02The Search, Live
Step 01 — Discovery & CalibrationThe Brief.
Step 02 — Market Mapping & ResearchThe Market.
Step 03 — Profile ScreeningThe Screen.
Step 04 — Targeted OutreachThe Outreach.
Step 05 — Calibrated Shortlist & InsightThe Shortlist.
Step 06 — Offer, Close & OnboardThe Close.
Step 07 — Post-Placement PartnershipDay One, Onward.
Before a single name is discussed, we sit with the people who will live with the hire. What the seat actually has to deliver in year one, what the last person got wrong, what the board will not compromise on. That becomes a written success profile, a target list and a search strategy — agreed with you before anything moves.
ST★R, our research practice, maps the market behind the mandate rather than the market that answers adverts. Who holds the role today at every comparable company, who has just been passed over, what the seat pays across the sector, and which of them would take a call. Most of the people who matter are not looking.
Every profile is then read against the brief by a researcher who knows the domain — sector depth, level, geography and compensation band, in that order. A keyword match is not a shortlist. What reaches you has been argued over internally first, and anyone we cannot defend does not travel.
Approaches are made by the consultant who will run the search to its end, never by a sourcer with a template. Every conversation is confidential, represents your business the way you would represent it yourself, and tests for genuine interest — a candidate who is flattered is not a candidate who moves.
You receive ten calibrated profiles, in an average of 68 hours. Each one carries our written assessment against the success profile: what they bring, what they do not, what it would take to move them, and what we would want you to probe. Not a stack of CVs — a considered recommendation you can act on.
Offer construction, negotiation, counter-offer and the notice period are managed hands-on. This is where searches are most often lost, so we stay close: the number, the title, the start date and the conversation the candidate has to have with their current employer. We do not hand you a name and step back.
We stay engaged through onboarding and the first ninety days, with both sides. If something is drifting, it is cheaper to hear it from us at week six than at month six. A placement is the beginning of the relationship, which is why 97% of our business is repeat or referral.
00:00hrs avg to shortlist
