The seven, in order
- Off-limits. Which companies on our target list can you not approach? Ask for it in writing before anything is signed.
- Who runs it. Name the person doing the work day to day, not the partner presenting, and put that name in the contract.
- Load. How many live mandates does that person carry? Above five or six, yours is queued.
- The map. Ask for a market map on a search they completed. If they cannot show the long list and the declines, it was not an approach-led search.
- Definitions. What exactly counts as a shortlist, and what triggers the middle payment.
- The failure clause. What happens if there is no hire. Silence here is an answer.
- References from failed searches. Every firm has them. A firm that will introduce you to a client whose search did not land is unusually confident and usually good.
Does it matter where the firm is
Less than the phrasing of the search suggests. A search firm's value is the map it holds of a market and the calls it can get returned, and neither of those is geographic any more. The partner you want may be two hundred miles away and know your sector better than anyone within walking distance.
Where proximity does count is narrower than it sounds, and worth naming. If the role itself is local, somebody who works that city daily knows which companies are quietly restructuring and who has just been passed over, and that is market knowledge rather than convenience. If the appointment is regulated, a firm that has placed into that regime nearby has seen the approval process run. And if you want the person doing the work to meet your board in a room rather than on a call, say so before you sign, because it changes who inside the firm is assigned to you.
What proximity never substitutes for is the seven checks above. A firm down the road that cannot show you a market map is still a firm that cannot show you a market map.
What is worth less than it looks
Logos. A firm that placed a chief executive at a listed company three years ago tells you nothing about whether it can fill your seat now.
Sector specialism as a label. Ask instead how many searches in this exact seat, in this size of company, in the last eighteen months.
Placement statistics. Nearly every firm reports over 90 per cent completion, because the measure counts only searches that ran to the end.
Two things to say in the first meeting
Tell them the package honestly, including where it is weak. A firm that finds out at offer stage that the number was aspirational has wasted your retainer and their eight weeks.
Tell them your interview capacity. If your leadership team cannot see candidates inside five days of a shortlist, say so now and let the timeline reflect it.
Common questions
What should I ask an executive search firm before engaging?
Which target companies are off-limits, who runs the search day to day and how many mandates they carry, what counts as a shortlist, and what happens if there is no hire.
How do I compare search firms fairly?
On the same brief, ask each for a target company list and their off-limits exclusions against it. The differences between firms show up there faster than in any credentials deck.
More of them, on hiring, contracts and what a fractional engagement costs, on the fractional executive FAQ.