How Long Does an Executive Search Take?

The industry median for an executive search — from engagement to accepted offer — is 65 to 90 days. This is the time that most companies budget for when they commission a VP or C-suite search.

Well-run executive searches close in 30 to 45 days.

The gap between 30 days and 90 days is not explained by the difficulty of the role, the depth of the market, or the quality of the candidates. It is explained by process decisions — mostly made in the first two weeks of the search — that determine how fast the search can move.

The typical timeline of a well-run search

Week 1–2: Brief and market mapping. The search begins with a brief process that produces a specific, agreed definition of what the company needs. This takes longer to do well than most companies expect — a thorough brief conversation is typically two to three hours, followed by a written brief reviewed and approved by all stakeholders. Once the brief is finalised, the search team begins market mapping: identifying the universe of candidates who are potentially right for the role.

Week 2–3: Initial outreach. Outreach to the first wave of candidates begins as the market map is completed. The best searches run these activities in parallel rather than sequentially — outreach to early-identified candidates begins while the market map is being refined, rather than waiting for the map to be complete before any outreach is sent.

Week 3–5: First conversations and qualification. The search team conducts initial conversations with candidates who respond. These conversations assess fit and interest, producing a view of which candidates merit advancement to the hiring team. This stage typically takes two to three weeks if response rates are healthy and candidate conversations move promptly.

Week 4–6: Shortlist presentation and evaluation. The hiring team receives a shortlist of three to five candidates, with a structured brief for each. Evaluations — typically two to three rounds of interviews with different stakeholders — run over one to two weeks if the hiring team is available and decisions are made promptly.

Week 6–8: Reference checks and offer. Reference checks run in parallel with the final evaluation stages. The offer is structured and presented once the reference check is complete and the decision is made. A prepared offer process — where compensation parameters are agreed in advance and the offer can be made within 48 hours of the decision — closes this stage in days.

What makes searches take longer

Stakeholder misalignment that emerges mid-process. A brief that was agreed at intake but reflects different views among stakeholders produces rejection rationales that weren't in the brief — "not quite what we were looking for," applied to candidates who matched the documented criteria. Reconciling this misalignment mid-search adds two to four weeks to the timeline.

Decision-maker unavailability. Searches that require the CEO or a board member to be in the evaluation loop stall when those people are unavailable for scheduled interviews. A candidate who completed a first interview and waits three weeks for a second one is a candidate who has had time to accept something else.

Sequential rather than parallel evaluation. Some searches run candidates through the evaluation process one at a time — fully evaluating the first candidate before beginning conversations with the second. This structure means that if the first candidate doesn't advance, the timeline extends by the length of that candidate's evaluation cycle. Running two or three candidates through evaluation in parallel, with staggered starts, compresses the timeline without reducing evaluation quality.

Offer process that starts from scratch. Companies that wait until the decision is made to begin thinking about compensation structure, contract terms, and start date are adding two to three weeks to the timeline. The offer preparation — what will be offered, who will extend it, what the negotiation parameters are — should be complete before the final candidate is selected, so that the offer can be made within 48 hours of the decision.

What the 30-to-45-day close requires

A search closes in 30 to 45 days when: the brief is fully aligned before outreach begins; the hiring team is available and committed to moving within 48 hours at each stage; the evaluation runs with two to three candidates in parallel; reference checks begin as soon as a preferred candidate emerges; and the offer is prepared before the final decision is made.

None of these conditions require a lower standard of process. They require preparation and discipline — doing the work upfront that allows the search to move when it needs to move.

Majhi Group's average time-to-close is 30 to 45 days against the 65 to 90 day industry median. The difference is process design, not market conditions.

Request an assessment to discuss a current search and what a well-run timeline looks like for your specific role.