What we do
A search in which the assessment is the product rather than a by-product. You receive a written assessment of every finalist against a scorecard agreed before sourcing began — including a plain statement of what we could not establish.
Every engagement starts from the same question: which assessment design does this role actually call for? The four designs, and how we choose →
How this is different
Most searches begin with a job description, which describes duties, and end with a shortlist of people who have held similar titles. We begin with the outcomes the role has to produce in its first eighteen months, and the behaviors that would predict them. Everything afterwards is measured against that document, including us.
Unstructured interviewing is one of the most-studied and least-predictive selection methods in use. We interview against behaviorally anchored definitions of each attribute, in the same order, with the same probes, because comparability is the entire point of running a process at all.
We ask about the same attributes we interviewed against, of people positioned to have observed them, with questions designed to surface disconfirming evidence. A reference call that produces only praise has told you about the relationship, not the candidate.
Every written assessment states how confident we are and where the evidence is thin. That is uncomfortable to write and considerably more useful than a verdict delivered with uniform certainty.
What you receive
Who engages us for this: Boards and CEOs making a consequential senior hire · Sponsors placing leadership into a portfolio company · Organizations where the last hire into this role did not work · Any search whose outcome will have to be defended
Investment
| Item | Standard |
|---|---|
| Professional fee | 25% of first-year total cash compensation |
| Guarantee | Twelve months |
Payable in three installments: at engagement, at shortlist or day 45 (whichever comes first), and at offer acceptance. If the placement does not hold inside twelve months we re-run the search once with the professional fee credited in full. The guarantee covers performance and fit; it does not cover a role eliminated, re-scoped or restructured after the start date.
Structured selection predicts performance better than unstructured judgment, and better than chance. It does not predict it with certainty. A process of this kind accounts for a meaningful but partial share of what determines whether an executive succeeds — the rest is the organization they land in, the support they are given, and events no assessment can see from outside. We will give you a confidence level on every finalist. We will not tell you a hire is guaranteed.
Industries
The method does not change between sectors. What we look for, and who we call to check it, does — and that is the part that requires knowing the industry.
Start a conversation
Twenty minutes. I will tell you honestly whether this is work I should be doing and what I would do differently. If it is not a fit, I will say so and point you somewhere better.
jj@celersilens.com 704-740-2099
