Understanding Our Process

We are devotees of the Topgrading® approach & deploy many of these disciplines into our process for sourcing & screening talent. From our initial conversations with clients to define what we're looking for, to our active outreach, to our screening interviews and data collection, our efforts are focused on finding the right talent for your needs.

Topgrading is a structured, disciplined hiring methodology designed to identify and hire top-performing candidates (A Players) for critical positions by deeply assessing their entire work history and competencies. This extensive process involves comprehensive interviews, in-depth reference checks, and the use of job scorecards to evaluate candidates against core skills and job requirements.

We work on what's called a 'Container' model, which is a hybrid of two common models: contingency and retained. Our clients pay a small upfront fee to secure our dedicated & focused efforts without the full upfront investment of a traditional retained search. The balance of our fee comes upon success, after an introduced candidate is hired, and will be a percentage of their first year guaranteed compensation.

We believe that our methodologies are transferable to any industry. As our approach focuses on transferable skills, experience, and potential, rather than specific industry knowledge, which allows for a broader talent pool. The focus should be on finding accomplished, adaptable professionals who possess the necessary expertise for a role and can thrive in dynamic environments, regardless of their prior industry background.

All of our efforts are proactive. We don't post ads and hope for lightning to strike. After engaging with SEEK Talent Partners we will have several conversations to really understand (a) the role we're sourcing for, (b) what the right 'profile' looks like and (c) what is it about your company & the opportunity that would make top talent want to join. From there, focused and targeted outreach is launched to engage, attract & qualify.

One size does not fit all here, as every search has its unique set of challenges. It could take a couple weeks, or a couple months. We work quickly, but don't shortcut the process as hiring the 'right' person is paramount.

The time it takes to fill an open role isn't the ultimate success metric. Nor is retention or attrition rate. While those are valuable, we focus more on long-term hiring success. When a role is filled, how often is it filled with someone that (in retrospect) you would enthusiastically rehire if you had to do it over again. Our experience & discipline to the aforementioned methodologies helps achieve this.