The candidate who was not looking.

A VP search that became a Senior Vice President role, built around a conversation.

The situation.

A global commercial real estate firm engaged us to fill a VP-level role in lease administration.

The strongest prospect was not a candidate in any conventional sense. By most measures, this was not a person a search would reach.

Over a decade in the role.
Equity in the business.
Recently promoted.
Closed to recruiters.
A nearly empty profile.
We reached out anyway.

The conversation.

We reached out anyway, and caught them on a rare day they were willing to talk. What followed was a long process of listening: hours of conversation before they were ready to meet the client.

The question was what was missing, for someone who already had everything a job is supposed to provide.

They were not looking for a job. They were missing a north star.

The outcome.

They came from a less traditional consulting firm, running exactly the kind of program our client wanted to build. Their conversation with the client went well beyond the original brief.

Rather than fit this leader into the VP role, the client created a new Senior Vice President of Lease Administration position around the vision the two of them shared.