Writing on executive search, executive candidate research, sourcing discipline, and how firms run better searches.https://trycerna.com/en-ushttps://trycerna.com/blog/manufacturing-executive-search/https://trycerna.com/blog/manufacturing-executive-search/Manufacturing narrows operations search further: what kind of manufacturing, and which P&L the person actually owned, decide the job.Fri, 04 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/private-equity-executive-search/https://trycerna.com/blog/private-equity-executive-search/A PE-backed operating role is not the same job as the identical title elsewhere. What changes: the mandate, the reporting line, and what a short tenure means.Fri, 04 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/healthcare-executive-search/https://trycerna.com/blog/healthcare-executive-search/Healthcare executive search runs on a professional credential, a clinical/administrative split, and a system-vs-standalone divide that a title alone won't show.Fri, 04 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/technology-executive-search/https://trycerna.com/blog/technology-executive-search/Technology-company operating leadership doesn't reconstruct like an industrial company's does. Title tracks funding stage, and the usual proxies mislead differently.Fri, 04 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/ai-in-talent-acquisition/https://trycerna.com/blog/ai-in-talent-acquisition/Most 'AI in talent acquisition' content is built for high-volume hiring — parsing, scoring, chatbots. Executive search runs on a different constraint entirely.Thu, 03 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/how-does-executive-search-work/https://trycerna.com/blog/how-does-executive-search-work/Executive search finds candidates who were not looking for a job. A plain explanation of how the process works, who it's for, and where the depth lives.Thu, 03 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/what-is-retained-search/https://trycerna.com/blog/what-is-retained-search/Retained search is a specific engagement model, defined by how the firm gets paid — not a synonym for 'executive search' in general. Here is the plain definition.Thu, 03 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-atlanta/https://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-atlanta/Atlanta is the fifth-largest executive search market in our research: 85 qualifying firms, a third of them barely describing themselves at all.Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-boston/https://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-boston/56 Boston-area firms describe themselves as executive search firms in our research — the smallest population this series has reviewed so far.Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-chicago/https://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-chicago/Chicago carries the fourth-largest population of executive search firms in our research. A review of 112 shows a broader, more generalist market than New York.Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-dallas/https://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-dallas/Dallas gets nearly as much search volume as any metro we've reviewed, but the firm population behind it is thin — 76 firms, read directly, show what that gap means.Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-denver/https://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-denver/37 Denver-metro firms describe themselves as executive search firms — a small, real population, read directly rather than assumed or padded out.Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-houston/https://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-houston/Houston carries the smallest firm population this series has reviewed — 63 firms — testing the energy reputation and whether Dallas's leaner format holds.Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-los-angeles/https://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-los-angeles/Los Angeles carries the second-deepest bench of executive search firms in our research, after New York. The entertainment cliché does not hold up against the data.Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-miami/https://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-miami/Miami gets the lowest search volume in this series, a twelfth of New York's, but carries 72 qualifying firms — more than Houston, Boston or DC.Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-minneapolis/https://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-minneapolis/39 Minneapolis-area firms describe themselves as executive search firms, in their own words — small enough to read here as a snapshot, not a market analysis.Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-new-york/https://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-new-york/New York holds more executive search firms than any other US metro we've mapped. A review of 359 of them shows what the market is actually built from.Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-phoenix/https://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-phoenix/48 Phoenix-area firms describe themselves as executive search firms — a small, honest read of what that market actually contains, not a claim about how it works.Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-san-francisco/https://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-san-francisco/San Francisco carries the third-largest population of executive search firms in our research. A review of 115 tests whether it is as tech-concentrated as assumed.Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-seattle/https://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-seattle/28 self-described executive search firms in the Seattle area, read directly from their own words — the thinnest sample in this series, sized to match.Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-washington-dc/https://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-washington-dc/53 firms qualify for this review of the Washington DC metro — under a third of them are actually headquartered in the District itself.Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/active-sourcing-in-executive-recruitment/https://trycerna.com/blog/active-sourcing-in-executive-recruitment/Active sourcing is usually one recruiting technique among several. In executive search it isn't a technique — it's the entire discipline.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/ai-candidate-screening-executive-search/https://trycerna.com/blog/ai-candidate-screening-executive-search/AI candidate screening usually means resume parsing and interview scoring. Here is what a model does inside executive-search screening, and what it needs around it.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/artificial-intelligence-recruiting/https://trycerna.com/blog/artificial-intelligence-recruiting/AI recruiting bundles at least four different jobs under one label. Here is which ones hold up under scrutiny, which ones don't, and why that split is structural.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/beyond-linkedin-recruiter/https://trycerna.com/blog/beyond-linkedin-recruiter/LinkedIn Recruiter is genuinely good at searching a huge, self-reported index. Here is what that index structurally leaves out, and what firms do about the gap.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/candidate-sourcing-tools-executive-search/https://trycerna.com/blog/candidate-sourcing-tools-executive-search/Executive search sourcing runs on several kinds of tools, each solving one part of the problem. Here is what each category covers, and where its coverage stops.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/chatgpt-for-executive-recruiting/https://trycerna.com/blog/chatgpt-for-executive-recruiting/Can ChatGPT do executive candidate research on its own? A real attempt: what it gets you fast, where it quietly breaks, and what checking it takes.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/coo-interview-questions/https://trycerna.com/blog/coo-interview-questions/Most COO interview lists test whether a candidate can talk about operations. Here is how to ask about the specific things only a real operator can answer.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/executive-interview-questions-that-work/https://trycerna.com/blog/executive-interview-questions-that-work/Most executive interview questions get a rehearsed answer. Here is what a question is actually testing for, and where the interview stops being able to tell you.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/executive-succession-planning/https://trycerna.com/blog/executive-succession-planning/Most succession plans are an org chart with a name penciled in. What that gap looks like, and what a search firm inherits when it wasn't closed first.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/hiring-operations-executives/https://trycerna.com/blog/hiring-operations-executives/Why operations titles travel worst of any function, and how to reconstruct scope, weigh the regulated/unionized/capital-intensive set, and map adjacent sectors.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/how-boutique-search-firms-compete/https://trycerna.com/blog/how-boutique-search-firms-compete/Boutique firms reach for 'more personal' and 'faster' when asked why a client should pick them. Neither is structural. Here is what actually is.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/how-a-board-search-differs/https://trycerna.com/blog/how-a-board-search-differs/A board search recruits for oversight, not a job. The spec is a gap in the board's composition, and the deciding criteria are different from any executive hire.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/how-to-start-an-executive-search-firm/https://trycerna.com/blog/how-to-start-an-executive-search-firm/Leaving a larger firm to start your own looks like a business-model swap. The operational reality is different — here is what the first year actually demands.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/what-aesc-membership-means/https://trycerna.com/blog/what-aesc-membership-means/AESC membership means passing a firm audit and signing onto a written code, not a size threshold. What it actually requires, signals, and leaves undisclosed.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/what-candidate-sourcing-services-include/https://trycerna.com/blog/what-candidate-sourcing-services-include/Every sourcing-services pitch promises a pool of names. What varies between providers is what happens to each name before it reaches you.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/what-cfos-earn-and-what-boards-pay/https://trycerna.com/blog/what-cfos-earn-and-what-boards-pay/The "cfo salary" aggregator number averages together companies with almost nothing in common. Two real proxy filings show what actually sets the figure.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/what-coos-earn/https://trycerna.com/blog/what-coos-earn/COO comp aggregators blend one title into a single figure. Two real, filed numbers show scope, not company size, is what actually moves it.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/what-headhunting-fees-pay-for/https://trycerna.com/blog/what-headhunting-fees-pay-for/A headhunting fee is usually judged by its percentage. The percentage is the least informative part of it — here is what the number is actually pricing.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/ai-in-executive-search-candidate-research/https://trycerna.com/blog/ai-in-executive-search-candidate-research/AI in recruiting is mostly discussed at the tool level. Here is what a language model does well in executive candidate research, and what breaks without a pipeline.Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-best-practices/https://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-best-practices/Best-practice lists for executive search tend toward platitude. These are the practices that change what a shortlist can defend, and why each one holds.Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-methodology/https://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-methodology/Every executive search firm describes a similar methodology. Here are the questions that expose the real differences, and what the answers tell you.Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-process-steps/https://trycerna.com/blog/executive-search-process-steps/The executive search process in eight stages, what each one is actually for, and the specific way each stage fails when it gets compressed under deadline.Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/headhunter-vs-recruiter/https://trycerna.com/blog/headhunter-vs-recruiter/Headhunter and recruiter are used interchangeably and describe different work. The distinction that matters is who they are paid to find, and how.Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/how-a-ceo-search-works/https://trycerna.com/blog/how-a-ceo-search-works/A CEO search differs from other executive searches in who decides, what confidentiality costs, and how much of the work happens before candidates exist.Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/how-to-screen-executive-candidates/https://trycerna.com/blog/how-to-screen-executive-candidates/Candidate screening at executive level is not resume review. Here is how to read scope instead of titles, and what the three verdicts on each criterion mean.Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/how-executive-search-researchers-find-candidates/https://trycerna.com/blog/how-executive-search-researchers-find-candidates/Candidate sourcing in executive search is a recall problem before it is a filtering problem. Here is how the discovery pass works and where candidates get missed.Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/how-to-shortlist-candidates/https://trycerna.com/blog/how-to-shortlist-candidates/Shortlisting candidates is a filtering problem with a recall risk. Here is how to stage the filter so the people you cut are the people you meant to cut.Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/how-to-write-executive-search-brief/https://trycerna.com/blog/how-to-write-executive-search-brief/An executive search brief is the rubric the whole search runs against. Here is how to make criteria specific enough to evaluate, and what vague ones cost you.Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/research-bottleneck-boutique-executive-search/https://trycerna.com/blog/research-bottleneck-boutique-executive-search/At a boutique firm, research capacity sets how many searches can run at once. Here is what the constraint costs in partner time and in quality variance.Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/retained-vs-contingency-search/https://trycerna.com/blog/retained-vs-contingency-search/Retained and contingency search differ in who carries the risk, and that difference decides how much research each model can afford to do. Here is what changes.Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/sourcing-evidence-executive-search-what-confirmed-means/https://trycerna.com/blog/sourcing-evidence-executive-search-what-confirmed-means/In candidate research, a confirmed claim and an asserted one look identical on the page. Here is where the line sits, and what a source has to do to count.Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/what-a-retained-executive-search-firm-does/https://trycerna.com/blog/what-a-retained-executive-search-firm-does/A retained search firm is paid across the engagement, not on placement. Here is what that money buys at each stage, and what the client still has to supply.Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://trycerna.com/blog/what-executive-search-shortlist-contains/https://trycerna.com/blog/what-executive-search-shortlist-contains/A shortlist has to survive a client call. Here is what belongs in every candidate entry, what each claim owes you, and what a shortlist should never do.Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT