How we placed an executive leader in 33 days after another firm spent 7 months.

PE-backed precision manufacturer · Aerospace and industrial · New Jersey

Time to fill

Prior firm

7 months · 0 hires

EqualAccess

33 days · hired

We closed the search in about an eighth of the time the prior firm spent without producing a hire.

How the shortlist came together

139candidates sourced

22fully vetted

5finalists presented

1placed and retained

The challenge

A PE-backed manufacturer in New Jersey needed an executive leader to succeed its founding president and eventually scale the business nationally.

They had already engaged another recruiting firm. That firm spent seven months on the search and produced eight candidates. None met the bar, and the founder's succession clock was running.

What made it hard

✓ An owner-led, hands-on culture that rejected corporate, delegation-first profiles on sight
✓ A growth mandate, so downsizing and rightsizing backgrounds were wrong by default
✓ Compensation expectations that needed calibrating against a $210K to $275K market
✓ Daily on-site presence required at a 25-person NJ facility, with no remote option

How we ran it

Our approach

Discovery

What we did

On-site facility tour and in-person interviews with the founder, PE leadership, and the operations team. Culture mapping and two defined candidate archetypes.

Why it matters

We built the search around what actually works inside the building, not a job description written in a vacuum.

Sourcing

What we did

139 candidates identified through proactive outreach to passive talent, with market mapping across manufacturing, aerospace, industrial distribution, and PE-backed operators.

Why it matters

We targeted people who were running things, not looking for jobs. That is where the quality came from.

Screening

What we did

Two partners screened every candidate independently, validating compensation, hands-on credibility, and owner-culture fit, plus resume coaching to surface real experience.

Why it matters

Separate screening catches what one evaluator misses, and coaching raised candidate quality before the client ever saw them.

Assessment

What we did

DiSC behavioral leadership assessments on all five finalists, with profiles delivered alongside each submittal.

Why it matters

Behavioral data gave the client a second lens beyond the interview and surfaced coaching needs early.

Client partnership

What we did

Weekly progress emails with full pipeline visibility, structured debriefs with rating frameworks, and offer and comp negotiation support.

Why it matters

The client never had to wonder where the search stood. Every week they saw progress, decisions, and next steps.

The results

Thirty-three days from contract to accepted offer.

Signed February 6, 2026. Offer accepted March 11, 2026. In that window we sourced 139 candidates, presented five finalists, and closed the placement.

	Prior firm	EqualAccess
Time on search	7 months	33 days
Candidates presented	8	5, all qualified
Client feedback	None met the bar	"Best I've seen"
Behavioral assessments	None	DiSC on all five
Weekly reporting	No	Yes
Comp calibration	No	Market-validated
Post-placement coaching	Not offered	Included

Have a search no one else can fill?

If a role has stalled or the stakes are too high to get wrong, this is exactly the kind of search we run.

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