How it actually runs.
Most firms describe a process in three tidy steps because three fits neatly on a page. The real thing has more edges than that, so here it is closer to how it happens.
The first call
Thirty minutes. We read whatever you send us beforehand so the time is not spent on your own history. By the end of it you will know whether we think we can move your search, and if the answer is no you will hear it then rather than after you have paid for something.
Terms, in writing
If we both want to go ahead you get the agreement in full and in plain language. What we do, what it costs, what happens if you are not placed, what happens if you leave early. Read it properly. Ask about anything in it. We would rather answer ten questions now than have one argument later.
The long conversation
A proper sit down about your background, what you have actually done rather than what your last job description said, where you can work, what you will not accept, and what the number needs to be. This is the session that decides everything downstream, so it is not rushed.
We build, you approve
Positioning and CVs come back to you before they are used. Push back on them. People are often too modest about their own work and the first draft is where that gets corrected. Nothing goes anywhere until you have said yes.
The search runs
From that point it is daily and it does not stop for the rest of the engagement. You get visibility into all of it. Some weeks are busier than others and we will tell you why rather than let a quiet stretch sit there unexplained.
We adjust
Every few days we look at what is coming back and change what is not working. Wrong roles, wrong level, wrong wording on the CV, wrong cities. A search that is not being adjusted is not really being run.
Interviews
When calls start coming in we prepare you for each one specifically. What that employer asked for, what they were sent, what they are likely to press on. Then a debrief afterwards, which is where most of the useful information actually is.
Offer, and after
We help you read the offer and push where there is room. Then we stay reachable through the first stretch in the new seat, which is when people most want an outside opinion and least want to ask for one.
Where we draw the line.
We will not cut a corner that costs you something later. Not with your accounts, not with your name, and not with anything an employer has asked for in good faith.
Plenty of shortcuts in this line of work would make our side easier and land on yours. We do not take them, and if one ever came up we would tell you before it did.