Executive Search & Recruitment
You get one shot at great leadership, so we find talent you didn't know existed and carry out powerful assessments to reveal unmatched insights...
CJPI partners with clients across all industries and functions to recruit the most extraordinary, transformative leadership talent that makes a profound impact on your organisation.
Often, the ideal candidate is not the most obvious one, and there is more to executive recruitment than a job advert and crossed fingers.
Using international reach we combine our deep functional and lived leadership experience, together with our winning executive search methodology and powerful tools to research, actively headhunt, profile and appoint the very best talent for your business.
of searches resulted in an appointment in 2023
of searches reach offer stage within 6 weeks
of our clients return to work with us again
our team have on average over 12 years of experience
Full Service Executive Search Firm
Research
This is where every executive recruitment process starts and where we really get to understand your organisation, your culture, your team and your strategic objectives for the role we are recruiting for as well as your wider ambitions. We bring our lived experience to this process and know what it is like to be in your shoes. We put all of this, and our own research together to craft our bespoke search strategy. This delivers a highly focused and powerful market map of talent for our search to uncover.
Search
Our search goes way beyond job boards and looks to attract passive and active candidates. In short, our research dictates direction and our search delivers it. We headhunt, run compelling campaigns to attract candidates and network nationally and internationally to make sure we find an incredible shortlist of candidates which are not just good, but are the very best candidates available. We are active in our search and do not simply rely upon a recycled database of candidates.
Profiling
As standard, we use extended Occupational Personality Profiling, administered by British Psychological Society trained experts as an integral part of our assessments. This unlocks unmatched insights which are tailored to the specifics of role, assessed against 'norm groups' of senior leaders. Where appropriate, we generate an 'ideal candidate' profile as a theoretical or physical subject based bespoke benchmark for succession hiring or for sensitive dynamics.
Interviews
After our extensive research we complete our search, leaving no stone unturned. We then typically take the reins with interviews until we have a shortlist which is fully assessed against the strategic approach and requirements. Once we have completed shortlisting, our clients conduct their final interviews.
Post-Placement Support
Once we have completed the project, we support with the integration of your new team member and are on hand to make sure things work out. However, we know that on rare occasions things don't - even with the most robust process - so we are here for you then too and we will work hard to make things right!
Fee Structure
We operate on an exclusive, retained basis using a clear and straightforward fee structure. Our fee is typically fixed and split across three milestones, our initial research fee, working fee and final fee. We also offer a placement guarantee for most searches, meaning we share the hiring risk and reward together as true partners.
“We don’t just find you the best individual player, we make sure they’ll fit into the orchestra.”
Talk to our executive recruitment experts
Please Note: We are unable to respond to speculative job applications or candidate enquiries through our contact form. If you are looking to submit your CV to CJPI, please click here to use our speculative application form.
Some of Our Recent Case Studies
Diversity & Inclusion
At CJPI we firmly believe that diverse leadership teams are essential to drive success and innovation. Our approach is grounded in these values, and we are dedicated to upholding them in every facet of our work. We actively seek out and engage with candidates from diverse backgrounds, ensuring that our talent pool represents a rich tapestry of experiences and perspectives.
Frequently asked questions for Executive Search
We’ve written a couple of articles about this, such as the one here. To summarise, aside from the significant cost of a bad hire, the reasons you should partner with a professional firm range from; our extensive networks, access to specialist tools, and expertise in recruiting strategically significant roles – all of which you probably don’t have in-house.
Even if you did have all of this expertise in-house, one huge issue remains: The best candidates for the job probably won’t engage with you directly…
Executive search firms help companies find and hire the best candidates for senior roles, including C-suite and director level positions. They work closely with clients to understand their needs and culture, and then develop a customised search strategy.
Executive search firms gain a deep understanding of the industries and roles they work with, and they have access to a wide network of qualified candidates. They also have the expertise to assess candidates’ skills, experience, and fit for the role and the company.
Executive search firms typically handle all aspects of the hiring process, from developing the job description to screening candidates to conducting interviews to negotiating compensation. They can also help with onboarding and other post-hire tasks. Read more about what executive search firms do.
Executive search firms will normally quote their fees as either a percentage or fixed fee for a search. The fee is typically based on a percentage of the candidates remuneration of between 25-35% of their annual salary and package.
Payments are generally split into three payment milestones, with the first third falling due on instruction, the second third on delivery of the shortlist, and the final fee following selection of the successful candidate. Read more about fees.
CJPI break each search into the following main phases of our powerful executive search methodology.
- Research Phase – This is where we really get to understand your organisation, your culture, and your strategic objectives for the role we are searching for. We take this, as well as our own independent research to craft our search strategy. This is also where we produce the materials we will use for the search, such as the candidate briefing pack, ideal candidate profile and role micro-site on our CJPI website.
- Search Phase – This is where we put our active sourcing methodology into action. This includes traditional ‘headhunting’, data-driven paid advertising strategies, together with other omni-channel strategies to exhaustively address the identified market wherever it may be, globally.
- Longlisting Phase / Occupational Personality Assessments – Our panel review each candidate generated from the search phase and invite those most closely aligned to the requirements of the role to a panel interview with CJPI. This allows us to really understand them, their experience and skills, and assess how this matches with your objectives, the specification of the role and the culture within your organisation. Candidates are then to complete an Occupational Personality Profile (OPP), our highly sophisticated psychometric. Where appropriate, we benchmark the candidate against an incumbent or a theoretical ideal. We exclusively use senior leadership ‘norm’ in these.
- Shortlisting Phase – Following the longlist interviews and assessments, we take the highest performing candidates (normally 3-6) and present our shortlist report to you.
- Final Client Interviews – We will arrange your 1st client interviews with the shortlisted candidates and brief you on each of them. You may wish to see one or more candidates for a 2nd interview, which we will arrange during our 1st interview debrief.
- Offer Made / Process Conclusion – Once the process has concluded and you have decided on the successful candidate, we will work with you to transition them into their new role.
As part of our research phase, we create our timeline and deliverables document which sets the pace of the search. The timescales we set depend on the specific role, industry and the talent pool identified within our research phase to ensure that the search is optimal and exhaustive.
Typically, the majority of our searches are completed within 4-6 weeks from initiation to making an offer to the successful candidate.
Here are some of the key benefits of working with an executive search firm:
- Access to a wider pool of qualified candidates
- Expertise in assessing candidates for senior roles
- Customised search strategy that aligns with your company’s needs and culture
- Objective and discreet counsel
- Reduced time to hire
For good reason our methodology is industry agnostic, so we are able to work with the most unique and specialist leadership roles. Often this approach has significant benefits as it is unlikely that your competitors are our clients, which removes any actual or perceived risk when it comes to addressing the entirety of the market.
You can look at the industries and functions we have particular experience with on our website.