The right leader changes everything – but they’re rarely on the market, so we find them.
Hiring leaders who align with your organisation's unique culture and goals is a complex challenge. Knowing where to look, and then selecting the right person, demands a blend of expertise, insight, and precision. CJPI is one of the UK’s leading executive search firms, specialising in researching, headhunting and selecting exceptional talent. Through our consultative approach and placement guarantee, we are your trusted partner for critical roles.
Leadership Recruitment Is Our Expertise
100%
Shortlist Rate
100% of all retained searches result in a shortlist, with an industry leading 95% final appointment rate.
92%
Passive Candidates
92% of successful candidates are passive, meaning they weren’t looking for a new role when we contacted them.
80%
Offer In 6 Weeks
80% of all retained searches reach offer stage within just 6 weeks across all functional areas.
You get one shot at hiring the best leaders
We partner with our clients to uncover extraordinary, transformative leadership talent that creates a lasting and profound impact on their organisations.
Often, the ideal candidate is not the most obvious one. Hiring for your most strategically significant roles requires more than just posting a job advert and hoping for the best.
Our reputation as a credible and confidential consultancy gives us unparalleled access to exceptional talent—individuals who are beyond the reach of traditional recruiters or in-house teams.
We combine deep functional and leadership development expertise with our proven search methodology - leveraging advanced tools to find the best fit. Whether or not they are actively seeking new opportunities, we find long-term leadership talent and reveal those most aligned with your objectives, team and stakeholders.
Our Executive Search Process
The Research Phase
This is where the executive search process starts and where we really get to understand your organisation, your culture and your strategic objectives for the role we are recruiting. We put all of this together to build our search strategy.
This starts with our requirements capture to understand the objectives of the role, the wider culture and strategic objectives of the organisation. This culminates in a compelling but candid candidate briefing pack.
Our dedicated research team then leave no stone unturned to map out every potential high-performance candidate who meets with your requirements - whether they are active in the job market or not.
The Search Phase
Our search goes way beyond job adverts, LinkedIn and candidate databases. Once our research has uncovered a bespoke talent map our search team delivers on it.
We actively headhunt the candidates we have identified. For non-confidential search projects, we also run compelling advertising campaigns and network nationally and internationally to underpin our exhaustive search strategy.
This process ensures we find an incredible pool of candidates which are not just good, but fit into your DNA.
The Assessment Phase
Once we have the best pool of talent available for the role, we uncover those most closely aligned to your objectives, and who best fits within your team.
Our selection and assessment process is led by leadership development professionals, built around the role and your objectives. The process consists of an initial screening phase, our long listing phase, and our shortlisting phase. We typically take the reins until we have a final shortlist which is fully assessed against the strategic approach and the requirements of the role.
Core to this process, we use extended Occupational Personality Profiling, administered by our trained experts to unlock unmatched insights, referenced against a 'norm group' of senior leaders. We do this to understand a wide array of traits, including leadership style, subordinate style and team roles - to ensure 360 degree fit into the role and wider team.
We also generate an 'ideal candidate' profile to benchmark candidates against - which is particularly helpful when contrasting candidates to an incumbent or as a result of profiling those connected to the role (such as the team they will lead, colleagues they interface with, as well as upwards leadership), to create a theoretical ideal which fits perfectly into your organisations DNA.
Post Placement Support & Guarantee
Once you have made your final selection and we have completed the project, we support with the administrative process of onboarding and the integration of your new team member. We are on hand to make sure things work out and can offer more formal support where required, for example through our executive coaching solutions.
Our Placement Guarantee
We know that when working with a professional partner, you expect them to take a fair share of the risk. We offer a placement guarantee for all retained searches, so if the selected candidate doesn't work out during the guarantee period, we will replace them for free.
Why Choose CJPI For Executive Recruitment?
At CJPI, we are a boutique consultancy with an innovative approach, big-firm capabilities, and a laser focus on delivering results. Whether you’re a startup, an equity-backed venture, or one of the largest organisations in the world, you have our full attention and commitment from start to finish.
From C-Suite recruitment and board placements to senior operational leaders, our mission is to find the best individual player to fit seamlessly into your organisational orchestra. Hiring leaders is not just recruitment – it’s a different ball game entirely, and it’s all we do.
We leverage our extensive network, exhaustive research, leadership development expertise, and cutting-edge assessment tools to uncover hidden talent. Our approach ensures true alignment between your organisational strategy and the leaders best equipped to execute it.
Most of the successful candidates we place aren’t actively seeking new roles when we headhunt them. This means we provide you with access to talent you wouldn’t find on your own, all assessed by leadership experts to reduce risk and achieve the best fit.
Our Difference
Focuses on job boards & limited databases
Able to shortlist swiftly
Typically more than 10 years experience
Uncovers extensive map of candidates
Shortlists only the best candidates
6-month guarantee on all retained searches
Leadership expert-led, bespoke assessments
Professionally administered testing
Comparison of candidates against an 'ideal'
Unbeatable Placement Guarantee
Fixed Fee Based on Deliverables
See How We Can Help Your Organisation
If you are currently recruiting or keen to discuss a potential leadership vacancy, please contact us below and our Managing Director will contact you as soon as possible to arrange a no-obligation exploratory call.
Our Approach To Diversity & Inclusion
At CJPI we believe that diverse leadership teams are essential to drive success and innovation. Our approach is grounded in these values, and we are dedicated to upholding them in every facet of our work. We actively seek out and engage with leaders from diverse backgrounds, ensuring that our talent pool represents a rich tapestry of experiences and perspectives. Our promise is to find the best talent, regardless of their gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disabilities or age. We are proud signatories of the UK Governments code for executive search firms.
FAQ For Executive Search
We've written a couple of articles about this, such as the one here. To summarise, aside from the significant cost of a bad hire, the reasons you should partner with a professional firm range from; our extensive networks, access to specialist tools, and expertise in recruiting strategically significant roles - all of which you probably don't have in-house.
Even if you did have all of this expertise in-house, one huge issue remains: The best candidates for the job probably won't engage with you directly...
Executive search firms help companies find and hire the best candidates for senior roles, including C-suite search and director level leadership recruitment. They work closely with clients to understand their needs and culture, and then develop a customised search strategy.
Executive search firms gain a deep understanding of the industries and roles they work with, and they have access to a wide network of qualified candidates. They also have the expertise to assess candidates' skills, experience, and fit for the role and the company.
Executive search firms typically handle all aspects of the hiring process, from developing the job description to headhunting, screening candidates and conducting interviews to negotiating compensation. They can also help with onboarding and other post-hire tasks. Read more about what executive search firms do.
Executive search firms will normally quote their fees as either a percentage or fixed fee for a search. The fee is typically based on a percentage of the candidates remuneration, but is commonly significantly less than the cost of a bad hire through sub-optimal talent pools or processes.
At CJPI, our searches are based on a fixed-fee arrangement. This avoids any 'fee creep' or punishing you for increasing an offer to a great candidate.
As a retained firm, our fixed fee is split into three equal payment milestones/deliverables, with the first third falling due on instruction, the second third on delivery of the shortlist, and the final fee following selection of the successful candidate. Read more about retained search fees vs in-house recruitment risks.
As part of our research phase, we create our timeline and deliverables document which sets the pace of the search. The timescales we set depend on the specific role, industry and the talent pool identified within our research phase to ensure that the search is optimal and exhaustive.
However, our focus and team structure means that the majority of our searches are completed within 4-8 weeks from initiation to making an offer to the successful candidate.
Here are some of the key benefits of working with an executive search firm:
- Access to a wider pool of qualified candidates
- Expertise in assessing candidates for senior roles
- Customised search strategy that aligns with your company's needs and culture
- Objective and discreet counsel
- Reduced time to hire
- Access to specialist assessment tools to reveal insights unavailable to employers directly
We cover all industry sectors including: Technology, Financial Services, Healthcare and Life Sciences, Manufacturing and Engineering, Consumer and Retail, Media and Entertainment, Professional Services, Non-Profit and Public Sector, Energy and Utilities, Transport and Logistics.
We also cover all main functional areas including board, CEO, operations, HR, finance and all senior leadership positions.
Our search methodology is industry-agnostic and we don't rely on a recycled database of sector-specific candidates.
The talent market changes constantly so we research the market with a fresh perspective for every search to make sure we look at every potential candidate out there at that point in time.
This means we are able to work with the most unique and specialist leadership roles as well as all major functional areas. We are known for bringing a creative approach to exhaustive mapping and addressing talent markets.
