Sourcing, screening, and placement for the operating roles that recovery plans actually depend on — General Managers, controllers, service managers, sales leaders, and the second-tier hires owners always struggle to find time for.
We don't run a contingency-recruiting playbook. We've sat in the seats we're filling. The screen is tougher because we know what we're looking for.
Owner-operated businesses doing $5M–$50M usually have one of two talent problems. Either the operator has been carrying the second seat for years and is burnt out from doing two jobs, or there's a recent hire who looked right on paper but isn't producing. Both of those problems benefit from a search led by people who've run the seat.
General Managers, Operations Directors, Controllers and Finance Directors, Service Managers, Sales Managers, Marketing Directors, Senior Estimators, Project Executives, Vice Presidents of People, and the right-hand role to the owner — often called Chief of Staff or Integrator depending on the operating system.
Every search runs the same playbook. The variable is the role, not the process.
We meet with the owner and the role's hiring manager. Build the actual scorecard for the seat — outcomes, competencies, deal-breakers. The JD comes from this, not the other way around.
Active sourcing — LinkedIn outreach, network referrals, targeted competitor identification. First-round phone screen against the scorecard. Typically 40–80 conversations to produce 8–12 candidates we'd advance.
Behavioral interview against the scorecard. Reference triangulation on every advancing candidate. We deliver 3–5 candidates to client interview, with written write-ups, not resumes.
We support compensation modeling, offer construction, counter-offer dynamics, and the 30/60/90 onboarding scaffold. Replacement guarantee on every placement.
Even if a search doesn't conclude in a hire — sometimes the right answer is no hire — what you walk away with has standalone value.
The actual scorecard the seat will be measured against, not the marketing JD. Reusable for future hires.
Compensation benchmarks, who's hiring for the role, where the talent is concentrated, what the competition is paying.
3–5 finalists, presented with a written narrative against the scorecard — not just a resume forward.
Three references per finalist, including at least one off-list (a peer the candidate didn't name).
Base, variable, equity (if applicable), benefits, ramp expectations. Negotiated on your behalf.
Written onboarding plan handed to the new hire on day one. We check in at the 30 and 90 day marks.
No contingency placement. We invest the work to find the right hire; we don't churn through job-board candidates.
30-minute call. Tell us about the role and the business. We'll come back with a fit assessment, a fee proposal, and a target close date.