In today’s highly competitive job market, having access to the right leadership can give businesses a significant competitive advantage. However, the hiring process can be time-consuming and resource-intensive, whereas making a bad hire can be costly in terms of time, money, and productivity. Given these market dynamics, businesses have increasingly valued a leadership advisory firm that can help execute their human capital strategy and hence business objectives.

Enter Carpe Diem Global Partners—a bespoke, 5-year-old, performance-based leadership advisory firm providing Leadership Acquisition, Leadership Development and Organizational Advisory Services.

The firm’s ethos is to deeply understand a client’s business, marketplace, operating model, people and culture then leverage that knowledge across a range of adjacent leadership services for stronger, faster outcomes for the client. To accomplish that, the firm amassed a team of former operating executives acting as trusted advisors backed by some very cool innovations. In surveys from its Net Promoter Score, Clients consistently refer to the firm as truly differentiated and innovative against the broader marketplace. 

When it comes to retained search, Carpe Diem Global Partners is driven by a mission to reimagine the end-to-end experience clients and candidates have with executive search firms. The company drives a strong link between acquisition, retention and development using a six-sigma approach to all its services, including retained search. 

Innovation #1 – Quality AND Speed – The Cost of Open Leadership Roles

Using a proprietary process in retained search, the firm helps clients resolve complex issues quickly align on the key criteria for a role, provides 100% transparency end to end in its delivery, then offers guarantees on its quality AND speed – a first of its kind innovation in the retained search industry.

“We are not a recruiting firm and don’t hire recruiters to lead executive search engagements or leadership development services. Our partners are former business leaders, subject matter experts,  personally driving the solution focused on strategic talent initiatives for Board, C-suite, and VP level roles,” says Jeff DeFazio, Managing Partner at Carpe Diem Global Partners. As a former 3x CEO, DeFazio was both a client and candidate dozens of times.  “All of our partners arrive here with 20+ years of business and functional operating experience as an executive. They lead the engagements end to end.” The result is greater thought partnership, more creativity, valuable insights throughout the life of an engagement.

Carpe Diem Global Partners is typically hired to solve an organization’s most complex leadership challenges and create new opportunities for clients to choose from. Its consultants, former operating executives, invest deeply in understanding a client’s unique business.

Many of Carpe Diem Global Partners’ newest retained search clients approached them after some frustration with large-scale, high-volume providers.  “Would an executive rather speak with another executive peer or a twenty-something recruiter with little business or leadership experience? It’s one of many nuances in our proprietary process that turbocharge candidate engagement”  said DeFazio.  As an example, exhausted by the typical slower motion and cadence of large-scale global firms, the firm was retained by a $30B business to deliver custom solutions, and rigorous candidate assessments at a faster and more intense pace. Being transparent with its delivery times and KPIs gave the client confidence that the company was not turning over the same old candidate inventory. They wanted a highly confidential executive solution quickly without having an open role for 4-6 months.

Innovation #2 – Accelerated Onboarding (AOB)

5 years ago, the firm recognized the need to support placed candidates beyond the start date. A monthly check in post placement was nice but it was a bit like driving while looking through the rear-view mirror.  Given the depth of knowledge we had with the business and both sets of stakeholders, it was a natural adjacency to help with onboarding. HR can only dive so deep and broad into assimilation programs within the first 90 days.  Often, HR is given white-washed feedback from peers or direct reports on the initial experience working with a placed candidate.  For those reasons, the firm designed an innovative 90-day assimilation program that works continuously with supervisor, peers and directs, then measures its impact. The AOB concludes with a learning plan for the candidate and supervisor to continue, rather than waiting for the next performance cycle.

Innovation #3 – Fair and Balanced Assessments

New clients were showing up with stories of how search firms were “selling/pushing” candidates that did not truly fit with what they wanted. The firm’s philosophy has been to present candidates with a fair and balanced scorecard. As experts in interviewing with long executive operating backgrounds, Carpe Diem consultants provide balanced feedback with every candidate. The firm believes its fundamental, core role is to identify strengths and areas of concern with every candidate.

Create a New Future for your Colleagues.

Such has been the prowess that Carpe Diem Global Partners has garnered over the years by helping many such clients. The firm recruits world-class leaders in a transparent, proprietary process designed around clients’ specific needs using a rigorous assessment process, former executive leaders with ‘skin in the game’ through its quality and speed guarantees. “After all, an executive that has actually led the role we are hired to fill, is in the strongest position to recruit and assess the ideal candidate,” said DeFazio.  As an example of one important KPI to the firm – its 2022 delivery time was on average 32-days.  Every business deserves this experience.