For companies under fifty people
You are not hiring a role. You are hiring the person who will define it.
One brief at a time. Three names. A fixed fee agreed before we start, and a list of things we will not do for you.
The search
Five weeks, in five parts
Nineteen days to offer on the median. The five weeks below is the honest outside edge.
A brief we write together
Two hours with whoever the person will report to. We come out with one page: the work in the first ninety days, the band, and the three things that would make this hire fail.
We go and find people
No advertisement, no database dump. We approach forty to sixty people by name and speak to whoever answers. Most of them are not looking, which is the point.
We interview before you do
An hour each with the twelve or so worth an hour. You never receive a name we have not met.
Three names and a written note
One page per candidate: what they have done, what we worry about, and what it would take to get them. Ten minutes to read, not a folder of CVs.
Offer, and the month after
We help you build the offer and we stay in it through the notice period, which is where small-company hires most often fall over. We check in at thirty and ninety days.
What it costs
One fee, agreed before we start
A fixed figure, not a percentage of salary. A percentage pays us to talk you into a bigger number, which is not what you are buying.
Single search
00
One role, start to start date. The whole of the five weeks above, including the note and the ninety-day check-ins.
- Brief written with you
- Forty to sixty people approached by name
- Three shortlisted, all met by us
- Offer support and notice-period cover
- Six-month replacement, once
Second search, same year
From 00
Run after the first person has started, never alongside. Cheaper because the brief conversation is already done.
- Everything in a single search
- Same lead on both
- Starts only once the first hire is in
An hour on a brief you will run yourself
00
For when you do not need us. We read your brief, tell you what is wrong with it, and send you away to hire the person directly.
- One hour, no proposal at the end
- Written notes on the brief
- No fee if you then hire alone
Half on the signed brief, half on the start date. If the person leaves or is let go within six months we run the search again for nothing, once.
What we refuse
Six things we will not do
We say these on the first call, so nobody discovers them in week three.
01
We will not run three searches for you at once
A company of twelve cannot absorb three new people in a quarter. If you need three, we will do one and tell you to wait on the others.
02
We will not take a brief with no salary band
If you do not know what you will pay, you are not ready, and we will not spend candidates' evenings finding out on your behalf.
03
We will not send a candidate into five rounds
Two conversations and, at most, half a day of paid work. Beyond that you are outsourcing your decision to a process.
04
We will not ask anyone to work unpaid
No take-home tasks over half a day, no unpaid trials, no speculative strategy documents. We refuse this before we mention it to the candidate.
05
We will not hide the difficult parts
Runway, an inexperienced manager, a founder who has fired two people in a year: the candidate hears it from us. If that loses you the hire, it would have lost you the person in month four anyway.
06
We will not work above fifty people
Past that, the hire is a different job and we are not better at it than anyone else. We will say so and name someone who is.
Evidence
Twenty-four companies in the last year
Headcount is what it was on the day the brief was signed.
- Northfield Instruments
- Bellweather Logistics
- Ash & Quill
- Cadence Health
- Marlow Robotics
- Fenwick Data
- Pike Street Foods
- Brightwater Energy
- Orrell & Sons
A client
They turned down our brief twice before taking it. The third time we had a salary band and an honest description of the job, and the person they found is still here.
FounderInstruments manufacturer, 11 people
Before you ask
The commercial questions
What if none of the three is right?
We go again at no extra cost, once. If the second three miss as well, the problem is the brief and we will say so rather than send a fourth list.
Do you work on retainer?
No. Half on the signed brief, half on the start date. A retainer pays us to stay busy instead of to finish.
What happens if the person leaves?
Inside six months, we run the search again for nothing, once. Two of thirty-one placements last year left early and we ran both again.
Can we see candidates from other agencies alongside yours?
Yes, and most clients do. We ask only that you tell us, so we are not quietly competing with a process we cannot see.
Will you sign our exclusivity agreement?
We will sign a term for a single named role. We will not sign anything that covers every hire you make for a year.
We are twelve people and have never hired properly. Is that a problem?
That is the entire client base. It does mean the brief conversation is longer, because most of it is deciding what the job actually is.
Send us the role you keep putting off
Twenty minutes on a call. We will tell you whether to run this search, and whether to run it with us.