The Athlete vs the Expert, Military Veterans in the C-Suite, The Consultant-to-Operator Transition.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Q: What is the hidden talent pool in executive hiring?
- A: Strong candidates in adjacent functions who could excel in a role but are overlooked because employers seek only those who held the exact title.
- Q: Why do employers miss adjacent-function candidates?
- A: Because they default to targeting sitting holders of the exact role, restricting the pool to the scarcest, most competed-for group.
- Q: What do cross-functional candidates bring?
- A: Much of the required capability plus fresh perspective, and, being less competed-for, sometimes more availability and motivation.
- Q: How do you assess adjacent-function candidates?
- A: By focusing on transferable capabilities and the role’s genuine requirements, honestly evaluating any gap and whether it is bridgeable, rather than penalizing lack of exact-title experience.
- Q: How do you tap the hidden pool?
- A: By deliberately widening the search to adjacent functions that could produce strong candidates and assessing them for transferable capability.
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Tanya Gallardo
Managing Director, Executive Search & AI Talent Strategy
Tanya Gallardo is the Managing Director of Executive Search & AI Talent Strategy at JRG Partners, leading C-suite and Board engagements across key growth sectors including Technology, Financial Services, and Manufacturing.
With over 18 years of experience specializing in disruptive technology leadership, Tanya is recognized as a leading authority on talent architecture for future-focused executive roles, such as the Chief AI Officer (CAIO) and Chief Digital Officer (CDO). Her expertise lies in accurately assessing the cultural fit and technical depth required to ensure a high return on investment (ROI) for critical leadership appointments.
Prior to her role at JRG Partners, Tanya held senior roles directing global talent acquisition strategies at a major publicly-traded technology firm, advising on organizational design and succession planning for emerging executive functions. She is a recognized speaker and contributor to industry events, sharing data-driven insights on executive compensation, leadership development, and the measurable business impact of C-suite talent.
