An Introduction Booklet (Society Europe)

An Introduction

Society is a global
executive search firm
We bring about positive
change around the world by
placing exceptional people
into meaningful roles within
good organisations.
From our offices in the United
Kingdom and the United
States, Society solves senior
recruitment challenges for
responsible businesses and
purpose-driven organisations.
Our clients come from a range of different industries and niches
across the private, public and not-for-profit sectors.
We work broadly across many different functional areas,
tackling everything from CEO and Board-level appointments,
through to mid-level roles, and programmes of recruitment
resulting from expansion or restructure.
Society is a certified B Corporation.
This means we have been independently
audited in line with rigorous standards
of social and environmental performance,
accountability and transparency. We
have also embedded a commitment
to Responsibility into our Articles
of Association.

The Value of Headhunting
Why use a search firm in the
first place? Well it’s important
to remember that there are
essentially two types of
candidate: the active candidate
and the passive candidate...
We will devote ourselves to finding the best
leadership talent for your organisation.
Through a process of creative research, patient courtship, and
nuanced advocacy, we are able to help you move beyond
appointing only ‘the usual suspects’.
Active candidates have made a conscious decision to find
a new role. As such they will be looking at job adverts and
networking furiously. But passive candidates are much more
elusive. They’re usually busy people, currently giving little
thought to their next job move.
Public advertisements and contingent recruitment firms only
succeed in accessing active candidates. A retained executive
search firm like Society can add value by drawing in passive
candidates as well.
We can cast the net as widely as you want, unconstrained by
sector or geographical boundaries. And at the end of the day
you will be able to appoint from a larger, higher calibre and
more diverse field of candidates.

Full Executive Search
Research-Only
Bespoke Services
Our Approach
Rather than offering
a ‘one-size-fits-all’
solution, we are able
to flex our approach
to different client needs.
A full executive search process is the best way of
making senior appointments. It typically consists of
the following stages:
• We take an in-depth briefing from you in person, seeking
to understand as much about your organisation and the
role as possible;
• We conduct an extensive headhunt, making use
of both our existing networks and creative research;
• We interview a longlist of suitably qualified candidates
on your behalf and make recommendations as to who
should be shortlisted;
• We help you to organise all the logistics of your own
face-to-face interviews;
• We assist you with taking up references and
conducting any final salary negotiations with your
preferred candidate.
For mid-level appointments, a truncated research-only
approach is sometimes appropriate. This streamlined
model works as follows:
• We take an in-depth briefing from you over the phone;
• We conduct an extensive headhunt, making use of
both our existing networks and creative research
(this is sometimes undertaken in parallel with a
public advertisement);
• At the conclusion of the research phase, we sift all the
candidate CVs and produce a preliminary grading;
• We then send you all the candidate
paperwork electronically;
• You confirm which people you wish to take forward to
interview, and we turn down any unsuccessful candidates.
We look to form long-term partnerships with our clients
and will therefore occasionally help them on other
projects. These might include:
• Conducting salary and benefits surveys for a specific
role, gathering together data from an agreed set of
comparator businesses;
• Mapping the organisational structure of an agreed
competitor (or a specific team within it);
• Running specially-designed assessment centres to
make sure you get the best results from your formal
interview processes;
• Delivering an enhanced reference check on appointable
candidates, including verifying their academic and
professional qualifications;
• Conducting internal benchmarking exercises.

Delivering on Diversity
We believe that diversity brings strength,
resilience and legitimacy to organisations.
That’s what we want for our clients, and we’re
prepared to fight for it every step of the way.
For us, diversity isn’t a bolt-on extra; it’s an integral part of
how we work. We have therefore sought to identify grounded
practical steps that we can take in order to get better results
for our clients, and to embed them at every stage of our
methodology. Central to our efforts is the collection and use
of data. We conduct diversity monitoring across all our
processes and use this to identify areas where we need
to improve.
Society has been lucky enough to work with some of the
leading champions of equality, including advising Stonewall
on their CEO appointment. We were a founding signatory of
the Voluntary Code of Conduct for Executive Search Firms,
an initiative aimed at securing a higher number of female
appointments to the Boards of FTSE 350 companies. We have
also been a vocal and engaged ally in important discussions
around movements such as Black Lives Matter.
The values of equality,
diversity and inclusion
are at the core of who
we are as a firm and
they are central to
how we work.

We’re committed to being a
responsible business. This
means we don’t just want to
create profit, we also want
to play our part in securing
a fairer world and a more
sustainable future.
The Society Foundation
Every year we donate 10% of our
profits to The Society Foundation.
This is an independent charity
we helped to set up. It provides
grants aimed at helping
potentially vulnerable
individuals, including
ex-offenders and the recently
homeless, into paid employment.
Reaching Net Zero
We take our impact on the
environment very seriously. For
this reason we have joined with
other businesses in declaring a
Climate Emergency and we have
publicly committed ourselves to
reaching ’Net Zero’ carbon
emissions by 2030.
Reaching Our Client Net Portfolio Zero
We take have our impact established on the environment a simple
ethical very seriously. framework For this that reason helps we have us to
joined with other businesses in declaring a
Climate decide Emergency what clients and we our have company publicly
should committed and ourselves shouldn’t to reaching’ work with. Net
Zero’ carbon emissions by 2030.
Wherever possible we are
also trying to align our work
with the UN’s Sustainable
Development Goals.
Read more at: www.society-search.com/responsibility

If you’re interested in learning more about Society, we’d love to
hear from you. Please contact us on hello@society-search.com
or via one of our offices:
Society Europe
Society North America
The Johnson Building
404 5th Avenue
77 Hatton Garden Floor 7: 0ffice 030
London
New York
EC1N 8JS 10018
United Kingdom
United States
+44 (0)207 935 4052 +1 (917) 882 9827
www.society-search.com
SOCIETY LIMITED REGISTERED IN ENGLAND AND WALES | NO. 6917936