Insights
Hiring intelligence, in plain English.
Straight answers on direct-hire recruiting, executive search, fees, guarantees, and offers — for the leaders making the hire.
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Promote From Within or Run a Search? The Build vs Buy Decision
Before you post the role or call a recruiter, work through the framework that tells you whether your internal candidate is actually ready or just available.
Executive Onboarding: The First 90 Days That Decide Whether a Search Succeeds
Most new-leader failures aren't vetting failures — they're onboarding failures that surface right inside the guarantee window. Here's how to structure the first 90 days so you catch problems while you can still fix them.
How to Choose an Executive Search Firm: A Vendor Evaluation Framework
Fee percentages and guarantee days are the easy part to compare. The methodology underneath them is what actually determines whether the search fills.
Hiring a Candidate With a Non-Compete: What Employers Should Know
A signed restrictive covenant doesn't kill a great hire, but handling it wrong can expose your company, not just the candidate, to a lawsuit.
What Happens If a Retained Search Doesn't Produce a Hire?
Retained fees are earned for work performed, not for a completed hire. Here's what real protection looks like, and how to negotiate it before you sign.
Confidential Executive Search: Replacing a Leader Without It Leaking
When the seat isn't publicly open yet, a search has to run under cover. Here's how that actually works operationally, and where it breaks.
The Offer-to-Start Gap: Why Candidates Fall Off After They Accept
A signed offer isn't a hired employee. Here's how to manage the weeks between acceptance and day one so you don't lose the search you thought you'd already won.
How to Run a Reference Check That Actually Predicts Performance
Most reference checks confirm nothing but dates of employment. Here's a framework that gets real signal before you extend an offer.
The Cost of an Open Seat: Time-to-Fill Economics for Direct-Hire Roles
Time-to-fill is usually reported as a number of days. It should be reported as a number of dollars. Here's how to build that number and use it to make better search decisions.
How to Set a Compensation Range That Doesn't Kill Your Search
The single most common reason a direct-hire or executive search stalls isn't the recruiter. It's a range that was never realistic to begin with.
One Recruiter or Five? The Exclusivity Decision in Direct-Hire Search
Sending a req to multiple agencies feels like more coverage. It usually produces less effort, more candidate confusion, and fee disputes you didn't see coming.
The Interview Loop Audit: How Many Rounds Before You Lose the Candidate
A practical framework for sizing, sequencing, and closing your interview process before a strong candidate drifts to someone else's offer.
How to Build a Hiring Scorecard That Actually Predicts Performance
Unweighted gut-feel interview notes produce bad hires and legal exposure. Here's how to build and run a scorecard that turns five subjective opinions into one defensible decision.
Retained vs Contingent Search: How to Pick the Right Model
The fee percentage isn't the decision that matters. The engagement model is — and picking wrong costs you the search, not just the money.
How to Brief an Executive Recruiter: The Intake That Determines the Whole Search
The first hour with a recruiter sets the ceiling on the search. A sharp brief produces a calibrated slate in weeks; a vague one produces resumes that teach you what you should have said.
How Long Does an Executive Search Take? A Realistic Timeline, Stage by Stage
The honest answer is a range with reasons: most professional and executive searches run 8 to 16 weeks from kickoff to accepted offer, and the variance lives in three places you can actually control.
Retained Executive Search: How It Works, What It Costs, and When It's the Right Model
Retained search is a different instrument from contingent recruiting — paid differently, run differently, and built for a different class of hire. Here's the mechanics, honestly, including when you shouldn't use it.
Direct-Hire Offer Strategy: How to Close Candidates Without Losing Them
The interview went great and then the offer stalled. Here's how to structure, deliver, and sequence a direct-hire offer so it holds.
The Direct-Hire Guarantee: What's Actually Covered, and What Voids It
Most guarantee clauses aren't insurance — they're a replacement clause with specific triggers and specific ways to lose your claim. Know both before you sign.
Direct-Hire Recruiting Fees Explained: What You're Actually Paying For
A practical breakdown of contingent, retained, and flat-fee search models, what actually drives the percentage, and why the guarantee clause matters more than the price.
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