About reach
- Which companies on our target list are off-limits to you, and for how long?
- How many people would you expect to approach for this seat, and how many do you expect to say no?
- Show me a market map from a comparable completed search, redacted.
- How many searches in this exact seat, at this company size, in the last eighteen months?
About who does the work
- Who runs this day to day, and will that name be in the contract?
- How many live mandates does that person hold right now?
- Who writes the candidate reports: the researcher, or the person who interviewed them?
- What happens if that person leaves your firm mid-search?
About money
- Is the fee charged on base or on total first-year earnings, and is target bonus included?
- Does the fee recalculate if the final package rises?
- Are expenses inside the fee or on top, and can they be capped?
- What are the payment triggers, and what exactly counts as a shortlist?
About failure
- What happens if there is no hire after twelve weeks?
- What is the guarantee, and precisely what voids it?
- Can I speak to a client whose search did not land?
- In the last year, how many of your searches did not result in a hire?
What a good answer sounds like
Specific, and comfortable with bad news. A firm that says "about forty approaches, we would expect thirty to decline, and two of those will be because your package is under market" is telling you something useful and showing you they have done this.
A firm that answers the off-limits question with "that is not usually an issue" has not answered it.
Questions
- What is the most important question to ask a search firm?
- Which companies on our target list are off-limits to you. It is the one answer that materially changes who they can reach for you, and the one most often left vague.
- Should I ask to speak to a client whose search failed?
- Yes. Every firm has them. One that will introduce you is telling you something about its confidence and its honesty that no credentials deck can.
- How do I know who will actually run my search?
- Ask for the name, ask how many live mandates that person carries, and put the name in the contract. At larger firms the partner who pitches is frequently not the person who delivers.