The hiring brief that gets a financial services role filled
Most searches that stall were briefed in three lines. This is the two-page brief we ask every client for before we open a mandate, because the eight answers on it are where the shortlist criteria, the offer and the close all come from. Fill it in before you speak to any recruiter, internal or external.
What is on the page
Eight sections, each with the two or three questions that actually decide the search, and a closing checklist for when the brief is ready to hand to anyone.
- The seat. Not the job description. Why the role is open now, where it sits, and what the market would call it.
- What the person will have shipped in twelve months. Three outcomes. The most useful paragraph in any brief, and the one most often missing.
- Must-haves, nice-to-haves, and the domain test. At most five must-haves, and the conversation the person must be able to hold on day one.
- What has been tried. Every route and agency, and the stage at which candidates dropped, so nobody repeats it.
- Compensation, honestly. The band, the number for the ideal candidate, and when the band was last checked against the market.
- The process, with names and dates. Interviewers by name, one decision-maker, committed turnaround. Offer dropout is mostly decided here.
- The pitch. Why this role over the candidate's current seat and the obvious competitor, and what is genuinely hard about it.
- Risks and constraints. Notice periods, counteroffers, who holds the candidate from offer to joining, confidentiality.
Why a brief this specific
Across the specialist mandates we run, the searches that close in four to six weeks and the ones that drift for a quarter are rarely separated by the candidate market. They are separated by whether the hiring firm could answer these eight questions on the first call. A recruiter who knows what the person must have shipped in a year, what has already failed and at which stage, and who signs the offer, builds a shortlist of three the hiring manager will interview. One who does not builds a list of thirty, and the search becomes a screening exercise for the client.
The template is written for technology, data, risk, compliance and leadership roles at banks, NBFCs, fintechs, insurers and financial services GCCs in India, but there is nothing in it a firm outside the sector could not use. If you fill it in and want a second opinion on what the market will realistically deliver against it, send it to us. That is exactly what the first conversation is for.
Read alongside it
- How to brief a search firm for a /insights/how-to-brief-a-search-firm-gcc-build-india/ build in India
- What a vacant senior risk or compliance seat costs, and how to shorten it
- How to reduce offer dropout in financial services hiring
- Salary benchmarks by function, for section five
- When to hand a role to an external partner
- How a PeopleCap mandate runs, from brief to joining
Send a brief
Filled it in? Send it to us.
We read every brief and reply within one working day with what the market will realistically deliver against it, and whether it is a fit for our practice.
- Read by a senior member of the team, not an intake queue
- A reply within one working day: the realistic candidate pool, the pay band, the timeline, and whether we are the right partner
- Success-fee: you pay only when the candidate joins
Prefer the full form? Brief us on /engage/. Want to write a proper brief first? Use the two-page template. Candidates: this form reaches business development, not the talent team; share your profile here.