What we do
Executive Search
We made a promise: to search every corner of the world to find the leaders that will change it. It’s a promise we take very seriously, and we draw on both our domain and sector expertise and leading new technologies to help us identify potential from all types of backgrounds.
We need to make sure we truly understand the strategic objective of any hire to mitigate the risk of failure. As a talent partner, we commit to exploring the nuances of our clients’ business — the culture, structure and ambition — in order to maximise the chance of success; whether that be Non-Executive Directors, Board members, Operating company leadership or Programme/Technical leadership.
We’re forensic in our drive for feedback, because it’s the way we will get better at what we do. Our clients and candidates deserve an excellent experience as well as excellent service, and all our work is assessed by a third party using the Net Promoter Scoring system. Our commitment to what we deliver is as important as how we do it. We believe that’s what makes us different.
How we do it
We take an analytical approach to client briefing, leveraging our knowledge whilst gathering insight to guide our search. We harness technology to lead initial research, as it’s key to the delivery of diverse talent pools. We’ve spent years perfecting our process. We know it works.
We establish clear lines of accountability and leadership for client delivery, with cognitively diverse teams supporting every project. Our people are measured on and rewarded for collaboration, because it’s how we make sure we’re always doing what is best for our clients. We need to ask ourselves questions, and hear answers from minds that think differently.
We insist on total transparency, with client portals allowing projects to be monitored from start to finish. Updated in real time, our clients have access to the most pertinent information at every stage of the search process, with the reassurance that everything is GDPR compliant and that our responsibility to uphold client and candidate confidentiality is one we take extremely seriously. Trust is built on integrity. Our clients trust us for a reason.
We’re always learning, iterating and improving everything we do, every time we do it. Our NPS scores are published at the end of every project and we use a third party partner to gather feedback that helps our development teams enhance every aspect of our service. Growth has to be active. We’re not perfect, but we’re working on it.
The Search Process
1. Pre-Briefing
We use data insights to identify trends that may affect candidate profile or role criteria.
2. Client Briefing
We meet with the client to establish company culture, appointment goals and critical success factors for the hire in order to build a project brief to ensure understanding is aligned and outcomes set out.
3. Internal Briefing
We review the brief internally to identify the team best suited (and any additional resources required) to deliver the project and develop a hiring programme that is shared with the client.
4. Identifying Candidates
We consult analytics from multiple data sources in addition to our own industry networks in order to identify diverse prospective talent.
5. Interviewing Candidates
We manage a thorough candidate interview process supplemented by additional assessment (including psychometric testing, natural language processing and cultural alignment) where required.
6. Shortlists
We build shortlists collaboratively and transparently, working alongside our clients in real time to provide in depth, carefully considered candidate insight and recommendation.
7. Client Interviews
We support the development of candidate presentations to allow them to be seen in their best light and guide clients on the areas of focus that will enable them to make transparent, informed decisions.
8. Assessments
We vary candidate assessment tools in line with core role criteria (cultural fit, business drivers etc.) and advancements in market solutions.
9. Offers
We manage the end to end offer process, ensuring candidate circumstance, position and expectations are considered in terms of market averages and client budget and conclude references at the point of verbal acceptance.
10. Onboarding
We assist with onboarding planning and preparation, in particular where there is the added complexity of new hires joining businesses virtually.
11. Post-assignment follow ups
We use an independent third party customer experience partner, to review the assignment process with clients and candidates (including those who have been unsuccessful), feeding all learnings back into the business in order to continuously evolve the way we work and enhance our service. We follow up with all placements at 3, 6 and 12 month milestones to establish experience and progress and identify any issues or challenges — the inevitable teething problems that come with joining a new organisation — that require our support, both to the candidate and the client.
