Running the search yourself works, until it does not.
If you lead technology and need to hire a senior engineer or a leader who will report to you, you can run that search in-house. Plenty of good hires happen that way. Here is where the two paths differ, without the sales gloss.
| The question | Running it in-house | Running it with Affinity |
|---|---|---|
| Who hears about the role | Whoever is reading job posts this month, plus the people your team already knows. | People who are not looking and would never apply, reached through relationships and approached one at a time. |
| Agreeing what good looks like | Often assumed. Each interviewer carries a slightly different picture of the role, and it shows in the debrief. | Settled first. We get the role and the interview panel aligned, then put the candidate profile in writing for you to sign off. |
| Compensation | Set from what you last paid and what the boards show, then adjusted late when a finalist pushes back. | Discussed at the start, checked with every candidate on the way through, and revisited before an offer goes out. |
| Your week | The search sits on top of a full calendar. Screening slips when the quarter gets loud. | Sourcing, screening and scheduling become our job. Your time goes to the interviews that matter. |
| Screening | Résumé reading and instinct, one panel at a time. | The same scorecard for everyone: skills, motivation, compensation alignment and references. |
| What reaches your desk | A stack of applications to sort, most of them not close. | A short list, each person worth an interview, with our notes on why and on what gave us pause. |
| Counter-offers | Handled when they arrive, which is usually the week you thought the search was over. | Planned before the offer is made, with the candidate's likely response already talked through. |
| Discretion | A public posting tells the market, and your team, that a seat is open or about to change. | A search can run quietly, including while the current leader is still in place. |
| Hearing it straight | Nobody outside the company is going to tell you the role is defined wrong. | We will, early. We also say when a search is not a fit for us, and we mean it. |
The comparison describes how a typical search runs. Every search is different, and we are happy to talk through yours either way.
When to run it yourself
You do not need us for every hire, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise. Keep the search in-house when most of the following hold:
- Someone strong is already in your network and open to a conversation.
- The team has hired for this exact role before and the profile is well understood.
- Compensation for the role is settled and in line with the market.
- You or someone on your team has real time for sourcing, screening and follow-up.
- Nothing about the opening needs to stay quiet.
If that is your situation, go ahead. Write the profile down before you start, keep the scorecard consistent and give candidates fast feedback. Those habits carry most of the weight.
When to call us
The in-house route starts to break in predictable places. Call us when you recognise one of these:
- The people you want are employed, content and not reading job boards.
- The search has been open for a while and the applications are not close.
- The role is new to the company and nobody is certain what it should pay.
- The search needs to stay confidential, inside the company or outside it.
- You have lost a finalist to a counter-offer before and do not want to again.
- The week you would spend on sourcing is a week the business cannot spare.
One of those is enough reason to compare notes. Several of them is the point at which running it yourself stops being the cheaper option.
Leadership and senior individual contributor searches
Affinity Search Partners is a search firm for technology and information-systems roles. The searches that suit us best are the ones where the person matters most: technology leaders, and the senior engineers, architects and analysts a leader builds around. We also place contractors and consultants when a project or a gap needs covering, and contract-to-hire when you want to see someone work before you commit.
Where we search
Cloud and infrastructure, software development, and data and analytics. Leaders of those functions, and the people they most need to hire.
Who we search for
Employers whose business is technology, healthcare, manufacturing or financial services, in Middle Tennessee first and across the country.
What we weigh
Skills, and then character: how someone handles a hard stretch, and whether they will fit the people already on your team.
What a first conversation looks like
It is a short call, and it is not a pitch. Bring the role you are weighing and we will tell you what we would do in your seat, including when the answer is to keep it in-house.
Nothing about the conversation obliges you to anything. Most of it is us listening.
- The role, and why it is openWhat the person will own, who they report to, what the last person did well and where the gap is.
- What has been triedWhere the search has already gone, who has interviewed and where it stalled.
- Our honest readWhat the market looks like for the role, what it is likely to take to fill it, and whether we are the right firm to do it.
- If it fits, a written profileThe first working step is a candidate profile you sign off on. Sourcing starts only after that.
Compare notes on a search
Whether the role is a leader, a senior engineer or the first hire of a new function, we will give you a straight read on running it yourself or with us.
Affinity Search Partners, founded in 2013 and based in Brentwood, Tennessee.