Retained Executive Search
End-to-end leadership search for companies that need a deeper read than a résumé and a reference check.
Custom retained engagementExplore retained search
For hiring teams and founders | Avoid the Hiring Bluff™
Retained search and fractional recruiting support for hires you cannot afford to get wrong.
More applicants. Better packaging. Smoother interviews. And no reliable way to tell who is actually going to deliver once they start. We bring the market intelligence, hands-on recruiting, and honest read.
Talk to me about the roleThe Hiring Bluff™
The hard part is not finding candidates. It is knowing which signals to trust.
- Your pipeline is full, but very little of it is actually useful.
- People look qualified on paper, then an hour-long interview uncovers major gaps.
- The role has been open too long and the team is losing confidence in the search.
- You cannot afford to confuse a polished presenter with the operator the business needs.
How I help
Strategic hiring support for roles you cannot afford to get wrong.
I help hiring teams clarify what great actually looks like, separate evidence from performance, and make stronger decisions with incomplete information.
I have recruited inside Google and Meta, built teams across TKO’s UFC, WWE, and PBR brands, and advised hundreds of hiring managers across more than 10 industries.
I also play poker professionally, so reading what someone is not saying is not something I learned in a training.
Start the hiring conversationWays to work together
Search when you need execution. Advisory when you need a better hiring system.
Strategic Recruiting Sprint
Focused execution for a hard-to-fill role, a new team, or a search producing plenty of activity but not the right hire.
Fixed project scopeFractional Recruiting Leadership
Senior recruiting leadership, scorecards, practical processes, and candidate communication without adding a full-time internal recruiter.
Monthly engagementExplore fractional supportHiring Calibration & Market Intelligence
Role clarity, talent mapping, compensation context, and an honest read on whether the profile you want exists at the budget you have.
Fixed advisory scopeSee every hiring support optionFocused advisory, embedded leadership, talent mapping, and high-stakes hiring support
Additional ways to work together
Founder Hiring War Room
A focused working session for a critical role, a stalled search, or a final slate that is creating more debate than clarity.
Custom scopeRevenue-Critical Hiring Audit
An honest review of the role, profile, process, pipeline, and interview signals before another month disappears.
Custom scopeFractional Head of Hiring
Senior hiring leadership for companies that need strategy, structure, and execution without a full-time recruiting executive.
Custom scopeExecutive Talent Mapping
Market intelligence on where the right leaders sit, what will attract them, and whether the brief matches the available talent.
Custom scopeAI can write a résumé. It cannot read a room.
That is where we come in.
1,000+Professionals hired or placed
5,000+Candidates interviewed
100+Senior leaders and executives recruited
HundredsOf hiring managers advised
Hiring intelligence
The offer was declined. Do not decline the lesson too.
New: What to Get Right Before Hiring Your First ExecutiveNew: What to Do When Your Top Executive Candidate DeclinesRead: How to Choose the Right Executive Search FirmRead: What an Executive Search Guarantee Should CoverRead: How to Run a Confidential Executive SearchRetained, contingent, fractional, and full-time recruiting solve different problems. The right choice depends on the risk of the role, the consistency of the hiring volume, and what another month of delay is costing the business.
New: Fractional Recruiter vs. Recruiting AgencyRead: Should You Hire a Great Candidate Without Industry Experience?Read: Should You Match a Top Candidate's Counteroffer?Read: Should You Run an External Search When You Have an Internal Candidate?Read: How to Rescue a Stalled Executive SearchRead: Why Strong Executive Candidates Want More Than Your BudgetRead: When the CEO and Hiring Team Disagree on the FinalistRead: How to Choose Between Two Strong Executive FinalistsRead: How to Evaluate Executive Candidates Beyond Interview PolishRead: Why Strong Candidates Drop Out of the Hiring ProcessRead: Should You Use Retained Search for a VP Role?Read: How to Build an Executive Hiring ScorecardRead: Why a Full Pipeline Can Still Produce No Credible FinalistsRead: How Long an Executive Search Should Actually TakeRead: What That Open Position Is Actually Costing YouRead: What Retained Executive Search Actually CostsRead: Fractional Recruiter vs. Full-Time RecruiterRead: Retained vs. Contingent RecruitingWhat a client says when I’m not in the room
“The majority of our top performers have come from Rachel and the Unicorn Wranglers team.”
Co-Founder & COO
Digital Marketing Agency
Not sure what kind of support you need?
Tell me what is not working. I’ll give you the honest read.
Get the honest readKeep reading
Better hiring decisions start before the interview.
Six practical reads for founders and hiring teams. Browse the full library when the hiring room creates a new question.Browse the complete library →
01 · Executive search