Recruitment is a growth accelerator, not a support function. Dan Partners works on two levels: strategic consulting to rethink your Talent Acquisition organisation, and direct execution of your permanent executive hires.
The market for executive profiles is flooded with ads. And since AI, it's flooded with messages too. The result? Recruiters still struggle just as much to find the right profiles. The mismatch and the sheer volume of applications to process remain the number-one difficulty recruiters report. And most candidates drop out of a process they find too long or too opaque. In other words: posting an ad and waiting no longer works. Especially for the scarce profiles the same companies fight over.
The real shift? AI has put mass outreach within everyone's reach. The best candidates now receive ten generic messages a week. Automated. Impersonal. Ignored. The reality: the more sourcing gets automated, the rarer and more decisive the human approach becomes.
The best are already employed. They respond to only one thing: a precise, personalised and credible approach. Not a template. That is exactly what direct search is for.
Our conviction: AI speeds up sourcing, it doesn't replace closing. We use it to identify and target faster, not to send more noise. AI for speed. Humans for the relationship.
Advisory · Hiring process
You want to keep hiring in-house? We install the machine: a clear, well-tooled and measurable process your teams can run without us.
Operations · Recruitment & RPO
You would rather delegate execution? We run the assignment directly: an in-depth brief with the Talent Acquisition Expert and/or the Hiring Manager, direct approach and profile qualification, structured interviews, profile presentation with a synthesis, through to signature and the onboarding of your new team member.
For permanent search, you only pay for results: no retainer, no upfront fee, payment upon the candidate's signature. No signature? No invoice. The risk is on our side, not yours.
For activity peaks, team building or new market openings, we embed a senior recruiter directly in your team: your tools, your rituals, your ATS. A scoped assignment of 3 to 12 months, 5 to 30+ hires, on a predictable monthly fee. The right formula if you have 10+ hires ahead or no in-house Talent Acquisition function yet.
Five stages, always in the same order, from brief to preboarding.
D+0
Need scoping, scorecard, candidate persona.
D+3
Direct approach, ATS, referrals, inbound.
D+10
Shared grids, collective debrief, bias control.
D+25
Pitch, negotiation, signature.
D+30
Keeping the link alive, candidate NPS.
Target with a structured process: 30 to 45 days from brief to closing.
A failed hire is expensive: manager time, salary, re-recruitment, team impact. Our conviction is that a good hire depends as much on process rigour as on sourcing quality. By structuring both, you hire profiles that perform, and stay. That is why our offer connects with employer branding upstream and employee experience downstream: three links of the same chain.
The market in numbers
Sources: APEC, Welcome to the Jungle, 2025 market data.
FAQ
Executives and experts on permanent contracts for startups and scale-ups: tech, product, data, sales, marketing, finance, ops and leadership. We focus on strategic or scarce roles, where direct search makes the difference.
In-depth brief and scorecard with the hiring manager, direct approach and profile qualification, structured interviews, a shortlist with a per-candidate synthesis, then support through to signature and the onboarding of your new team member.
For search, it's 100% success-fee: no retainer, no upfront fee, payment upon the candidate's signature. No signature, no invoice — the risk is on our side. RPO runs on a predictable monthly fee.
Entrusting all or part of your hiring to a senior recruiter embedded in your team, like an extension of your Talent Acquisition function. Across the market, RPO reduces time-to-hire by about 40% and costs by 35 to 50% (Recruiterflow, Robert Walters). With us: a 3-to-12-month assignment, 5 to 30+ hires.
Success-fee search for one or a few targeted roles, paid on results. RPO if you have 10+ hires ahead, an activity peak, or no in-house Talent Acquisition function yet. The two can be combined.
In 2025, the average time from job posting to accepted offer is 63.5 days across roles, and 33.6 days for an executive role (SHRM). With a structured process, our target is 30 to 45 days from brief to closing.
Far more than the hire itself: 30% to 200% of annual salary depending on the role (U.S. Department of Labor, SHRM), up to 200% for an executive, without counting manager time, re-recruitment and team impact.
Contact
A scoping call to understand your need, and tell you honestly whether we can help.
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