Choose a search firm that can challenge the brief, explain how it will cover the market and show the board how it will assess each candidate. Before comparing fees, give the firms you are considering the same description of the business problem and see what questions they ask.

Start with what the board needs the person to do

Imagine a management company hiring a CEO as it prepares to expand its product range. One board member may be looking for commercial growth, another for confidence in governance and a third for someone who can lead a small local team. All three can be right. The search gets difficult when nobody has decided which capabilities are essential on day one and which can be developed or supported elsewhere in the business.

Ask the search firm: “What would you want the board to agree before you approached anyone?” A useful adviser will ask about the authority the person will have, the relationship with group management, what the Irish team can deliver and what would count as success in the first year.

Test market coverage and discretion

Ask where the firm would look and which parts of the market it could not approach. Search firms may have agreements with other clients that restrict whom they can contact. Ask whether those restrictions affect any teams you would expect to be on the target list. It is better to know that before the search starts.

For a confidential appointment, agree who knows about the search and when the employer’s identity can be disclosed. Ask how internal candidates will be handled and how the firm will keep external candidates informed without disclosing sensitive information.

Ask what evidence the board will see

For a lean Irish business, a candidate may have the right title and still be accustomed to a level of support you cannot offer. Ask the search firm how it will establish what each candidate actually decided, what they delegated and how they handled challenge from the board, the group or their own team.

If the appointment is to a Pre-Approval Controlled Function (PCF), build the applicable approval process and the firm’s own due diligence into the timetable. The Central Bank of Ireland’s Fitness and Probity guidance explains the pre-approval requirement and the regulated firm’s responsibilities. The search firm can support the appointment process; the regulated firm remains responsible for its due diligence.

Before you appoint a partner, ask them to explain what the board will know at the end of the search that it does not know today. You want a defensible view of the market, a clear account of the trade-offs between candidates and a reasoned basis for making the appointment.

If your board is preparing for a leadership appointment, I’m happy to talk through the brief before you go to market. A useful place to start is where the board agrees on what the new leader needs to achieve, and where it still sees the role differently.