Stage 01 · Role and pay · Weeks 1-2
First, we learn what the job actually is.
Before we search for anyone, we spend two weeks understanding your company. Not the version on your website. The real version: how decisions get made, what the team dynamics look like, and what success actually means at 90 days.
We ask what this person must own, how your team works, and what success should look like in the first 90 days. Your team adds its perspective through a short survey. We use that information to define the role and the criteria for assessing candidates. We call that written brief the Right Person Profile.
Candidate A · Strong alignment
Candidate B · Mixed alignment
Illustrative example of a Work Driver alignment comparison. Not a real candidate or client.
"The Right Person Profile is the gold-plated standard of what the right person is for this seat, in this company, in this context. Once we agree on that, everything else gets created from it."Josh Hill, Founder & Principal Recruiter
Read before the first call
Job Deck
Operations Manager · BabyEm Training
Contents
- Company Context and Vision
- Role Overview and Responsibilities
- Behavioral Profile We Are Looking For
- What the Company Expects
- Signals That You Are the Right Fit
- What Is Genuinely Hard About This Role
- Compensation Breakdown
- Benefits and Limitations
- Team Dynamics and Working Style
- Founder Profile and Company Direction
Stage 02 · Find and screen · Weeks 3-5
Then we find people who match it.
We source proactively across multiple channels, targeting candidates who match the behavioral profile built during discovery. We reach people who aren't actively looking, using the Right Person Profile as the brief.
Every candidate receives the full Job Deck before their first conversation with us. It covers the company, the role, what's genuinely hard, the compensation breakdown, and what the founder is like. Candidates arrive at their 45-minute discovery calls already informed. There's no selling. There's no sugarcoating. The ones who don't fit self-select out before we invest in deeper conversations.
"We do 45-minute discovery calls, which isn't the norm."Josh Hill, Founder & Principal Recruiter
Stage 03 · Compare the evidence · Weeks 6-7
Then you see how they approach the work.
Finalists complete a Work Simulation: a paid exercise based on the role. We design the task from what we learned during discovery, and we pay candidates for the time it takes. An exercise shows how someone approaches a problem. It doesn't show everything, so we read it alongside their experience and your interviews.
Illustrative example of a simulation prompt and findings. Not a real candidate or client.
"You are the incoming Account Manager at [Agency]. A retainer client has asked for a fourth round of revisions on work that is already over hours. The strategist who ran the account has left. Draft your reply to the client and your note to the team on how you would run the rest of the engagement."
What we look at
Each exercise has two parts. First, the candidate works on the task in their own time. Then a live session where our recruiting partner talks through the choices they made and why.
Stage 04 · Decision and offer · Week 8
Then you decide, and we handle the offer.
Before your team meets any finalist, we run a calibration session so every interviewer knows what to look for and how to evaluate against the Work Driver profile. After you choose your hire, we support offer negotiation with market data and check in through the first 120 days. A 120-day replacement-search guarantee is included, subject to the conditions in your service agreement. We'll explain those conditions before you commit.
"We want to put candidates together where the client says, 'I don't know who to go for because they're all solid.' That is the dilemma we want to create."Josh Hill, Founder & Principal Recruiter
Your part is about three hours.
The rest is ours.
- Intake call
- 45 min
- Job Deck review
- 20 min
- Calibration session
- 60 min
- Final conversations, offer, and your decision
- about 55 min
- Your time with us, not counting your interviews with finalists
- about 3 hours
Your own interviews with the finalists are on top of this. That is the part worth your time.
How we operate
Your recruiter makes the recommendation.
Our tools help them do the work.
We built our own tools so our recruiters spend their time on people, not paperwork: the discovery calls, the career conversations, the judgment calls, and the recommendation.
What our recruiting partners do
- Run 45-minute discovery calls to understand each candidate's experience and what they need from the role
- Build genuine relationships with candidates over weeks, not minutes
- Design bespoke simulation tasks from first principles
- Observe candidates working through the exercise and record how they think
- Discuss what matters to each candidate and where the role may not fit
- Make every final recommendation based on human judgment and experience
What our tools handle
- Source candidates across multiple channels at once
- Compare Work Driver profiles against the company environment assessment
- Synthesize intake data, team surveys, and research into structured artifacts
- Generate the Right Person Profile from discovery inputs
- Catalog and organize all candidate interactions and signals
- Handle admin, scheduling, and data flow so recruiters can focus on people
Every candidate is evaluated by a human recruiter. The tools make that possible. They don't replace the judgment.
The outcome
A shortlist you can understand,
not just a list of names.
Every finalist has been screened against the same brief and has completed a paid exercise based on the role. Their risks and trade-offs are written down. And your team has been briefed to evaluate them against the same criteria.
See each finalist's relevant experience, what their assessment showed, and what still needs discussing. We explain our recommendation. You decide who to meet and who to hire.
120 days
Every completed placement carries
a 120-day replacement guarantee.
We check in at 30, 60, 90, and 120 days. A 120-day replacement-search guarantee is included, subject to the conditions in your service agreement. We'll explain those conditions before you commit.
That's what two weeks of discovery and a paid exercise buy you: a decision made from evidence instead of memory.
Need the math first?Run the fee calculatororcompare flat fee vs contingency.
Not ready to start? Read how one search changed twelve years of hiring at BabyEm.
Read the BabyEm case study →Want the complete methodology breakdown?
Read the full methodology guide →