This guide describes the firm's process only from what the firm itself publishes, and links to each page. Dream Executive has no affiliation with the firm. Processes vary by search and change over time, so the consultant running your search is the final word.
The firm, in its own words
Spencer Stuart describes itself as a leadership advisory firm best known for board and executive search. Its executive search page cites more than 60 offices in over 30 countries and more than 50 practice specialties, and says nearly two-thirds of its assignments come from repeat clients. For CEO, CFO and other C-suite roles, the firm describes a comprehensive assessment of finalists covering business and functional expertise, marketplace and industry knowledge, leadership abilities, character and motivation, cultural fit, and capacity to grow.
The candidate process, as the firm describes it
The firm's guide for candidates, Your Experience as a Candidate, divides the process into three parts: Learning About You, Communication, and Coaching and Development. It notes that most of its candidates are not actively looking for a new job.
- Before you meet the client. The team confirms it has your latest resume, which the firm calls critically important. It asks you to sign a data consent form and to provide what it needs to validate your education. It also asks for a 20-minute online style assessment, which it says has no right or wrong answers.
- As a finalist. If you become one of two or three finalists, the firm runs in-depth background screening and referencing, and explains to clients that it is best practice for the firm to manage the referencing.
- Timing. The firm says the process can take six months or more.
- Negotiation and feedback. The firm says it plays an active role in compensation negotiations, works with you to shape your leadership story, and gives feedback where it can.
What the firm asks of candidates
The same guide asks candidates to get ahead of any question marks in background, education, or references, and to keep the team informed of changes. Its list of common myths includes these:
- An updated resume matters at every level. The first myth on the list is that a senior executive does not need one. The firm calls the resume a chance to tell your leadership story.
- Prepare a point of view. The firm asks for a well-reasoned view of the company and a hypothesis on what it might look to accomplish.
- Work through the firm. It cautions against approaching the client company directly during a search.
- Education checks take time. The firm notes that verifying education can delay a search by months, especially for degrees from outside the country, and asks you to raise any issue early.
An older article by the firm's consultants, Executive Search 101 for the passive job seeker, gives resume advice directly: keep it to two or three pages, proofread it, avoid jargon, explain acronyms and what your employer does, and be specific about titles. On scope it says that a CEO or general manager title needs its geography, product line and business size, and calls "P&L holder" a highly abused term. It also asks candidates to keep LinkedIn complete and to disclose early anything a search of the internet might turn up. Its companion article for active job seekers advises a personalized email with your resume attached, sent to the consultant who covers your sector.
How to prepare your documents
| Stage, as the firm describes it | What to have ready |
|---|---|
| Latest resume confirmed | A current resume before the first serious call, with every role carrying a context line and a scope line. |
| Education validated | Degree names, institutions, and years written exactly as the institution records them, with any gap or overseas degree raised with the consultant at the start. |
| Scope assessed | Geography, product line and business size stated for every senior role. P&L written as owned or influenced, with the number. |
| Leadership story shaped | A summary of four or five sentences that argues your trajectory, and a mandate paragraph for each role that says why you were hired. |
| Point of view on the company | Your own reading of the company's situation, and a short letter that says what you would bring to it. |
| Referencing as a finalist | Referees who have seen your resume and recognize the results on it. |
| Online presence | A LinkedIn profile that matches the resume, rebuilt after the resume is final. |
How this fits the way I work
My process ends where a search firm's begins. The resume, the value statement letter, and LinkedIn are written together, so the documents a researcher finds online match the ones a consultant presents. Every role carries a context line, a scope line, and a mandate, which covers most of what the firm's own advice asks for. I explain how a researcher and a partner read the page in How Retained Search Reads Your Resume, and the full method is in the Executive Resume Guide.
Expecting the call? Have the documents ready before it comes.
Thirty minutes, free, with me. Book a free 30-minute discovery call.
