What a search firm can and cannot do for you as a candidate

The first thing to understand about any search firm, including this one, is who pays us.

The client does. Not you. That single fact explains most of how recruiters behave, and candidates who understand it get considerably more out of the relationship than candidates who think a recruiter is an agent working on their behalf.

This is the honest version, from somebody who has spent two decades on the firm side of it.

What “we work for the client” actually means

We are looking for the best candidate for their role, not the best role for you. If you are the strongest person for a search, we will work very hard on your behalf — because our interests are aligned. If you are not, we will move to somebody who is. That is not a slight; it is the job.

We cannot represent you into roles we are not engaged on. A recruiter with a great candidate and no matching search cannot manufacture one. What a good firm does instead is keep you in mind, which sounds like a brush-off and is in fact the mechanism by which most senior roles get filled.

We will not negotiate against our client for you. We will tell a client their band is wrong, frequently and early, because a mispriced search fails. We will not go to war with them over your offer. Somebody who says otherwise is telling you what you want to hear.

Our advice to you is real but it is not disinterested. When we say a role is a good fit, we mean it — presenting somebody who fails costs us far more than the fee is worth. But we are also paid when you accept. Hold both of those thoughts.

What a good firm genuinely does for you

Tells you when a role is wrong before you spend an evening on it. The most valuable service on this list, and the easiest for a firm to skip. An evening of your time costs a recruiter nothing, which is precisely why a firm that protects it is telling you something about how they operate.

Gets you a straight read on the company. We have talked to the hiring manager, we know what the last person in the seat found difficult, and we know whether the authority in the role is real. That information is very hard for you to get and we are one of the few sources of it.

Tells you how you are actually being received. Not “they liked you.” What the reservation was. Good firms deliver this and it is uncomfortable both ways.

Presents your record properly. A large part of what we do is translation — taking a record a hiring manager cannot read and putting it in language they can. For this population that matters more than in most markets. See documenting commercial results for the version you can do yourself.

Keeps your search confidential. If you are employed, this is not a nicety. It is the whole basis of the relationship, and it is why our published profiles carry no names.

Gives you an honest answer about whether we can help. Including no. We turn down most of the people who contact us and we tell them why.

What a firm cannot do, however much they like you

• Make you competitive. We can present you well. We cannot manufacture a record you do not have.
• Get you a role above your level. A client who wanted somebody more senior will not be persuaded.
• Move fast on a slow client. Sometimes the process stalls for reasons nobody will explain. We will tell you what we know, which may be nothing.
• Guarantee feedback. We will chase it. Some clients never provide it, and a firm that promises it is promising something outside its control.

Working with several firms

You should. Anybody who tells you to work exclusively with one recruiter, as a candidate, is serving themselves. Two rules:

Never let two firms submit you to the same company. This is the one that actually damages you. A client receiving the same candidate from two firms gets a fee dispute and a reason to deprioritize you, and the candidate is the one who loses. Keep a written list of where each firm has submitted you and check before agreeing to a new submission.

Never let anyone submit you anywhere without asking first. A recruiter who sends your resume without permission has told you what they think of the relationship. Say no, and consider whether to continue.

Beyond that, three or four firms is reasonable. Each covers different clients, and no honest firm expects exclusivity from a candidate.

How to be a candidate a firm works hard for

Not about being likable. About being someone we can act on.

Be specific about what you want. “Open to the right opportunity” cannot be matched against anything. “Operations leadership, multi-site, manufacturing or industrial services, Southeast, scale where I own the P&L” can be, and it is the difference between being thought of when a search opens and not.

Tell us your real number. Not aspirational, not padded. If your number does not clear the band, we will tell you immediately and neither of us wastes six weeks.

Tell us the awkward thing. The short tenure, the role that did not work, the reason you left. We will find out, and finding out late costs you the search. Told early, most of these are manageable and several are not even a problem.

Reply promptly. These processes move in days.

Tell us when you take something else. This is the one candidates skip and it is remembered longest. A firm running a process around you when you have already accepted elsewhere has burned client credibility on your behalf. One email prevents it.

Two things that should make you walk away

A recruiter who will not name the client before submitting you. For a confidential search there are occasionally legitimate reasons, and they should be explained. “I can’t say until you commit” is not an explanation.

A recruiter who asks you for money. Legitimate search firms in this market are paid by employers. There are lawful résumé-writing and coaching services, and they are a separate purchase — but a firm that charges a candidate for representation into roles is not operating the model described on this page.

Where we sit

We are a retained and contingent search firm placing Special Operations veterans into senior commercial roles. We are useful to you if you have a documented commercial record and are two or more years past service. If you are earlier than that, we will say so and point you somewhere better — the map of who does what explains where.

If that is you, send us your record. A person reads it and a person calls you, and if we cannot help, you will be told that with the reason attached.