Working document
The client shortlist checklist
Everything that has to be true before a slate goes to a hiring manager, and what to do in the days after it lands.
Free resources
Resources for a boutique search desk
Practical tools for two person search firms: desk math, capacity math, honest software comparisons and a checklist you can run on your next search.
Everything here is built for the same reader: a recruiter or a pair of recruiters carrying a small number of searches, billing on placement fees, and doing every part of the job themselves. Nothing assumes a research team, a coordinator or a marketing budget. The calculators use numbers you already know, and the checklist is written to be run during a live search rather than read once.
Alongside the tools, The Search Desk covers the craft and economics of boutique search in the United States, from fee agreements and pay range rules to the week between a verbal yes and signed paper. If you are deciding what software your desk actually needs, start with the comparison pages, because the honest answer for a small firm is often less software than the market assumes.
Free tools
Calculators for a boutique search desk
Two working calculators for recruiters who bill on placements, built to answer the questions a two person firm argues about at the end of a quarter.
Comparisons
How ShortlistLoop compares with the recruiting software small search firms already evaluate
ShortlistLoop is a client facing shortlist page for a small search desk, so the fair comparison is against the platforms that try to run your entire agency.
Main guide
A Retained Controller Search, Week by Week From Intake to Offer
It settles what a full search actually looks like week by week, from the intake call through the calibration slate and client debrief to a signed offer.
Magazine
The Search Desk
Reporting on the craft and economics of boutique search in the United States, from the intake call to the signed offer letter.
About
Who writes all of this
The author page behind The Search Desk, covering who writes the fee agreement, intake and offer window guides here and what running a boutique search firm in the United States taught them.
Reading about the feedback loop is the easy part
The checklist, the calculators and the comparisons stay open and free, from fee agreements and candidate consent to pay range questions at intake. When you would rather have the presentation and the client feedback handled than documented, book a demo and bring one search that is sitting unanswered. We will publish the slate on the call and you can watch what the hiring manager sees.