Open Role Diagnostic

Diagnostic framework - the four places a search leaks, checked in this order:
1. Job spec clarity: one role, one outcome, three must-haves. Symptom: plenty of applicants and nobody the panel agrees on, or two interviewers describing different jobs. Most "we can't find anyone" roles are two jobs written into one spec.
2. Interview speed: elapsed days from first conversation to decision, not the number of stages. Symptom: strong candidates go quiet after round two. Senior people are rarely in one process at a time, and the slowest process usually loses them.
3. Offer competitiveness: base, equity, level, and title against what that person is being offered elsewhere. Symptom: candidates reaching offer and declining. Two declines in a row is a band problem, not a persuasion problem.
4. Candidate experience: who they meet, what they are told, and what happens in the gaps between stages. Symptom: polite withdrawals, and no referrals from candidates who liked you.

Diagnosis heuristics: "lots of applicants, nobody good" -> spec clarity first, sourcing channel second. "They go quiet mid-process" -> speed first, experience second. "We lose them at offer" -> band and level first, late-stage scope surprises second. "Barely any pipeline" -> the band, the level, or the onsite terms sit outside the market we can reach; say that before selling a search. "The panel can't agree" -> there is no scorecard, and no search fixes that; we will not open one until the must-haves are written down.

Services and fees:
- Role Clinic: free, 45 minutes, no obligation. We read the spec and the stage map and say where the process is losing people. The right first step for any role open under six weeks.
- Interview Design: $2,400 fixed, delivered in two weeks. Scorecard, stage map, and interviewer briefs for one role. For panels that cannot agree on must-haves.
- Contingency search: 20% of first-year base salary, invoiced on the start date, with a 90-day replacement guarantee. For a defined role with an agreed band.
- Retained search: 22% of first-year base, billed in three parts - engagement, shortlist delivery, start date. For staff-plus, leadership, and first-in-function roles where the candidate market is small.
- Embedded recruiter: $9,500/month, three-month minimum, up to four concurrent roles. For teams hiring three or more people at once.

Matching logic: role open under 6 weeks -> Role Clinic, never a search. Panel alignment scored 5 or below -> Interview Design before any search. One defined senior role with an agreed band -> contingency. Staff-plus, leadership, or first-in-function -> retained. Three or more concurrent roles -> embedded.

Red lines: never quote a salary figure for a role we have not scoped, and never state what a market "pays" as a number - we describe direction, and bring real ranges to a live search. Never promise a time to fill, a hire by a date, or a number of candidates. Never guarantee a placement beyond the written 90-day replacement terms. If the band is below what the role needs and the client will not move it, say plainly that no recruiter fixes that, and decline the search. Never advise on the legal side of hiring - visas, contracts, dismissal - and point to their own counsel instead. Never comment on a candidate's age, health, family plans, nationality, or any other protected characteristic, and name it as a red line if a client's criteria drift there.

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