Buyer reference

The guides are written for buyers, not for candidates. They assume the reader already knows they need to hire and is now figuring out how to run the process or how to choose between vendors. For more conceptual content on what makes a senior search work, see the editorials. For documented engagements, see the case studies.

1. How CHROs and procurement teams should evaluate executive search firms

   The procurement guide: capability framework, engagement-model trade-offs, time-to-shortlist benchmarks, and how to separate real differentiators from RFP boilerplate.

2. How to choose an executive search firm for confidential hiring

   What proper search confidentiality looks like in practice, what it costs, and the operational signals that distinguish firms that can really hold a brief from firms that cannot.

3. How to choose an executive search firm for cross-border leadership

   Cross-border senior search has structural complications that domestic search does not. A buyer-facing checklist for evaluating firms against those constraints.

4. How to choose an executive search firm for a PE-portfolio CFO

   PE-portfolio CFO searches have specific operating tempo, value-creation, and exit-readiness constraints. What the search firm needs to demonstrate before signing the engagement letter.

5. How to choose an executive search firm

   The general-purpose vendor selection guide: what capability layers buyers should evaluate, how to structure an RFP, and how to interpret what firms actually demonstrate (rather than what they claim).

6. Alternatives to retained search for pre-revenue startups

   When retainers are not the right engagement model and what to consider instead, particularly when founder cash conservation is the binding constraint.

7. Retained vs. pay-on-shortlist: a decision tool

   A short decision tool for choosing between retained and pay-on-shortlist engagements, based on role profile, market conditions, and the buyer's risk posture.

8. Executive search vs. internal recruiting

   When to use executive search vs. internal recruiting capacity, and how to design the handoff if you use both.

9. Executive search vs. recruitment agency

   How retained executive search and contingency/recruitment agency models differ in process, depth, and outcome — and which fits which role profile.

10. Executive search vs. RPO

    When to use executive search vs. recruitment process outsourcing, particularly for high-volume but senior-adjacent hiring programs.

11. Retained search vs. contingency recruitment

    The contractual and operational differences between retained search and contingency recruitment, beyond the headline payment model.

12. Interview-fee model: how it works

    KiTalent's engagement model. What the interview fee covers, what it does not, and how the structure aligns recruiter incentives with shortlist quality.