The phrase executive recruiting still carries baggage.
For a lot of founders, operators, and even HR leaders, it conjures images of transactional headhunters. People who fire off resumes, vanish after placement, or chase commission over long-term fit. In the CPG industry especially, the wrong hire can cost you shelf space, retailer trust, and internal momentum. And too often, the blame gets laid at the feet of recruiting.
But here’s the truth: the best recruiters don’t fit that stereotype. They’re strategic, market-obsessed, and data-backed. And it’s time we start measuring them that way.
Most brands evaluating a search partner focus on familiar stats: time-to-fill, interview-to-hire ratios, candidate drop-off rates. And those do matter. But great recruiters, true partners, go further.
They track what others ignore. Metrics that reflect retention, internal mobility, and impact on the hiring manager’s own trajectory. That’s where the real story lives.
Here’s a stat we love sharing: 37.1% of the people we’ve placed were promoted within 24 months.
That number doesn’t just speak to placement quality, it tells a story. It sparks curiosity. It shifts the conversation from “Who can you get me quickly?” to “Who can help my org grow over time?”
In executive recruiting, especially across high-stakes functions like operations, sales, and finance, metrics like these change the entire relationship between client and recruiter. They create trust. They invite partnership. They move recruiting from cost center to growth engine.
A high-performing recruiter isn’t just filling open reqs, they’re anticipating business needs before they’re spoken.
That means talking to everyone in the org—not just HR. C-level execs, sales directors, finance leads, founders. The best CPG recruiting pros ask one core question: “What does success look like in this role—personally and professionally?”
That’s the baseline for a strategic search.
Great recruiters also understand how roles scale with company size, velocity, and distribution. A Key Account Manager at a $10M brand doesn’t look like a KAM at a $100M brand. And hiring someone from a global beverage company doesn’t always translate to scrappy, stage-specific success.
The right recruiting partner knows the difference—and can communicate it in numbers that resonate.
Here’s the real shift happening in executive recruiting: smart clients aren’t just looking for resumes. They’re looking for evidence.
If a recruiter can’t tell you how their placements perform, or how they’re measured post-hire, they’re not playing the same game.
Recruiting isn’t just about getting butts in seats. It’s about driving performance, reducing churn, and helping hiring managers win. That requires clarity, transparency, and yes—metrics that actually matter.
Some of the most impactful data we track includes:
Promotion velocity: How fast placed candidates rise internally
Backfill rates: Whether roles have to be rehired in under 18 months
Hiring manager advancement: How a successful hire helps leaders rise within the company
Candidate referrals: How many placed execs refer future talent from their networks
This isn’t just reporting for the sake of it. These numbers build trust. They demonstrate long-term thinking. And in a space as competitive and lean as CPG, trust is everything.
You don’t need to be a data scientist to be a great recruiter. But you do need to know your market—and know how to communicate value clearly.
That’s especially true in executive recruiting, where every hire impacts more than just a role—it shapes culture, drives revenue, and defines leadership legacy.
Metrics don’t just track results. They challenge assumptions. They reshape the narrative around what recruiters do and why it matters.
And if you’re working with the right partner, they’ll use data not just to prove their worth—but to make you look good in the process.