Most searches that go wrong were going wrong before the first candidate was approached. The hiring manager wanted one thing, the CEO another, and the job description tried to cover both. Nobody noticed until the shortlist arrived and every interviewer judged it against a different picture.
These 15 questions are for the intake meeting, the first conversation between whoever owns the hire and whoever runs the search. They work for any senior role, and we use them on every Head of HR search. Answer them in writing, and the answers become the scorecard for the shortlist.
| Questions | What they settle | A weak answer sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| 1–3 The problem | What the person must achieve, and by when | "Someone strategic who can hit the ground running." |
| 4–6 The evidence | Which abilities you will assess, and how | "We'll know the right person when we meet them." |
| 7–9 Who you'd rehire | A real example of the person you want | "Someone like our last Head of HR, but better." |
| 10–12 Trade-offs | What gives when no candidate has everything | "We need all of it." |
| 13–15 What's missing | What the team lacks today | "Someone who fits in." |
If an answer sounds like the right-hand column, agree a better one before anyone approaches a candidate.
Start with the problem
A role exists because something needs to change or keep working. Settle that before you talk about the person.
- What will this person have solved, or started to solve, in their first 90 days?
- What does good performance look like at six months, in terms someone else could check?
- Where have past hires in this role, or similar roles, failed, and why?
The third question is the one people skip. If the last Head of HR left after a year because the founder never gave up control of pay decisions, a stronger candidate won’t fix that. Name the cause, and decide whether the brief or the business needs to change.
Write the answers to these three as outcomes, not qualities. “Pay framework approved by the board by month six” is an answer. “Strategic thinker” is not.
Decide what you will assess, and how
The CV shows where someone has been. It doesn’t show how they think, and for a senior role that is most of what you are paying for.
- Which two or three abilities separate a good person in this role from an adequate one?
- If you couldn’t see a CV, how would you find out whether someone has those abilities?
- When people do well here, what decisions do they make that others don’t?
Answers to question 5 turn into interview questions and exercises. If the role needs someone who can redesign a performance process with a sceptical leadership team, ask candidates to walk through one they redesigned, what they changed and who pushed back.
Agree who will assess each ability, so that two interviewers don’t spend an hour on the same thing and nobody tests the rest.
Picture someone you would rehire
Abstract profiles produce abstract shortlists. A real example gives the search something concrete to look for.
- Who have you worked with that you would rehire for this role, even if they didn’t tick every box? Why?
- What did that person do when things went wrong?
- Who in your own network is overlooked but worth a conversation?
Question 7 often shows what the hiring manager values more clearly than the job description does. If they describe someone who calmed a difficult works council, that matters more than the list of HR systems on the spec.
Treat question 9 as a source of names, not a shortcut. Anyone suggested this way goes through the same assessment as everyone else.
Agree the trade-offs now
No candidate has everything on the list. If you don’t decide what gives before the search starts, you’ll decide it in the debrief, under pressure, and probably differently for each candidate.
- If someone meets 60% of the specification but is strong on the abilities in question 4, do they go forward?
- Rank these for this hire: proven track record in the same role, potential to grow into it, and fit with how the team works today.
- A year from now, what would make you regret this hire?
Question 12 is a useful check on the other two. If the answer is “they couldn’t handle a restructuring”, then experience of a restructuring is a requirement, not a nice-to-have, and question 10 has its answer.
Write the ranking from question 11 into the brief, and hold every candidate to it.
Name what the team lacks
A search that only looks for people like the current team will find them. Some of the best appointments bring something the team doesn’t yet have.
- What perspective or experience is missing from the team this person will join?
- Which of your stated values is hardest to live up to day to day?
- If this person challenged how the team works in their first month, how would you respond?
The answer to question 15 decides whether a candidate who would change things should be on the shortlist at all. If the honest answer is “badly”, either the brief should ask for someone who will settle in first, or the team needs to be ready before the new person arrives.
Turn the answer to question 13 into one line in the brief, so it gets assessed rather than mentioned once and forgotten.
The brief is the scorecard
Fifteen answers on two pages are worth more than a long job description. They tell the search what to look for, tell interviewers what to test, and give everyone the same standard when the shortlist arrives. If the hiring manager and the CEO answer differently, you’ve found the problem early, when it is cheap to fix.
When we run a search, these answers are agreed with the client before we approach anyone. If you are about to start one and want to work through them, discuss a search with us.