Why We Have A Chief Of Staff And Why We Think You Should Too

Posted on behalf of Vicki Sack, Co-Founder @ Juno Search Partners & Juno Capital.

As Co-Founders of a growing company, one thing we’re always in need of is more time. For context, over the last decade, we’ve grown from two to twenty-seven, moved offices several times, expanded our service offerings, grown our geographical footprint, launched a sister company, and somehow it feels like we’re just getting started.

We often think of Juno as a living organism as we are constantly in a state of change and growth — something that can often create gaps in our business and its operations. Many organizations face this, no matter what stage they are in. That is why a Chief of Staff can be a crucial role within a company.

While the Chief of Staff role is a somewhat newer role on the corporate ladder, we have found the role itself can be drastically different across every organization. The responsibilities of this role are typically a byproduct of the company’s ever-changing needs. One common theme is the Chief of Staff typically has wide access to sensitive data and key decision-makers across the organization. As an example, here are some things Juno’s Chief of Staff handles:

• Helped us launch our newest venture, Juno Capital, by drafting the business plan, working with our legal partners, built the website, conducted due diligence on our portfolio companies, and got the word out through interviews with local media companies.
• Streamlined many of our operating procedures and then hired Operations Associate to keep the day to day tactical task moving. (We are looking to add a new Operations Associate to the team — click here to apply!)
• Created our marketing strategy and then brought on a Marketing Associate to handle social media, ad creation, digital content, marketing campaigns, etc. (We are looking to grow our Marketing team by adding a Growth Marketing Associate — click here to apply!)
• Facilitates and tracks our weekly leadership meetings, monthly town hall, and quarterly strategy meetings.
• This role also handles strategic projects, internal communication, keeps our daily financials in check, reviews and drafts all contracts/MSA’s, business development support, vendor management, and acts as an accessible sounding board to our team + too many other things to mention.

If like us, you’re a smaller company with plans to scale at pace, we recommend that a Chief of Staff is one of your early hires — having someone who can act as an extra set of hands to pick up the slack where no other full-time hire is focused is incredibly valuable and will help keep your time well managed and focused on growth.

On the other hand, if you’re an exec at a much larger organization with a notebook full of creative ideas but never enough time to get it all done — hire a Chief of Staff! Your Chief of Staff can provide coverage to run and explore new areas of opportunity without distracting or diverting resources from the rest of the company. In these larger organizations the Chief of Staff often works closely with the Board of Directors, Investors, and often serves as a gatekeeper to C-level staff.

Aside from having our own Chief of Staff (& being an advocate of the role), we also recruit for them — if you would like to discuss how a Chief of Staff could benefit your organization, reach out to the Director of our Administrative & Legal Division, Jesse Headman.

Juno Search Partners is a women-owned, talent solutions firm that specializes in the placement of Human Resources, Administrative, Legal, Accounting, Finance, Operational, Information Technology, and Marketing candidates nationwide.

Known as “The Ultimate Connectors”, their collaborative team of experienced sourcers and recruiters specialize in assisting growing companies to build out their workforce through custom-built recruitment solutions.