Senior appointments, researched rather than advertised

Executive search services are managed, research-led engagements for appointing senior leaders: defining the role and the market, mapping the entire qualified population, approaching candidates confidentially, assessing them against a written success profile, referencing them, and managing the offer through to a start date.

The defining feature is that the market is researched exhaustively rather than advertised to. At this level the people who matter are usually not looking, and will not respond to a job posting.

A senior or specialist appointment typically costs $12,000 to $28,000, around £10,000 to £22,000 or €12,000 to €26,000. A board or C-suite appointment typically costs $28,000 to $55,000. A leadership team build of three to five linked roles typically costs $55,000 to $120,000.

These are fixed project fees for the work the search takes. A retained search firm charges 25 to 33 per cent of first-year package, so a $400,000 appointment costs $100,000 to $132,000 and the search report stays with the firm. Full detail on our fees page.

No. We charge a fixed project fee based on the work the search requires. There is no percentage of salary, no placement fee and no success fee on any service we sell.

That is the structural point, not a discount. A firm paid a percentage of the appointee’s package has a financial interest in an appointment being made, at the highest package the client will accept. We do not, which is why our recommendation can be to restructure the role, re-price the package, or appoint internally.

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 question and is frequently the longer one. In the UK, Germany, Austria and Belgium, executive notice periods of three to twelve months are normal; in the US notice is short but equity vesting dates drive timing. We quote both dates separately. See the process and timeline page.

A retained search is paid in instalments regardless of outcome, researches the whole market and is used where the right people are not looking. Contingency recruitment is paid only on placement, works from an existing network, and suits roles where candidates are available and actively looking.

We run a third model: research-led search on a fixed project fee. It gives the market coverage of a retained search without the percentage-of-salary fee, and you keep the search report. The comparison is set out in full on our firms compared page.

Yes. Board appointments run on the nomination committee’s calendar rather than a hiring manager’s, and in most of our markets listed companies disclose their board search and succession process under a governance code.

We document the search to governance standard, produce a genuinely diverse qualified longlist, and provide the written record the committee needs for its disclosure.

Yes, and a large share of our searches are confidential — usually because an incumbent is still in post, because the appointment signals a strategy change, or because the company is in a transaction.

We describe the opportunity without naming the client until a candidate is genuinely engaged and, where appropriate, an NDA is in place. The disclosure point is agreed in writing before the first approach.

The appointment, and the full search report: the market definition, the complete map of the qualified population, who was approached and who declined and why, written assessments against the success profile, the compensation evidence behind the offer, and the referencing.

You keep all of it permanently. Most clients reuse the map within a year for the next appointment or for succession planning — which a percentage-fee firm does not normally allow.

We tell you, and we tell you why: the package, the role design, the location, the market being thinner than assumed, or a brief that is internally contradictory.

Because the fee is for the work rather than the placement, saying so costs us nothing and saves you a bad appointment. Several of our searches have concluded with a restructured role or an internal appointment, and the market map is what made that defensible to a board.

By widening the research, not by lowering the bar. Most shortlists lack diversity because the search anchored on a narrow comparator set — the same five companies, the same job title, the same route in.

We define roles on capability rather than pedigree, research adjacent sectors and non-linear career paths, and report representation at longlist level so the pipeline can be examined. Characteristics are never recorded against named individuals. See diversity hiring.

We publish dedicated pages for the United Kingdom, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Australia, and we state research coverage across more than seventy markets.

Searches frequently cross borders where the realistic candidate pool does. We agree the catchment explicitly at scoping rather than defaulting to the country the role sits in.

Usually, yes. Most of our clients have capable talent acquisition functions and bring us in for the appointments that need exhaustive market coverage, genuine confidentiality or independence from an internal debate.

The search report is written so your team can present it as their own analysis, because they own it.

Sometimes, and the test is not seniority but scarcity. If the qualified population is small and not actively looking, search is the right instrument at any level. If the market is deep and candidates are available, it is not, and contingency recruitment or your own team will do it faster and cheaper.

We will tell you which situation you are in on the scoping call, including when the answer means we are not the right purchase.