You’ll hear a lot of confident answers to this question.
Some founders say they need to talk to 40+ people to land the right leader. It sounds thorough. It also tends to create drag: too many conversations, too many opinions, and a process that gets harder to manage every week it stays open.
In the video below, Chett Garcia, a partner in Riviera Partners’ venture practice, breaks down a common executive search myth: there’s a “right” number of candidates you should interview. His point is simple. Strong searches run on clarity and process, not volume.
Video: The candidate count myth in executive search
The real question: do you know what you’re hiring for?
Chett starts with a reframing that matters in executive hiring:
- Do you know who you actually need?
- What are the key requirements for this role?
- Does your team agree on them?
- Does your interview process test for them in a consistent way?
- Do the requirements align with your values as a leadership team?
When those answers are fuzzy, teams often respond by “meeting more people.” That usually adds noise instead of clarity.
A blanket target like “we’ll interview 40 candidates” can create burnout and confusion. It can also slow down decision-making long enough that the best candidates move on.
There’s no golden number of candidates
Nope. No golden number. No magic target.
The right number depends on role clarity, market realities, and how clean your process is from stage to stage. Teams get better outcomes when they spend time upfront aligning on what matters and building an interview flow that actually measures it.
A clean process looks like:
- Clear requirements that the full interview team understands
- Defined stages that each test something specific
- Consistent evaluation so candidates advance for the same reasons
- Tight feedback loops so the team stays aligned as they learn
When you build that foundation, your candidate count usually drops on its own.
What a “healthy” candidate slate can look like
Chett shares a benchmark from searches he’s led:
A healthy search often includes about 12–15 candidates introduced.
That number is less important than what it signals: the team has enough clarity to focus on quality, and enough structure to move candidates through the process without endless extra rounds.
The hidden problem behind “more candidates”
A high interview count often comes from fear of missing the perfect option.
Perfectionism and fear of missing out can keep good teams from hiring great talent.
Executive hiring rewards decisive teams with strong alignment. Clarity speeds up the search. Speed improves candidate experience. Candidate experience improves outcomes.
About Riviera Partners
Riviera Partners is a global driver of innovation for today’s most influential companies – expertly placing executive talent in the crucial areas of product management, software engineering, IT, AI/ML/Data, security and design.