Too Close to Call: Why Senior Hiring Needs Distance
by Martin Mvelle, Search Associate
Internal talent teams have never been better.
They understand the culture, the politics, the personalities. They know which leaders really hold influence, where the fault lines are, and what “fit” means beyond the job description. In most organisations, they are more sophisticated than many external recruiters.
So why do boards and CEOs still bring in specialist head-hunters for senior appointments?
It’s rarely about capability. It’s about proximity.
When proximity becomes a risk
At mid-level, being close to the business is a huge advantage. Internal teams can move fast, calibrate quickly, and screen out obvious misfits.
At the senior level, the stakes change:
The brief is tied to power, succession and risk, not just delivery.
The stakeholders are boards, investors, and regulators, not just hiring managers.
A mis-hire doesn’t just hurt a quarter; it can damage strategy and reputation.
When you sit inside that system, it’s hard to stay neutral. You know who is lobbying for “their” candidate, what went wrong last time, and which relationships are fragile. That insight is valuable - but it also creates pressure to smooth edges, avoid conflict, and keep everyone “on side”.
That’s where blind spots creep in.
The brief you write vs. the brief you’re really hiring to
Every senior appointment has two briefs:
The official mandate – the experiences, skills and reporting lines that appear on paper.
The unspoken mandate – what this person is really being hired to fix, protect or unlock.
Internal teams usually understand both. They hear the formal story, and they know the history: failed change programmes, political tensions, reputational scars.
What they don’t always have is the freedom to challenge it.
A good search partner can pressure-test the real mandate without risking internal relationships. They can ask:
“Whose world changes most if this person is successful?”
“What would quietly make this hire untenable 18 months from now?”
That external interrogation often prevents costly, political mis-hires.
Neutrality doesn’t just protect – it opens doors
We tend to talk about headhunters in terms of confidentiality and reach. Both matter, but the real edge at the senior level is neutrality.
Because they don’t carry the corporate email address, search partners can:
Have more candid conversations with senior candidates about risk, mandate and internal dynamics.
Engage people who would never respond to a careers page or “are you open to a conversation?” message from the company.
Deliver unvarnished market feedback on how the organisation is perceived.
For candidates, talking to a neutral third party feels safer. They can explore the role, ask difficult questions, and back away without creating noise. That honesty gives leadership a clearer view of both the market and themselves.
Internal teams rarely get that level of candour - for candidates, they are the company.
Internal + external: the combination that works
This is not an argument for outsourcing everything.
Internal teams bring depth of context and cultural intelligence that no external partner can replicate. They know what “good” looks like internally and where the organisation can flex.
Executive search adds:
Distance from internal politics
Discretion for sensitive conversations
Market leverage and challenge
The best outcomes come when the two work in sync:
Internal talent defines cultural non-negotiables and stress-tests what will land internally.
External search maps the market, runs the sensitive outreach, and challenges assumptions about what’s realistic.
Together, they give leaders a fuller, more honest picture before a decision is made.
Far from sidelining internal teams, the right search partnership strengthens them - by feeding back insight, sharpening future briefs and reframing how the organisation shows up to senior talent.
It’s a design choice, not a capability judgment
The wrong question is: “Can our internal team do this?”
In most cases, they can.
The better question is:
“Given the risk, visibility and politics around this appointment, how should we design the process?”
Sometimes the answer is: internal can lead alone.
For the most sensitive, strategically important hires, the answer is usually a blend.
Not because internal teams aren’t strong enough.
But because neutrality and distance give that strength room to go further.
And that’s where specialist head-hunters actually earn their place.
MadlinHanna Consulting is a recruitment consultancy specialising in public affairs, corporate communications and financial PR. Contact us in London on +44 (0) 20 8088 4102 or in Brussels on +32 (0) 2 586 38 98 for more information or a confidential conversation about these services and more.