A TOPHEADS executive assessment
A practical check: if you had to move tomorrow, could you? Twenty questions on four things that decide it — your materials, your network, your market awareness, and your financial runway. Most senior people assume they are ready. Most are not. Seven minutes, five honest results.
Most senior executives carry a quiet assumption: that if they ever needed to leave, they could land somewhere good, quickly. The reality is usually different. The CV is two years stale. The network is mostly people inside the current company. Nobody has checked the market in years. And a surprising number of well-paid leaders could not comfortably survive the length of a normal executive search without their salary.
This assessment looks at four practical areas. Materials: whether you could present yourself credibly today — a current CV, a clear way to describe your value, references ready to call. Network: whether you have real professional relationships beyond your current employer. Market awareness: whether you know what your role pays elsewhere, what roles exist, and what you actually want next. Runway: whether your finances let you choose the right move rather than grab the first one.
Senior roles take time to land — commonly five to eight months, often longer at the top. Much of that hiring happens through relationships and direct approaches, not public listings. And the last few years have made executive tenure far less certain than it once was. Staying ready is no longer paranoia; it is basic professional hygiene.
Industry data puts the average senior search at roughly five to eight months, with C-suite searches often running nine to twelve. Fewer openings and slower decisions are the norm at the top — which is exactly why financial runway matters.
A large share of senior roles are filled through referrals and direct approaches, not public postings. If your relationships live entirely inside your current company, that channel closes the day you leave.
That if the right opportunity appeared, or your role disappeared, you could act quickly and from strength. It comes down to four things: materials, network, market awareness, and runway.
No. It is a short, practical reflection built around what senior people tend to neglect until they need it. It draws loosely on employability research, but it is a prompt to think, not a clinical instrument.
Being ready is not the same as job hunting. The point is to keep your options open quietly, so that a surprise — good or bad — finds you prepared rather than scrambling.