The leadership headlines this year read like a clear-out. Adobe lined up a succession after eighteen years under the same chief executive. HP’s boss left to go and run PayPal. The Global CEO Turnover Index has the first quarter of 2026 running hot, and the opening weeks of the year saw chief executive changes jump by around 40 per cent in a single month. Boards are, in the polite phrase they prefer, clearing the runway.
If you sit at or near the top, the lesson is uncomfortable and simple. A growing number of capable executives are out in the market this year through no fault of their own. The board decided the runway needed clearing, and you happened to be standing on it. So here is a question worth answering well before the day arrives: if your exit comes, do you actually know how to run the search that follows?
The market has moved beneath your feet
The first thing to absorb is that the senior market you remember from your last move has changed. Hiring at the top is selective and slow. A vice-president search might run four to six months, a senior vice-president role six to nine, and a full C-suite appointment nine to twelve. Boards are also reaching for proven hands: in the first quarter of 2026, around a quarter of incoming chief executives had already run a listed company, well up on a year before. The bar for a clean external move is higher than it was, and the queue is longer.
That has consequences for how you behave on day one. If you treat a nine-month reality as a six-week sprint, you will burn your network, your savings, and your confidence in the wrong order. The same caution that pushed your old employer towards interim and project hires this year is the caution you are now negotiating with from the other side of the table.
Run it as a disciplined campaign
You ran businesses with a plan, a budget, and a set of metrics. Run your search the same way. Before you call a single contact, get your positioning right. What is the problem you solve, for which kind of organisation, at which moment in its life? A turnaround chief and a scale-up operator are not interchangeable, and the market will not work it out on your behalf.
Only once that is clear should you touch the documents. A C-suite CV that reads like a job description is worse than no CV at all, because it tells a board you cannot distinguish activity from impact. The same discipline applies online. Your LinkedIn profile is now read by search software and by curious chairs long before any human picks up the phone, so it needs to say plainly what you are for. Treat the whole exercise as a structured executive career transition, with stages and checkpoints, and you will move faster than the person who simply blasts a CV at every recruiter in their inbox.
The headhunters will not save you on their own
Register with the search firms, of course. Make sure the handful that genuinely place people at your level know you are available and know exactly what for. But understand the maths. A search consultant works for the client and is paid by the client, so your interests come second. Most senior moves still happen through warm introductions, ahead of open advertisements. Your network is the asset that compounds, so spend on it accordingly. Reconnect before you need the favour, ask for counsel and introductions, and keep a running list of who has actually replied.
Widen the frame, too. A single permanent seat is not the only destination. Interim mandates, advisory work, and non-executive director roles can keep you visible, paid, and credible while the right permanent role takes its time. Several plural careers began as a stopgap and turned into something the executive preferred. Build the materials for that route in parallel and you give yourself two ways to win.
Protect the asset that is you
Here is the part nobody briefs you on. For a senior leader, the job is often wrapped tightly around the sense of self, and losing it can feel like losing a limb. Surveys of departed executives report widespread loss of identity and purpose in the months after an exit, and that fog makes for poor decisions and worse interviews. The board that moved you on has already moved on itself, which is one of the quieter cruelties of corporate life. You will need to do the same, on your own timetable.
So build a routine, protect your health, and get a sounding board who is not also worried about the mortgage. This is precisely where executive coaching earns its keep, and where a structured outplacement and redundancy support programme can shorten a search that would otherwise drift. The goal is to arrive at every interview as the confident operator a board wants to hire. Leave the bruised version that was just let go at the door.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a senior job search take in 2026?
Plan for the long end. Vice-president roles tend to run four to six months, senior vice-president roles six to nine, and C-suite appointments nine to twelve, before you add notice periods and counter-offers. Budget for that timeline from the start and the wait will feel like strategy, the mark of a campaign under control.
Should I register with executive search firms?
Yes, with the small number who genuinely operate at your level and in your sector. Make their job easy by being clear about what you do and where you add value. Just remember they answer to the hiring client, so your own network and direct approaches still need to do most of the heavy lifting.
Is a portfolio or interim route worth considering?
For many senior leaders it is, especially in a cautious market that favours flexible, time-boxed expertise. Interim mandates and non-executive seats keep your profile current and your income flowing, and they often open doors to the permanent role you were chasing in the first place.
What is the first thing to fix after an exit?
Your positioning, before any document or any phone call. Decide what problem you solve and for whom, then let your CV, your profile, and your conversations all tell that single story. Everything else in the search gets easier once that is settled.
Record turnover at the top is now a fixed feature of corporate life, and boards have grown comfortable making changes at a pace that would once have raised eyebrows. You cannot control that. You can control how ready you are for the day the runway needs clearing. Treat your search as the most important campaign you will run, give it the planning and the discipline you gave the businesses you led, and you will be back in the right seat sooner than the timeline suggests. For a wider view of where senior demand is going this year, see our note on the shift into the interim market. The full data behind the turnover trend is set out in the Global CEO Turnover Index.
