The Read · For hiring managers
Before you hire,
know what you're hiring for
The profile you have in mind and the people who actually exist are two different things. Before you open a search, see how many people really fit your role and what it takes to win one. Straight from the recruiters who place leaders and build teams at venture and private equity backed companies.
Or start with how to approach the searchYour market
How hard will
this hire be?
People with the title aren't your market. Your market is the small group left once you filter for the right experience, the right stage and real interest. This is how it narrows on a typical search.
The approach
How to run a search
that ends in the right hire.
What we'd tell anyone running a hire, whether they run the search themselves or bring us in.
Before you start
Get clear on the job before you start.
Define the job by what it has to get done
Write down what this person has to deliver in their first six to twelve months. That list, not a list of past titles and logos, tells you who to look for and how to judge them.
Pick the level before the title
Decide whether you need someone to do the work or to lead the people doing it. Getting the level wrong is one of the most common and expensive early hiring mistakes.
Separate the must-haves from the nice-to-haves
Keep it to three or four true requirements. Every extra one shrinks your market, so make sure each one is worth what it costs you.
Get your interviewers on the same page
Before the first interview, agree on what you're looking for, who tests which part, and what a yes looks like. Otherwise every interviewer ends up hiring for a different job.
Know your market
Understand who's out there and what it takes.
Applicants are only part of the market
A job post reaches people who are actively looking and happened to find you. The strongest fits are usually employed, doing well and not looking. They have to be found and approached directly.
Know the compensation and the competition
Find out what the role pays before you set a budget, and who else is hiring the same profile. A search priced below the market stalls quietly, and you lose weeks finding out why.
Know your levers
Title, scope, pay mix, equity, remote or hybrid, and how narrowly you define the industry all change who will take the call. Decide early which ones you're willing to move.
Run the process
Sell every step of the way.
Plan for the real timeline
A well-run search for a senior role usually takes 8 to 12 weeks from kickoff to accepted offer, depending on the level and how hard the market is. Plan around that, not around when you wish the person had started.
Sell from the first conversation
Strong candidates are deciding about you as much as you're deciding about them. Be ready to say why this role, why now and why your company, and keep saying it at every step.
Give everyone the same process
Same steps, the same core questions and written feedback the same day. It's the only way to compare people fairly and catch your own blind spots.
Ask for proof, not stories
Ask what they owned, what the numbers were and what they'd do differently. Be wary of answers that are all "we" and no "I".
Move fast and keep people warm
Set the steps before you start and keep feedback to a day or two. The best candidates have options, and silence reads as a no.
Close it
The offer starts on day one.
Know what it takes to get to yes
Ask about pay, timing and concerns throughout the process, not at the end. The offer should confirm what you already know, not test it.
Plan for the counteroffer
A strong candidate's current employer will often try to keep them. Talk about it before the offer goes out, so it isn't a surprise when it happens.
Check references like they matter
Talk to people who managed them. Ask what you'd need to know to manage this person well, not only whether they'd hire them again.
The hardest of these to get right alone is knowing your market. So we'll map it for you.
What you get
Your market map,
for your exact role.
The real size of your market
How many people fit your role in your city or region, not everyone who holds the title.
Where they work today
Your market broken down by industry and company stage, so you can see where the people you want are sitting.
What it pays
A published pay range for the role, so you know what it takes to compete before you set a budget.
What it means for your search
A short read from the Talent Caddies on how hard this hire will be and where the market is thin.
Market map
Get your free market map.
The Talent Caddies build it for your role and email it within a few business days. We do it to show you how we work, in case you ever want help with a search.
Tell us the role so we map the right market.
Choose one.
Choose one so we size the right market.
Add a location so we size the right market.
Enter your first and last name.
Enter the email we should send it to.
How we work
We'd rather show you
than tell you.
The market map is one small piece of how we run every search. Here's what clients say about the rest.
“We have worked with several recruiters, and Talent Caddies has been outstanding, quick to source candidates, highly communicative, and helpful in pushing us to expand our thinking. Candidates also consistently spoke highly of their experience.”
“Talent Caddies helped me land a great opportunity, so when it came time to build my own team they were the obvious choice. They quickly understood exactly how I operate and what I was looking for, and moved fast to help me make three key hires.”
If you'd like our help
When you're ready,
here's what we commit to.
- Full market map and outreachWe identify and reach the relevant people across target companies, not just active job seekers. The strongest candidates are usually employed and not looking.
- Market intelligenceComp benchmarks, talent landscape, candidate sentiment and recommendations, early enough to shape the search. If the market pushes back on comp, location or scope, we tell you early and bring the data.
- Rigorous assessmentEvery candidate we present has been screened by us against the criteria we agreed at kickoff. We only share people we'd put our name behind.
- Offer and close supportComp alignment, offer strategy, counteroffer management and references.