Why does an executive search shortlist contain only three to six candidates?
A shortlist of three to six candidates may look small, but it represents a much wider search. In specialist sectors such as semiconductors and photonics, identifying the right leadership candidates involves market research, conversations and careful assessment, not simply matching CVs to a job description.
“Just send me the CVs.”
We hear it all the time. And we understand why. When you need to appoint a senior leader, you want to see who is out there.
But by the time a shortlist of three to six people lands in your inbox, it can represent a much bigger search than those few CVs suggest.
For one search, we might build and filter a list of more than 100 people, speak with 30 or 40, and then present the candidates we believe deserve serious consideration. The numbers vary by assignment, but the principle is the same: a shortlist is the outcome of the work, not the starting point.
The longlist is where we start, not what we hand over
The first task is to look widely enough. In semiconductors, photonics and other specialist technology markets, the right person is not necessarily the one with the most obvious title or the neatest LinkedIn profile.
We look across relevant companies and, where appropriate, adjacent markets. That means making choices about who is worth approaching rather than just collecting names that match a few keywords.
A longlist helps us explore the market. It is not, by itself, an answer to a client’s hiring challenge.
Then come the conversations
A CV can tell you where someone has worked. It cannot tell you the whole story of what they achieved, how they worked or whether they would even consider a move.
So we speak to people. We ask about their experience, what motivates them and what they want next. We challenge assumptions and look for the details that don’t fit neatly into a profile.
This is also how you find people who aren’t advertising themselves. Some of the best candidates we’ve placed have had the worst CVs. They were busy doing the work, not polishing their profiles. Others had been headhunted throughout their careers and never needed to apply for a role.
Why the shortlist is deliberately short
By the time we share a profile, we want it to be more than a promising name on a spreadsheet. We’ve already had conversations, assessed their relevance and identified the questions a client should explore further.
That doesn’t mean the shortlist is guaranteed to contain the perfect candidate. It means the client can spend time seriously considering a smaller number of well-researched people, rather than sorting through a long list themselves.
And if the market isn’t producing the expected shortlist, that matters too. We need to explain what we’re hearing and what it means for the brief, not simply send CVs to make the numbers look better.
Don’t judge the search by the pile of CVs
We often see clients look at a candidate’s CV and say, “This doesn’t look right.” Sometimes that instinct is worth exploring. But sometimes the person who looks less convincing on paper turns out to be one of the most interesting people in the process.
That’s why we always encourage clients to ask what we’ve learned from speaking to the candidate, not just what the document says.
A shortlist of three to six candidates might look small. The work behind it shouldn’t be.
The point isn’t to send you the most CVs. It’s to show you the people worth meeting, and give you the market context to understand why.
Hiring a senior leader? Tell us what you’re looking for and we’ll tell you honestly what the market will give you. Book a Strategy Call