What Legitimate Board Recruitment Actually Looks Like

Last week, I received an intriguing LinkedIn message from a board placement company. My background, they claimed, matched "paid board and advisory positions" they'd been retained to fill. They wanted to schedule a call at my earliest convenience.

There was just one problem: while I help nearly half of my clients prepare for board director positions, I'm obviously not a candidate for corporate board roles.

Why This Should Have Been Obvious

Let me be clear about my qualifications—or rather, lack thereof—for private or public company board service. Corporate boards typically seek executives with significant C-suite experience at comparable companies, often including roles managing public company responsibilities and regulatory compliance. Public company boards expect directors who've operated at scale and understand SEC reporting requirements.

My expertise lies in career positioning and professional services development—specifically, helping executives who do have the right credentials position themselves effectively for board opportunities. I began my professional career in retained executive search, and while I know what boards are looking for, understanding how to position C-suite executives for board service isn't the same as being one myself.

While I could certainly serve on a nonprofit board (and that would align with my background), that's not what these paid board placement services are trafficking in. They position themselves as placing executives on paid corporate boards and advisory roles.

The Red Flags

Real search firms are retained and paid by the hiring company, not by candidates. The process typically involves a board search committee working with a firm like Russell Reynolds or Spencer Stuart to develop a specific skill matrix, then identify and approach a prioritized shortlist of two to fifteen candidates for each open seat.

What I received was clearly mass outreach with templated language—the kind sent to thousands of LinkedIn users with executive-sounding profiles. The claim that they'd been "retained" and that my background "matches" specific positions contradicts everything about how actual retained search operates.

The Pay-to-Play Problem

Here's what makes these pay-to-play board placement services problematic: they charge executives membership fees to access their database, rather than being paid by companies to find specific candidates. This fundamentally misaligns incentives. Legitimate firms earn 20-35% of first-year compensation from the hiring company and succeed only when they make successful placements. Membership-based services profit from keeping members subscribed, regardless of whether anyone actually gets placed.

This isn't board recruitment—it's selling access to a job board while using the language of executive search to obscure what's really being offered.

What My Clients Are Telling Me

The frustrating part? Multiple clients have mentioned receiving similar outreach from various board placement companies that operate on this model. When executives I'm coaching receive these messages, it creates confusion about what legitimate board opportunities look like. I end up spending time educating them on the difference between authentic retained search and pay-to-play membership schemes.

This erodes trust in what should be a relationship-driven, highly vetted process. It forces professionals to question legitimate opportunities because these operations have muddied the waters.

How to Recognize Legitimate Board Opportunities

If you're interested in board service, here's what real opportunities look like:

You're approached about a specific company and role, not vague "positions we've been retained to fill"
The search firm is paid by the company, never by candidates seeking board seats
Your qualifications genuinely match the opportunity—you have relevant C-suite experience, industry expertise, or specialized credentials the board actually needs
The process involves multiple conversations with the nominating committee and extensive vetting, not a quick Calendly link
You're not asked to pay anything—not for membership, database access, or "premium" services

Building Real Board Opportunities

Authentic paths to board service involve strategic relationship-building, demonstrated expertise in your domain, and clear articulation of the specific value you bring to governance. This means:

Cultivating relationships with current board members and search professionals over time
Building a history of leadership and measurable business impact at the executive level
Developing expertise in areas boards actually need—risk oversight, digital transformation, financial acumen, industry-specific knowledge
Articulating your board readiness through your professional positioning and network presence

These efforts take time and intentionality. There are no shortcuts, and legitimate opportunities don't arrive through mass LinkedIn messages with generic language.

The Bottom Line

When something seems too good to be true—like being "matched" to paid board positions when you lack the obvious qualifications—trust your instincts. If someone who helps executives prepare for board director positions immediately recognizes an outreach as dubious, chances are it is.

Real board opportunities come through relationships, demonstrated expertise, and targeted recruitment by firms working on behalf of specific companies. They don't come through mass LinkedIn messages promising access to "paid positions" for a membership fee.

When Board Recruiters Come Calling: A Reality Check from Someone Who Knows Better