One search at a time, done properly.
Most recruitment goes wrong before it begins — a JD is forwarded, a database is searched, thirty CVs arrive, and everyone pretends this is a process. I run searches differently, and the difference is structural, not cosmetic: I take on one or two mandates at a time, so every search gets senior attention for as long as it takes.
Here is exactly what engaging me looks like.
The brief
We spend an hour on what the role actually needs. Not the JD as written — the job as it is. What broke that created this vacancy. Who succeeds in your rooms, and who doesn't. What the first ninety days must produce. Fifteen years of demanding client briefs taught me that a search is usually won or lost here, which is why I won't start one without this conversation.
The search
I work my network and the open market. Anyone worth your time first has a proper conversation with me — skills, motivation, notice-period reality, and an honest picture of the role, including the parts other recruiters gloss over. Candidates remember honesty; it's why the good ones pick up when I call. No one reaches you unspoken-to.
The shortlist
You receive three candidates, not thirty. Each comes with my assessment notes: why they fit, where they'll stretch, and what I'd probe in your interview. If the search surfaces only two people worth your hour, you get two — I won't pad a shortlist to make it look like effort.
After the offer
An accepted offer isn't a hire in India; a joined, settled candidate is. I stay close through the notice period and the landing, on both sides of the conversation. Every placement carries a replacement guarantee, in writing.
The capacity rule
One or two live mandates at any time. Not because I can't work faster — because judgement doesn't scale, and pretending otherwise is how the industry earned its reputation. If I'm full when you call, I'll say so immediately and tell you when a slot opens. Some clients wait. That should tell you something.
Fees, plainly
A success fee on placement, agreed in writing before the search begins. No advance, no retainer at launch, and never a fee to candidates. If the fee conversation takes more than ten minutes, one of us is overcomplicating it.
What I won't do
Mass CV blasts. Candidates I haven't spoken to. Junior handoffs. Twenty simultaneous mandates. Pretending judgement scales. Disappearing after the invoice. If you need fifty CVs by Friday, I'm the wrong consultancy — and I'll tell you so on the first call.
Asked often, answered plainly
- What do you charge?
- A success fee on placement, agreed in writing before the search begins. No advance, no retainer at launch, and never a fee to candidates.
- How many candidates will I see?
- Three, each with my assessment notes — why they fit, where they’ll stretch, and what I’d probe in your interview. If the search surfaces only two people worth your hour, you get two.
- Is there a guarantee?
- Yes. Every placement carries a replacement guarantee, in writing, agreed as part of the service agreement before the search begins.
- How many searches do you run at once?
- One or two live mandates at any time. If I’m full when you call, I’ll say so immediately and tell you when a slot opens.
- Do you only work with companies in Gurgaon?
- I’m based in Gurgaon and work with companies across India.