No improvisation, no "let's see who applies." Each stage has a defined input, a defined output, and a point where you decide whether we move forward.
A structured stakeholder session defines the role.
We map the full addressable talent universe.
We approach every candidate on the map personally.
Structured assessment qualifies candidates on evidence.
Weekly reviews keep the search transparent.
An objectively assessed slate, calibrated with you.
We run the loop and reference the finalists.
We support the offer, the close, and onboarding.
Every successful retained search begins long before a single candidate is contacted. We open with a structured stakeholder briefing, because the quality of any search is determined entirely by the quality of its brief.
We work through the full role profile in depth, not just the job description but the strategic context: why the role is open, what has worked or failed in the seat before, and how the hire connects to the broader growth agenda. We define both functional competencies and behavioral competencies, establish geographic scope and target organizations, document off-limits companies, map your decision process to remove bottlenecks, and review your Employee Value Proposition honestly. This is the strategic foundation on which the entire engagement is built.
With a fully aligned brief, we move into research and talent mapping. This is where retained search earns its fundamental distinction from contingency recruiting.
Rather than surfacing whoever happens to be available, we systematically map the full addressable talent universe for the mandate: every professional across the defined geography who could plausibly meet the criteria, based on title, organization, trajectory, and demonstrated experience. We draw on LinkedIn, associations, directories, speaking profiles, published thought leadership, industry press, and our own proprietary network at the intersection of legal services and technology talent. The output is a comprehensive talent map, a true census of the candidate universe, which we share directly with you as a market intelligence deliverable.
Research without activation is just a spreadsheet. The outreach phase is where the craft of retained search is most visible, and where the value of the retained model is most acutely felt.
We approach every candidate in the talent map, systematically and with care. No mass emails, no templated InMails, no shortcuts. The strongest candidates are passive: they are not browsing job boards, and direct, discreet headhunting is the only methodology that reaches them. Our strategy is multi-channel, and the narrative is tailored to each individual, why this opportunity is relevant to where they are heading and why this organization is worth a conversation. Every touchpoint, response, and reason for disengagement is tracked, feeding directly into the weekly cadence reporting.
Outreach opens conversations. Screening turns those conversations into evidence. Every candidate who advances has a substantive, structured discussion with us first, evaluated against the same functional and behavioral competencies defined in the briefing, so the bar is consistent and the assessment is comparable across the field.
We validate the must-haves directly, probe motivation and timing, and pressure-test the things that quietly break a hire, comp expectations, relocation, notice periods, competing processes, before they ever reach your panel as a late surprise. Where the seniority of the role warrants it, we layer in behavioral and competency assessment rather than relying on instinct. We are deliberately selective: precision over volume. Only the candidates we would stake our name on advance toward the longlist, and the qualifying work is documented well before any names are presented.
Retained search is a partnership, and our operating model reflects that. We do not disappear for six weeks and resurface with a shortlist. We maintain full transparency through weekly status reviews.
Each session walks through the working talent map live: every candidate identified and approached, current status, compensation data collected in the field, and market intelligence surfaced during outreach. If candidates decline to engage, we tell you exactly why. If the target company set is yielding fewer viable candidates than expected, we recommend scope adjustments. If compensation benchmarking reveals a material gap from the opening band, we surface it proactively, before it becomes an offer-stage problem. When the market tells us something, we adapt together in real time.
Following completion of outreach across the full talent map, we present a vetted longlist, typically eight to ten individuals who have cleared our full assessment framework.
Every candidate has been rigorously evaluated against the functional and behavioral competencies from the briefing. We employ TriMetrix DNA assessments benchmarked against a structured Job Benchmark Report, giving you an objective, consistent framework for comparison rather than subjective impressions, with full assessment reports accompanying each presentation. From this longlist, we work with you in a facilitated session to agree a final shortlist of three to five candidates for formal interview, a structured calibration conversation, not a passive handover. By the time your first interview is scheduled, you are operating with more structured intelligence than most hiring processes ever generate.
A shortlist is only as valuable as the process that follows it. We manage the full interview loop end to end: coordinating scheduling across your panel and each candidate, keeping rounds moving so strong people do not cool off, and capturing structured feedback in both directions after every conversation. Momentum is protection here, the longer a finalist sits between rounds, the more room a counter-offer or competing process has to take hold.
We debrief candidates and your interviewers alike, surfacing hesitations early while there is still time to act on them. Before any offer is extended, we conduct thorough reference checks on the finalists, speaking with people who have actually worked alongside them, not a curated list of friends. References are a final, independent validation of what our assessment already indicates, and occasionally the thing that surfaces a reservation worth weighing. By the time you decide, the diligence is genuinely done.
The hiring decision is always yours. Our role through the final stage is to ensure the conditions are in place for that decision to be made with complete confidence and executed without friction.
By the time you reach an offer, you have reviewed the full talent map, you understand the depth and boundaries of the market, and you have interviewed a shortlist drawn from a rigorous, comprehensive search. We support offer structuring using the compensation intelligence gathered throughout, and manage the negotiation on your behalf through the most sensitive stage of any hire. Onboarding support is a core component of the engagement: a tailored onboarding and coaching report derived from the placed candidate's DISC profile, equipping the hiring manager to accelerate integration from day one. The first ninety days determine whether a placement succeeds or fails. Our mandate does not end at a signed offer. It ends when your new hire is set up to succeed.
Our success rate with their candidates has been more than 50% better than with other recruiters.