Hiring Strategy & Advisory
Hiring strategy and advisory, before the search starts
Hiring advisory is work on the role itself rather than on filling it: what the job is genuinely accountable for, what profile actually delivers that, what the market pays for it, and whether you need this hire at all. It usually happens before a search and it frequently makes the search smaller. This is the consultancy half of KYO, and it can be engaged on its own without committing to a search afterwards.
Why do senior searches stall before sourcing ever starts?
Because the job description asks for four people in one. When a business is not certain which discipline it needs, the safe move is to ask for all of them, and the result is a search for a person who does not exist at a salary that would have covered a specialist plus support. Every real candidate then looks like a compromise, the process resets every few weeks, and the eventual conclusion is that the market is tight. Usually the market is fine and the brief is not.
What does the advisory work cover?
- 01Role definition. The two outcomes this hire owns twelve months out, stated as outcomes rather than responsibilities.
- 02Profile. Who actually delivers those two outcomes, at what level, and what they will have done before.
- 03Compensation. What that profile is paid in the market you are hiring from, rather than what a salary tool guessed.
- 04Structure. Whether this is one hire, a different hire, a hire plus a freelancer, or nothing yet.
- 05Process. An interview process that does not lose the best candidate in week three, which is more often about decision speed than about interview content.
What do the symptoms usually mean?
| What you are seeing | What it usually means | What to change first |
|---|---|---|
| Strong resumes, nobody feels right | The brief describes several roles at once | Cut it to the two outcomes and re-price against those |
| Good candidates withdraw late | The process is too slow, or the story changes between interviewers | Fix decision speed and align what each interviewer says |
| Very few applicants at all | The title is not what the market calls this job, or the pay is below the ask | Change the title to the searchable one, then check the band |
| Offers being declined | Compensation, or the role sounds smaller in interview than in the posting | Get honest decline reasons, and check what interviewers are describing |
| The search restarts every few weeks | Nobody actually owns it | Name one owner with protected time, or hand it out |
Does this always end in a search?
No. Sometimes the honest answer is that the work belongs with the team you already have, or with a freelancer, or that the hire should wait a quarter until the thing it depends on is real. That answer gets given even though it is the one that does not produce a search fee, because the alternative is running an engagement that everyone privately knows is wrong.
Who should be in the room?
Whoever will actually decide. Usually the person the hire reports to, plus whoever controls the budget. HR is welcome and often useful, but if the decision maker is not in the conversation you end up with a well-defined role that nobody has agreed to.
Start a search
Work on the role before you work the market
Bring the job description you are unsure about. That is usually the right place to start.
kelly.yosten@kyosearchpartners.comCommon Questions
Can we engage advisory without a search?
- Yes, it is a standalone engagement.
What if the advice is that we should not hire?
- You get told. That is what you are paying for.
Will you tell us we are overpaying?
- If you are, yes. Overpaying for a title is as common as underpaying for the work, and both are worth knowing before you go to market.
Do you help write the job description?
- Yes, and more usefully, help cut it. Most senior job descriptions get better by having things removed.