Such intensity is not unusual at the CFO level. Aside from the fact that many have families and can't afford to take an indefinite leave, that search style reflects the difficulty of finding a top job in finance. It comes down to culture. "You can check boxes on what you want people to have done," says Lorraine Hack, a partner at Heidrick & Struggles, "but culture fit winds up becoming very, very important on both sides of the equation," since executive teams need to work in sync with each other.

Roadblocks
As hotly pursued as these finance professionals are, there are still some items on their wish lists that are tough to get.

For one, it's getting harder to make the switch from private companies to public, thanks to Sarbanes-Oxley. "If candidates stay too long on the private side, they may be shut out from public companies. Whether that's going to be at the divisional-CFO or divisional-controller level, or someplace else, I don't know, but at some point, we're going to see it," says Radford's Buyniski. Even though many private companies are moving to tighten internal controls and governance, "there's still a big difference between adopting Sarboxlike rules that are self-imposed and the discipline of a public company," he adds.

For people who have been division CFOs, the challenge is to land the corporate-CFO spot. "If you haven't been one before, you're technically unproven," says Whitehurst, who was turned down for the CFO position at Beckman Coulter because "they wanted someone with prior CFO experience," he says. But Whitehurst is undeterred. "If you don't have any rejections, you don't have a sense of whether you're aiming high enough," he says.

For former corporate finance chiefs, the big hurdle is breaking into operational roles. Dascoli says he would like to be considered for COO roles, which he feels he is qualified for given his past experience at Thomasville, but "the reality is people see me as a finance guy." In fact, part of the problem may be that finance skills are so sought-after, says Buyniski, that CEOs can't afford to let a good CFO go to waste. It's the old conundrum of "if you're irreplaceable, I can't move you," he says.

Then there's the issue of past associations. Given the number of firms that have gotten in some type of trouble with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice in recent years, it's not unusual for candidates to have to explain a difficult episode or two. For Whitehurst, a longtime Hewlett-Packard finance executive, it's explaining his role in helping board member Walter Hewlett build a case against the Compaq merger five years ago. With HP's unrelated board antics currently in the headlines, he says it's been hard to avoid, and he feels compelled to give full disclosure about his decision to provide data to Hewlett. However, it has cost him at least one job offer, and can be a litmus test for him as he assesses a company. "If they can't tell the good guys from the bad without a book, that's not a place I want to work," he says.

Getting to Yes
So, after a month, how are these candidates faring?

By September 1, Dascoli has an offer to be a divisional CFO for a local, publicly traded consumer-products company, and is setting up a second-round interview with a similar company in the Midwest. He is clearly excited by the offer, but even as it comes in, he is still networking. "I try never to let up, because until a deal is signed, it could fall through," says Dascoli. (Working multiple fronts is fine, says Hack, so long as "you're completely transparent to all parties.")

A week later, Dascoli has gone on the second-round interview, letting them know he was close to a deal with another company. Before he hears back, though, he opts for the local opportunity. Not only will he be the CFO and vice president for VF Corp.'s approximately $2 billion jeanswear unit, owner of the iconic Lee and Wrangler jeans brands, he will be staying in Greensboro, working for one of the few large companies in the area. "It's consumer products, with brands that are leaders in their categories, which fits with my experience," says the former PepsiCo and Revlon executive. While he admits that the jeans industry is a mature sector, Dascoli, who started October 2, believes he will find creative ways to help it grow.

Spencer, meanwhile, finds herself with two extremely attractive offers. One is a senior revenue accountant position with WebTrends, a small, private-equity-backed Web analytics company that recently hired a CFO with experience in initial public offerings. The other is an assistant accounting manager job at a big public semiconductor company that guarantees job rotation and is offering a 13 percent higher salary, plus a signing bonus.

Spencer prefers the culture of the smaller company — she immediately clicked with her potential boss and closest co-worker, and the office layout was much more cheerful. But how can she justify leaving nearly $10,000 on the table? A true accountant, Spencer calculates how much time and gas it will take to drive 25 minutes to the semiconductor company's campus and compares that with the 15-minute walk she would have to the smaller firm. Subtracting out the $900 and 240 hours annually helps take away some of the sting. Then she negotiates for a big signing bonus to help make up the difference. "Basically, what sold me on WebTrends is that it's a growing public company, and that creates a lot of opportunities," she says, adding that she also "can't imagine getting bored" there. (Spencer started on September 5.)

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