Guide to an Effective Search Process
We bring practical, people-centered methodology that honors your organization's unique culture while ensuring continuity of mission.
We are inquisitive from the start.
We approach every search from a learning and partnership posture. We will begin our work with you by listening deeply to understand how the role is shaped by the strategic and transitional context of the current moment. We will carefully guide conversations with you and others you designate to understand where you have been as an organization, where you are now, and what success looks like in the future. This discovery work informs the selection of core competencies and crafting of the position description and key messaging, and the development of tailored networking and outreach strategies. Importantly, it also ensures that closest stakeholders are fully heard at the outset of this important transition.
This is a key opportunity to live into an approach that values equity, inclusion and shared decision making. We will help you convene a search committee comprised of a diverse group of key organizational leaders and other stakeholders, and we will partner with you to co-create a roadmap that guides how the search committee will engage throughout the process to support your decision.
We curate candidate pools.
We develop a pool of top-notch candidates with diverse, intersectional backgrounds, lived experiences, and perspectives.
Our networking is fueled by careful research, targeted advertising, and outreach strategies that leverage trusted relationships in a robust network developed over many years. We identify longstanding and emerging leaders who are aligned with your mission and functional needs and who might inform the search as nominators or interested parties themselves.
We are proud of our track record of presenting deep, intersectionally diverse candidate pools.
We tell compelling organizational stories and invite two-way, authentic conversations that build trust and invite candidates to envision how they might contribute to your mission through their leadership. We apply our learning from the early stages of the search to enrich the quality of our conversations with top candidates. This enables us to engage leaders in our networking who are both compelling for and compelled by the opportunity. Our approach also enables us to garner additional insights about field dynamics that can impact the success of the search and transition. We often are able to stretch our clients’ imaginations about the types of candidates you might consider without compromising the efficiency or quality of the search process.
We get to the heart of the matter.
The mission-driven sector is full of compelling and inspirational personal narratives. We are regularly humbled by these stories and grateful for the opportunity to share them in this context.
Our team is adept at conducting biographical interviews to capture the power of a personal story while maintaining focus on the key competencies that are needed for success in a role.
Our three-tiered candidate vetting process – resume review, initial screening and assessment, and in-depth interviewing – allows us to unpack critical professional and lived experience, as well as personal drivers and critical competency areas that can be highly subjective. Our deep understanding of how each candidate fits within a rubric of core competencies, culture fit, and other key selection criteria allows us to serve as trusted thought partners to you as you carefully consider the full array of experience, skillsets, and qualities you seek and the culture you wish to build.
We close searches.
Though we always remain your agent during the search, our candidates feel comfortable confiding in us about the nuances of their career choices, the effects of decisions they have made, and critical aspects of their professional and personal story and motivations that might make the difference between accepting an offer and turning it down. Our stewardship of candidates enables you to craft a compelling offer that incorporates considerations well beyond salary that are motivating your candidate of choice. We will offer guidance and support throughout the negotiation and acceptance stage of the search, and we are able to make the offer on your behalf at your discretion.
We also ensure that your chosen candidate will represent your organization well by securing references from peers, supervisors, and direct reports (both on and off list, if desired) and conducting background checks upon request. We learn firsthand how certain personality traits, education, or experiences manifest as a culture and skills fit in daily work environments. Our scanning for background irregularities enables you to finalize your engagement with confidence. We engage and communicate respectfully with candidates, applicants, sources, and reference contacts at all times.
We stick with you.
Throughout the search, we garner insights about our clients and their hires, as well as the broader ecosystem in which they operate. This information supports the crafting of an effective onboarding plan and helps to ensure a smooth transition into the organization.
