Most recruitment agencies present CVs. We present candidates. The distinction matters. A CV is a document. A candidate is a person whose personality, judgement, and behaviour under pressure have been assessed in depth before we suggest them to a client.
This page explains how we do that. It covers the scoping work that happens before any candidate is approached, the interview and reference process, and the decisions we make about who reaches a client's shortlist and who does not. If you are a client considering engaging us, or a candidate considering registering, this is what the process looks like from both sides.
For current opportunities, see our job board. To discuss a search, see our Private Households & Estates page or Family Office recruitment page.
Most searches fail not because the recruiter could not find the right person, but because the brief was wrong. A role that looks like a Head of Household turns out to need a Chief of Staff. A role described as an EA turns out to be a Family Office Director with a quieter title. The scoping conversation catches these mismatches before the search begins.
We ask about scope. What does the person actually do, day one? What do they do in year two? Who do they report to? Who reports to them? What is delegated and what is escalated?
We ask about authority. What decisions can the person close without the principal? What is the budget threshold? Can they hire and fire? Can they engage advisers?
We ask about the principal's working style. How does the principal prefer to communicate? Written or verbal? High access or gated? Weekly rhythm or ad hoc?
We ask about the household or office context. Who is already in seat? What has been tried before? What did not work and why?
We ask about trade-offs. Every brief has trade-offs. Experience versus energy, stability versus ambition, discretion versus initiative. We surface these early.
By the end of the scoping conversation, we usually know the role better than the client has ever articulated it. That becomes the brief the search runs against.
For senior or specialist roles, the best candidates are in-seat. They are not applying. They will not be found on job boards. They will not respond to a cold LinkedIn approach. They respond to a trusted recruiter who approaches them on behalf of a specific, well-scoped role.
Our network has been built over years. It includes candidates we have placed before, candidates we interviewed but did not place, and candidates who came through referral from principals, advisers, and peers. For most senior searches, the qualifying pool is small enough that we know a significant portion of it already.
When the right candidate is not in our immediate network, we map the market. That means identifying comparable roles at comparable households or offices, researching the people currently holding them, and making direct approaches through discreet channels. The mapping is methodical. It is what distinguishes a retained search from a CV dump.
Every candidate we present to a client has been interviewed by Oplu first. Not screened on a call. Interviewed, in full, usually for 60 to 90 minutes. We assess for four things.
Technical fit. Can they do the job? What is their direct experience of this specific role, in a comparable environment, at a comparable scale? We are not interested in general potential. We are interested in demonstrated track record.
Judgement. How do they think? What do they prioritise? How do they describe hard decisions they have made? The best candidates reveal their judgement in how they describe previous roles, previous principals, and previous mistakes. The answers cannot be rehearsed.
Discretion. We have seen candidates with perfect CVs share client details in the first interview. Discretion is not a line on a CV. It is a habit we test before anything else. A candidate who names previous principals unprompted, describes private family matters in detail, or discloses financial specifics during interview has already failed a core test. They do not reach the shortlist.
Written clarity. If a candidate cannot write a clear one-page note, they will not serve principals well. We ask for written work during the process, whether a short email summary, a sample memo, or a follow-up note after interview. The quality of the writing predicts the quality of the service.
References in private recruitment are different from corporate references. A reference from an HR department is not useful. What matters is a reference from a previous principal, a previous family office director, or the person the candidate directly supported.
We ask specific questions.
What was the candidate's real scope, not the title? Job titles in private work are approximate. We want to know what the candidate actually did.
What did they handle well? What did they handle badly? We are not looking for a glowing reference. We are looking for honest differentiation. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. A reference who cannot name either is not a useful reference.
How did the placement end? Why did they leave? Was it a good separation? Would the referee hire them again, and for what kind of role?
What should the next principal know on day one? This question surfaces the candidate's working style and the quirks that matter. It is the single most useful reference question we ask.
We avoid asking questions that can be answered with yes or no. We listen for hesitation, specifics, and honesty. A reference who answers too smoothly is as informative as one who stumbles.
Our shortlists are deliberately small. For most retained searches, we present three to five candidates. For exclusive or contingent searches where the pool is larger, we may present six to eight. We do not present fifteen. The point is to save the client time, not to demonstrate activity.
Every candidate on a shortlist comes with a written profile. The profile covers experience, direct-role evidence, working style, salary and package expectations, and an honest fit assessment with specific notes on where the candidate will and will not thrive. We include weaknesses as well as strengths. Clients do not need marketing. They need accurate information.
We are explicit about where a candidate might fall short. If someone is strong on capability but the principal's working style may clash, we say so. If a candidate is brilliant on paper but lacks the direct experience the brief requires, we say so. The client decides. Our job is to make the decision informed, not to sell candidates into the seat.
For roles that warrant a trial, we coordinate it. We agree the terms, the timeframe, the objectives, and the compensation in advance. Trials are paid on a pro-rata basis and are structured to give both sides a realistic test of fit. A week of reality is worth more than three rounds of interviews.
At offer stage, we manage the negotiation. Compensation in private roles is rarely just a base salary. Accommodation, bonuses, travel, car, health insurance, and non-compete or non-solicitation provisions all need to be agreed. We have done enough of these that the common pitfalls are familiar, and we flag them before they become problems.
The process does not end at signature. We check in at one week, one month, and three months post-placement. These conversations surface small issues before they become resignations. They are not sales calls. They are designed to protect the placement.
For retained searches, we offer a defined replacement guarantee if the placement does not work out within an agreed window. The specific terms are agreed at engagement. We have rarely needed to invoke them, because the process is built to reduce mis-hires, not to backstop them.
Being specific about what we do not do is as important as describing what we do.
We do not send CV stacks. If a client expects a volume shortlist, we are not the right firm. Our process produces small, considered shortlists.
We do not recruit for clients who want the cheapest hire. Our fees reflect the depth of the process we run. Clients focused on minimum cost are not the right fit.
We do not present candidates we have not interviewed. If we have not met the candidate directly, we do not send the profile.
We do not breach candidate confidentiality. Candidates are named to clients only after we have agreed with the candidate what the client will be told. Controlled disclosure goes in both directions.
Three things matter most when working with us.
Scope the role with us properly. An hour of honest scoping at the start saves weeks of wasted search. Tell us what you want, what you have tried, what has worked, and what has failed.
Trust the shortlist. If we have presented three candidates, it is because those three are the right three. Asking for more usually produces weaker candidates, not better ones.
Move fast at offer stage. The best candidates have options. Slow decision-making loses them. If we have presented someone you want, move decisively.
Oplu recruits across Private Households, Family Offices, and Luxury Brands. We work on retained, exclusive, and contingent mandates depending on the role. Our process is the same across all three: scope first, source from network, interview in depth, reference honestly, present short, support the placement.
For current opportunities, see our job board. To discuss a search, get in touch.
We scope the role properly, source from our network and through discreet market approach, interview every candidate in depth, reference with previous principals or family office directors, and present a short curated shortlist with honest written profiles. Candidates we have not interviewed in person are never presented.
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