The Covid-19 pandemic has caused companies to shift focus to appointing CEOs with a proven track record and previous CEO experience, according to a new report from Heidrick & Struggles.

At the same time, the renewed focus on experience decreased the appointments of women CEOs who remain significantly underrepresented and make up only 5% of CEOs globally in this year's report, Heidrick & Struggles added.

The report, which analysed 20 different countries, found that of the 31 CEOs appointed from 11 March 2020, to 30 June 2020, 63% had held the CEO role previously, compared to 44% in the group appointed from October 2019 to 10 March 2020.

In addition, more companies looked outside their organizations for their next CEO, with external appointments jumping to 57% from 35%, as they may not have had an experienced internal candidate to take over amid the pandemic.

With companies more focused on past CEO experience, diversity in terms of gender, cross-border experience and cross-industry experience decreased significantly.

Women CEO appointments decreased from 12% in the group appointed after October 2019 to 6% after the pandemic announcement.

At the same time, cross-industry experience decreased from 18% to 13%, while cross-border experience decreased from 39% to 30%.

"There has been a shift in CEO selection during the pandemic as companies seek executives who can help their organizations seamlessly navigate through these unprecedented times," Jeff Sanders, vice chairman and co-managing partner of the global CEO & Board of Directors Practice, Heidrick & Struggles, said. "Companies undertaking such an important appointment over the past year have been putting more importance on previous CEO experience, and also looking externally for their next CEO.”

“While a proven track record is extremely important during periods of uncertainty, we know that broader diversity of experience, sustainability and purpose will be viewed as critical to long-term survival and growth when the global business environment returns to some semblance of normal,” Sanders said.

When looking at the year to June 2020, 45% of CEOs have previous CEO experience, 18% have COO experience, and 17% have CFO experience. Of the markets analysed, Singapore has the highest preference for previous CEO experience (97%), and China has the lowest (22%).

During the same period, women made up 5% of CEOs globally in this year's report; Ireland has the highest percentage of female CEOs (15%), and Brazil has the lowest (0%). While 36% of CEOs have cross-border experience, and 17% have cross-industry experience.

Meanwhile, the average age at appointment to CEO is 50, and the average tenure of CEOs globally is 6.2 years.