Investment Banking Recruitment & Executive Search

The engagement starts with the specific position or leadership need your firm wants to address. It can involve defining the mandate, mapping relevant talent, engaging candidates, and assessing fit against agreed criteria. Confirm the role level, responsibilities, geography, and search deliverables before work begins. A precise scope helps distinguish the capability you need from a broad interest in finance professionals whose experience may not match the work your team performs.

Ask about the responsibilities the candidate personally held, the decisions they made, and the support provided by others. Explore a relevant assignment through its stages and compare the account with the requirements of your role. Use appropriate follow-up and agreed verification steps where needed. A transaction list can provide context, but it should not replace an examination of the candidate's actual work, judgment, and accountability.

Yes. Define the sector knowledge and client context that the role requires, then distinguish essential experience from knowledge that can be developed. Consider whether the person must deepen an existing capability or help establish a new one. Talent mapping and assessment should reflect that distinction. Keep the brief specific enough to evaluate relevance while allowing the hiring team to consider transferable experience where it can meet the mandate.

Examine how candidates set expectations, review work, make decisions, and develop colleagues. Discuss examples of disagreement and pressure as well as successful outcomes. Compare their approach with the authority, resources, and relationships in your firm. Fit should be assessed through relevant working behaviors and the requirements of the role, with room for different perspectives, rather than reduced to personal similarity or an undefined impression of culture.

Agree the confidentiality needs and communication boundaries before outreach begins. Clarify what can be shared about the opportunity, when further information may be disclosed, and who should receive candidate information. Candidates should discuss experience without providing confidential client materials or restricted details. The search process should support meaningful assessment while respecting the information boundaries established by the firm, the candidate, and the circumstances of the appointment.

Timing depends on the mandate, candidate availability, assessment process, and the firm's ability to make decisions. Define milestones and communication expectations at the outset, then review progress against them. Identify internal approvals or interview scheduling constraints that could delay a decision. It is more useful to plan around the specific search and its dependencies than to promise a fixed completion date before the requirements and market response are understood.

Explain why the position is needed, what the person will own, and how the role relates to the firm's direction. Include reporting relationships, client or sector focus, team structure, location expectations, and available resources. Describe the experience you consider essential and the questions you want assessment to resolve. Discuss compensation parameters and decision authority early enough to give candidates a coherent and realistic account of the opportunity.

Confirm the offer and transition responsibilities included in the engagement. Align expectations about the role, early priorities, reporting relationships, and support available after joining. Identify the internal leaders responsible for onboarding and introducing key working relationships. The appointment should begin with a shared understanding of the mandate, allowing the firm and new hire to review progress against agreed responsibilities rather than assumptions left over from separate interview conversations.