01
Start with the work, not the keywords
A brief that asks for a “senior, self-directed person with industry experience” communicates intent, but it is not yet a usable search. Ask the hiring lead what this person must deliver, the environment they will work in and which skills they need on day one.
Rewrite each expectation as something you could investigate. “Has built a design team” gives a sourcer more direction than “strong leadership.” Then distinguish what a public profile might indicate from what it can prove. A title or employer name alone cannot establish the scope of someone’s work.
- Outcome: what work must the hire accomplish?
- Constraint: what genuinely cannot change, such as a required work location?
- Searchable signal: what experience would make a profile worth reviewing?
- Open question: what must be confirmed in a conversation rather than inferred from a profile?
02
Make the must-have versus preference decision explicit
Test each proposed must-have with one question: could someone without it succeed in the role with reasonable support? If so, it may be a preference. Get the hiring team to agree on that distinction before searching.
Hypothetical example: a Paris-based B2B product design leader may need prior team-management experience if they will immediately manage several designers. Experience in the company’s exact industry might be negotiable if adjacent B2B experience is relevant. Employment at a recognizable company is not evidence of what the person personally delivered.
- Keep the must-have list to requirements that are truly necessary at the start.
- Give each preference an acceptable alternative, such as a neighboring industry, different title or comparable scope.
- Record unresolved decisions as questions: “Must they have managed a team, or would substantial mentoring experience count?”
03
Build search paths from the criteria
Candidate sourcing criteria say what matters. Search paths describe how that experience might appear on a profile. Test several ways to express the same background instead of combining every phrase from the brief into one restrictive query.
For the hypothetical design role, try titles such as “Head of Product Design,” “Design Manager” and “Lead Product Designer.” Read the underlying experience to distinguish people management from mentoring or individual contribution. Look for B2B context, but do not treat its absence from a profile as proof that the person lacks it.
- Pair each must-have with a possible visible signal and a later verification question.
- Prepare title variants, skill terms and alternative company contexts.
- Avoid requiring every keyword at once; an overly narrow search can hide equivalent experience.
- Keep the reason each person makes the shortlist, along with what remains unknown.
04
Check early results and revise the brief
Review a small set of profiles found through different search paths with the hiring lead. Ask: “What supports the must-have? Which preference is missing? What would we need to ask this person?” If clearly relevant people are being excluded, revisit the rule before adding more keywords.
The useful output is a short, reusable search sheet: role outcomes, must-haves and expected evidence, negotiable preferences and alternatives, search paths to test, and open questions. It takes the team from brief to search without mistaking a promising profile for a completed assessment.
- Log changes to criteria and the reason for each change so the brief does not drift unnoticed.
- If results are too broad, sharpen the evidence you seek; if too narrow, relax a preference or add an equivalent background.