Brief to start, week by week
A typical senior appointment. Board and C-suite roles run two to four weeks longer at the assessment and approval stages.
| Week | Stage | What you get | What we need from you |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Scoping call | A 30-minute conversation with the consultant who will run the search | Thirty minutes, and honesty about why the role is open |
| 0–1 | Written scope and fixed fee | Success profile, market definition, comparator set, off-limits list, timeline and fee | Sign-off, and the interview window booked in diaries now rather than later |
| 1–3 | Market mapping | The complete verified qualified population, presented before any approach | A reaction to the map — this is where briefs usefully change |
| 3–5 | Confidential approach | Weekly written updates naming who was approached, who engaged and who declined, with reasons | Fast answers to questions candidates raise |
| 5–7 | Longlist to shortlist | Written assessments against the success profile and a documented reason for every exclusion | Nothing — this stage is ours |
| 7–10 | Client interviews | A managed process, with feedback handled in both directions | Interviews held inside the agreed window; delays here cost candidates |
| 10–12 | Referencing and offer | Structured and regulatory referencing, an offer built on compensation evidence, negotiation | A decision, and an offer you are prepared to defend |
| 12+ | Notice, approval, onboarding | Continued engagement through notice, counter-offer risk, regulatory approval and the first weeks in post | Visible engagement from the hiring leader during notice |
The single most reliable predictor of a late search is an interview window that was not booked at scoping. Senior candidates withdraw from slow processes, and the strongest ones withdraw first, because they have alternatives.
The seven stages in detail
Brief and success profile
- What happens
- The role is defined by what the appointee has to achieve in the first twelve to twenty-four months, not by a list of duties. Capabilities that predict success are agreed, with how each will be assessed. Market definition, comparator set and off-limits list are written down.
- Why it matters
- Every later assessment and every exclusion is written against this document. Without it, a shortlist is judged on impression, which is defensible to nobody.
- Duration
- One week, including the scoping call.
Market mapping
- What happens
- The complete qualified population is identified and verified. Employers, structures, levels, tenure and realistic availability. You see the map before anybody is contacted.
- Why it matters
- This is what distinguishes search from recruitment. It also lets you challenge the brief while changing it is still cheap.
- Duration
- Two weeks.
Confidential approach
- What happens
- Named, discreet approaches describing the opportunity without naming the client until genuine interest exists. Notice, restrictive covenants and real motivation established.
- Why it matters
- How the market responds is evidence. Who declines, and why, tells you more about your proposition than any survey.
- Duration
- Two weeks, overlapping with mapping.
Longlist to shortlist
- What happens
- Structured interviews against the success profile, written assessments, and a documented reason for every exclusion.
- Why it matters
- A shortlist without the reasoning is an opinion. With it, the decision is defensible internally and externally.
- Duration
- Two weeks.
Client interviews
- What happens
- The process is managed end to end: scheduling, briefing both sides, feedback in both directions, and board or committee stages where applicable.
- Why it matters
- More senior appointments are lost to a disorganised interview process than to a weak shortlist.
- Duration
- Two to three weeks, entirely dependent on diaries.
Referencing and offer
- What happens
- Structured referencing, regulatory references where the market requires them, an offer constructed against compensation evidence, negotiation and counter-offer preparation.
- Why it matters
- An offer built on what the candidate asked for rather than on market evidence either overpays or fails.
- Duration
- Two weeks.
Notice, approval and onboarding
- What happens
- Notice and garden leave, regulatory approval, director registration where required, relocation, and contact through the first weeks in post.
- Why it matters
- This is where appointments are most often lost. A firm paid on placement has no commercial reason to still be here.
- Duration
- Four weeks to twelve months, by market.
What happens after acceptance
The part most search timelines leave out.
- Notice and garden leave. Three to six months is normal at UK executive level; German and Austrian notice frequently terminates at quarter-end; Belgian notice is seniority-based and can be long. US notice is typically two to four weeks.
- Counter-offer. At executive level in a healthy market a counter-offer is close to certain. It is handled before it arrives, not after.
- Regulatory approval. UK Senior Management Functions need FCA or PRA approval before starting; DNB and the AFM test Dutch policymakers; BaFin assesses German appointments; APRA fit-and-proper applies in Australia; DFSA and FSRA approve in DIFC and ADGM.
- Registration. Australian directors need a director identification number, which takes time for an overseas applicant. UK director identity verification is being phased in.
- Equity forfeiture. In the US the practical start date is frequently set by a vesting cliff or a bonus payment date rather than by notice.
- Relocation. Housing, schooling and a partner’s career are real constraints at this level, and intercity relocation in Australia or cross-border relocation into the Gulf adds months.
- Onboarding. We stay in contact with the appointee through notice and into the first weeks. A long notice period is the window in which second thoughts happen.
How long it takes, market by market
Time to offer is broadly consistent. Time to start is not.
| Market | Brief to offer | Typical notice | Extra before start |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 10–14 weeks | 3–6 months | SM&CR approval and regulatory references in financial services |
| United States | 10–14 weeks | 2–4 weeks | Vesting cliffs and bonus dates usually matter more than notice |
| United Arab Emirates | 10–14 weeks | 30–90 days | Visa cancellation and reissue, relocation, DFSA or FSRA approval |
| Germany | 10–15 weeks | 6–12 months to quarter-end | Supervisory board meeting calendar; BaFin assessment if regulated |
| Netherlands | 10–14 weeks | 1–6 months | Works council advice procedure; DNB or AFM suitability testing |
| Belgium | 10–14 weeks | Seniority-based, often long | Board process for listed companies |
| Austria | 10–14 weeks | Commonly to quarter-end | Supervisory board meeting calendar; FMA assessment if regulated |
| Australia | 10–14 weeks | 4 weeks to 6 months | Director ID, APRA fit-and-proper, intercity relocation |
What actually slows a search down
In order of how often we see it. Four of the five are inside your control.
The interview window was not booked
By far the most common cause. A shortlist arrives in week seven and the first interview happens in week ten because three diaries could not be aligned. Senior candidates withdraw from slow processes, and the strongest ones withdraw first.
Fix: book the interview window in diaries at scoping, before the search starts.
The brief changed after the shortlist
Legitimate, and often a sign the mapping stage did its job — but it is a different search, and treating it as the same one is how a twelve-week timeline quietly becomes twenty.
Fix: react to the map in week three, when changing the brief is still cheap.
An internal candidate appeared late
An internal candidate surfacing at shortlist stage stalls the process and damages the external candidates’ confidence in it.
Fix: settle the internal question at scoping. A search can assess internal candidates alongside the market, which is fairer to everyone and faster.
The package was never benchmarked
A search that discovers at offer stage that the package is below market has wasted eleven weeks. Benchmarking takes days.
Fix: benchmark before the search starts. See compensation intelligence.
The approval calendar was not checked
In Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, an appointment may need supervisory board or works council process. If that body meets quarterly and nobody checked, the appointment waits.
Fix: establish the approving body and its meeting dates in week one.
Counter-offer was not anticipated
At executive level a counter-offer is close to certain in a healthy market. A search that has not prepared the candidate for it has done the hard part and skipped the last step.
Fix: work the counter-offer scenario before the resignation, not after.
How you are kept informed
A written update every week, with the map or pipeline attached. It names who has been approached, who has engaged, who has declined and the reason each gave, where assessment has reached, and anything we have learned that should change your thinking.
That last category is the point. If three strong candidates decline because the package is below market or because the reporting line looks unattractive, you need to know in week four, not at shortlist. A weekly update that only reports progress is a progress report; one that reports what the market is telling you is intelligence.
You also get the map itself, not a summary of it. Most clients find the first map conversation the most valuable hour of the engagement.
Running a compressed search
Searches can be compressed to around eight weeks to offer, and occasionally less. What cannot be compressed is how quickly people reply, how long an interview process takes to schedule, or a notice period.
What we compress instead is scope: a narrower market definition, a shorter comparator set, a tighter geography. That is a legitimate trade-off when a deadline is real, and we state exactly what has been left out so nobody later mistakes a partial map for a complete one.
What we will not do is run the full scope at a lower standard of research and present it as complete. A half-researched search is worse than no search, because it produces false confidence that the market has been covered.
Executive search by market
Each market page is written for that market rather than translated from a template.
| Market | What changes there |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Three to six months’ notice, garden leave, and Senior Managers Regime approval before an appointee can start. |
| United States | At-will employment and a fast start date, but an offer dominated by unvested equity and state-by-state non-compete law. |
| United Arab Emirates | A Gulf-wide catchment, packages built from basic plus allowances and gratuity, and visa transfer in the timeline. |
| Germany | Supervisory board appointment, notice to quarter-end, and a non-compete the employer must pay at least half salary to enforce. |
| Netherlands | A works council advice right over director appointments, and DNB or AFM suitability testing before a regulated start. |
| Belgium | Working language as the binding filter, board gender requirements, and packages with a 13th month and double holiday pay. |
| Austria | A market small enough to map exhaustively, supervisory board approval, and pay quoted across fourteen payments. |
| Australia | Five capital markets, superannuation inside the package, restraint clauses that are litigated, and director ID. |
Research coverage extends well beyond these eight. These are the markets where we publish a dedicated page because the governance, notice and restrictive covenant rules differ enough to change how the search itself has to be run. See all eight markets →
Process and timeline FAQs
How long does an executive search take?
Ten to fourteen weeks from brief to accepted offer for a senior or specialist appointment, and twelve to eighteen weeks for a board or C-suite role.
Time to start is a separate figure and is frequently longer. Executive notice in the UK, Germany, Austria and Belgium runs from three to twelve months; regulatory approval adds weeks in financial services; relocation adds more. We quote both dates separately in the scope document.
What are the stages of an executive search?
Seven: brief and success profile; market mapping; confidential approach; longlist to shortlist; client interviews; referencing and offer; and notice, approval and onboarding.
Weeks one to three are research. Weeks three to seven are approach and assessment. Weeks seven to twelve are your process and the offer. Everything after that is getting the person into the chair.
Why does the market map come before any approach?
Because a search that produces candidates without first producing the map cannot tell you who it missed, and you have no way of knowing whether the shortlist represents the market or only the part of it the consultant happened to reach.
It is also the stage where most clients usefully revise their own brief. Seeing the whole qualified population frequently reveals that the specification was too narrow, the title was wrong, or the package was positioned against the wrong comparators.
What slows an executive search down?
In our experience, five things, in order of frequency: a client interview process that takes three weeks to schedule; a brief that changes after the shortlist is presented; internal candidates introduced late; a package that was not benchmarked before the search began; and approval bodies whose meeting calendars were not checked at the start.
Four of those five are inside the client’s control, which is why we agree the interview window, the decision makers and the approval calendar in the scope document rather than afterwards.
How quickly can a search start?
The scoping call can usually happen within a day or two. A written scope, timeline and fixed fee follow within two working days of that call, and research begins as soon as the scope is signed.
There is no procurement cycle built into our model, no retainer requirement and no minimum term.
When do we see candidates?
You see the market map at the end of week three, before any approach. You see the shortlist with written assessments at around week seven.
Some firms present candidates earlier to demonstrate progress. We would rather show you the map first, because an early candidate from an unmapped market tells you nothing about whether they are the right one.
What happens between acceptance and start?
Notice, garden leave where it applies, regulatory approval in regulated sectors, director identification or registration for board roles in some markets, relocation, and onboarding.
We stay engaged throughout. This is the stage where appointments are most often lost — to a counter-offer, to a change of heart during a long notice period, or to a regulatory issue nobody checked for — and a firm that disengages at signature is absent for all of it.
Can a search be run faster?
Yes, to a point, and the honest trade-off should be stated up front rather than discovered at shortlist. A compressed search narrows the market definition or shortens the approach window; it does not make people reply faster.
Where the deadline is genuinely fixed, we would rather narrow the scope deliberately and say what has been left out than run the full scope at a lower standard and present it as complete.
How often will we hear from you?
Weekly, in writing, with the map or pipeline attached. The written update names who has been approached, who has engaged, who has declined and the reason given, so you can see the market responding in real time rather than waiting for a shortlist.
Declines and their reasons are the most useful early signal you will get about how the role and the package are landing.
What if our requirements change mid-search?
We re-scope in writing. A changed brief is legitimate — it often means the mapping stage did its job — but it is a different search, and pretending otherwise is how timelines quietly double.
Because the fee is fixed against a written scope, a material change is a conversation about scope and fee rather than an invisible slip in the schedule.
Do you manage the offer and negotiation?
Yes, and it is one of the places a search is most often won or lost. We construct the offer against compensation evidence rather than against what the candidate asks for, prepare both sides for the conversation, and handle the counter-offer scenario before it arises rather than after.
At executive level a counter-offer is close to certain in a healthy market. A search that has not prepared for it has done the hard part and skipped the last step.
What is included in the weekly update?
The current map with any additions, the approach status of every name, engagement and decline counts with reasons, assessment progress, and anything we have learned about the market that should change your thinking — including when it is bad news about the package or the role.