We all know January is the time when people start to take action over their careers, perhaps finally making a change they’ve been thinking about for a while.
We’ve all benefited from that “New Year” bounce when it comes to recruiting franchisees, but the same thinking that brings a rise in franchise enquiries can also mean a senior member of your head office team decides it’s time to move on.
Most of the time, it isn’t because anything has gone wrong. They may simply have reached the point where they’re ready for something different. The problem is that it can leave a gap just when you’re relying on your leadership team to deliver your plans for 2027.
January is also when new budgets are agreed, and your growth plans may depend on a role you haven’t created yet.
Filling a senior role properly takes around 60 days on average. Counting back from the end of January takes you to the beginning of December. The Christmas period, when interviews are harder to arrange and decisions slower to come, pushes that starting point earlier still. Having the right person in place for Q1 2027 means starting the process in the next few weeks rather than waiting for a vacancy to appear in January.
Starting now doesn’t mean committing to a hire, and the most useful work at this stage is usually preparation.
What does the role need to achieve in its first year? What budget will you have available? Who needs to be involved in the final decision? Having those answers ready before a vacancy appears means you won’t lose several weeks working out what you’re looking for once the seat is already empty – even if this is a new role you are still considering creating.
Who you’ll be working with
Some of you will have made a senior appointment with the help of Shirley Hughes, who led our Executive Recruitment service. Shirley has now retired, and we’ve chosen to partner with a specialist firm rather than appoint a single replacement.
Careertopia is an executive search firm that works solely on senior roles within franchise businesses. It follows the same approach Shirley did: understanding your business and the role before approaching any candidates, and drawing on established contacts across the franchise sector rather than relying on job boards.
Careertopia is led by Sean Falk, whose career has taken him from engineering sales to leading franchise operations. He has led franchise expansions across several organisations and recruited, trained and mentored the teams behind them. He therefore understands what a senior franchise role demands from the operator’s side as well as the recruiter’s.
The service covers high level executive roles for key positions in your franchise, across Franchise Development, Operations, Marketing, Finance and other functions, and every search is handled confidentially.
You’ll receive a shortlist of candidates who have already been approached and qualified, rather than a pile of CVs to work through yourself. You can use the service for a single appointment, or as an ongoing resource as your team develops.
So, if you’re thinking about adding a new role in 2027, or simply want to understand how the process works click here, and we’ll arrange an introduction to Sean. There’s no obligation to use the service or move forward, but it will give you a realistic timeline, a clear idea of what you need to prepare, and someone to call if January brings the gap we’ve described.
