A guide for HR and C-suite leaders in aviation and transportation on getting recruitment right.
For many airlines and aviation companies, executive search firms are a trusted resource when leadership gaps emerge. Yet despite their widespread use, organisations often misuse these partnerships, leading to weak hires, wasted time, and strategic misalignment. In this article, Arpad Szakal, Partner, Cormis Partners—the global talent advisory firm—draws on a decade of his global search experience in the aviation and transport sectors to offer CHROs and CEOs a practical, experience-based guide on how to get real value from their executive search engagements.
Mistaking Brand for Fit
A frequent error in executive hiring is defaulting to well-known search firms based on brand recognition rather than assessing their true fit for the assignment. While these firms may offer global infrastructure and a glossy pitch, the execution often falls to consultants without the sector depth required to deliver high-quality outcomes.
This is especially problematic in complex, tightly regulated industries such as aviation and transportation. Here, leadership roles demand not only general management skills, but a working knowledge of hub dynamics, alliance structures, regulatory frameworks and political sensitivities—particularly when working with state-owned or publicly accountable institutions. Without that context, shortlists can quickly become filled with adjacent or generic profiles that fail to meet the specific strategic and operational requirements of the role.
To avoid this, HR leaders must look beyond the sales pitch. Insist on meeting the full delivery team. Ask pointed questions about their experience in your sector and with comparable roles. Test their understanding of your business challenges, and do not settle for abstract answers. The most effective search partnerships are not built on logos—they are built on relevance, rigour and real alignment with your leadership agenda.
Illusion of Familiarity: Recycling Candidates Instead of Searching Globally
One of the most overlooked pitfalls—particularly prevalent in the airline sector—is the tendency for search firms to rely on familiar networks rather than conducting a truly global, first-principles search. Aviation is a tightly knit industry. Senior executives often know one another, and names circulate quickly in leadership circles. As a result, some firms shortcut the process by recycling candidates from previous shortlists or tapping into the same small pool of ‘usual suspects’, without pressure-testing their fit or exploring alternative profiles.
This may feel efficient, but it limits the diversity of thought, risks perpetuating past mistakes, and often overlooks emerging talent from adjacent or underrepresented markets. In one example, an airline group sought a Chief Commercial Officer with strong digital acumen. The search firm delivered a shortlist of familiar industry faces—none of whom had meaningful experience driving digital transformation at scale. It took a second firm, starting from a blank slate, to unearth a candidate from a fast-scaling, digitally native LCC in Asia—someone who ultimately transformed the airline’s commercial function.
True executive search requires going the extra mile. It means challenging assumptions, running proper due diligence and being willing to test HR’s comfort zone. Firms that rely too heavily on their ‘little black book’ of candidates may offer speed, but rarely provide the best answer.
Lack of Process Transparency
Another common frustration is the lack of visibility into what is really happening during a search. Many firms present a shortlist as if it is a foregone conclusion—without sharing insights about who declined to engage, who dropped out and why, or how the market is responding to the client brand. This black-box approach limits learning. It also creates a false sense of confidence. In contrast, the best partnerships are collaborative. Weekly updates, insight into candidate feedback, and honest conversations about challenges enable clients to adapt in real-time—whether that involves rethinking job specifications, refining messaging, or adjusting compensation benchmarks. This kind of transparency builds trust and helps clients understand not just who is available, but who is interested, and why.
Superficial Understanding of Cultural Fit
Cultural fit is frequently misunderstood. Too often, it is reduced to surface-level compatibility—does the candidate ‘feel right’ in the room? In aviation and transportation, however, where stakeholder environments are politically charged and risk tolerance varies widely, cultural alignment must be assessed much more deeply. Effective firms invest time up front to understand organisational culture: decision-making dynamics, accountability expectations, how conflict is handled and how change is driven. They then evaluate candidates against these factors, often using behavioural interviews, psychometric tools and in-depth referencing. Without this, companies risk hiring impressive résumés who ultimately do not thrive, or worse, cause attrition in the teams they lead.
Dropping the Ball After Appointment
Finally, many firms view the placement as the end of their responsibility. But the first 90 days are often where success or failure is determined. Misalignment of expectations, unspoken stakeholder politics or unclear priorities can easily derail a new executive.
The most effective firms continue to support the integration process. They check in with both client and candidate, offer onboarding advice, and serve as a neutral sounding board. When this is done well, it significantly increases the likelihood of long-term success.
Stop outsourcing. Start partnering. Executive hiring is not admin—it is strategy in motion.
Arpad Szakal, Partner, Cormis Partners
Rethink How You Search—Not Just Who You Hire
Leadership hiring is one of the most powerful levers a CEO or CHRO has to shape the future of their organisation. Yet too often, executive search is treated as a transactional race to fill a vacancy, rather than what it truly is: a strategic intervention with long-term consequences.
Choosing the right search partner is not about logo recognition or speed. It is about deep sector understanding, intellectual rigour, transparency and the willingness to challenge assumptions. It is also about going beyond the obvious candidates, past the recycled shortlists and into the harder, more meaningful work of uncovering the leaders who will actually move the needle.
Ask yourself, is your search partner helping you see the market as it really is, or just giving you what is easy to find? Are they pushing you to think differently about leadership, or reinforcing what is already comfortable? The most successful leadership appointments do not begin with a shortlist, but rather with a mindset. Stop outsourcing. Start partnering. Executive hiring is not admin—it is strategy in motion.
Szakal leads the global Aviation & Civil Aerospace practice at Cormis Partners, a London-based talent advisory firm and partners with clients worldwide, delivering top-tier executive search, talent mapping, leadership services and compensation consulting services at C-suite, SVP and Director levels. An active thought leader in the aviation arena, he regularly serves as a speaker and moderator at industry conferences. Szakal has also authored several industry studies on leadership and published numerous articles in aviation and aerospace industry trade media.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
