FIT FIRST. THEN THE APPOINTMENT.

Executive Search For Leaders Who Stay

Executive Search For Leaders Who Stay

Retained executive search for food and beverage manufacturing across the United States, Director to C-suite. One person runs your search from briefing to close, and that person is me. I put a leader forward only when the move advances their career and answers a problem the business actually has.

Retained executive search for food and beverage manufacturing across the United States, Director to C-suite. One person runs your search from briefing to close, and that person is me. I put a leader forward only when the move advances their career and answers a problem the business actually has.

Retained executive search for food and beverage manufacturing across the United States, Director to C-suite. One person runs your search from briefing to close, and that person is me. I put a leader forward only when the move advances their career and answers a problem the business actually has.

Book a 30 minute call

F&B

FOOD AND BEVERAGE, EXCLUSIVELY

2006

IN FOOD MANUFACTURING SINCE

1

PERSON RUNS YOUR SEARCH, BRIEFING TO CLOSE

About Williams Recruitment

IrunretainedexecutivesearchforfoodandbeveragemanufacturersacrosstheUnitedStates.Privateequitysponsorsandfounder-ownedbusinesses,DirectortoC-suite,everysearchrunbyme.

Consiliopartnerswithambitiousteamstosimplifycomplexity,strengthenyourteamdecision-making&createsustainablegrowththroughstrategicexpertise.

IrunretainedexecutivesearchforfoodandbeveragemanufacturersacrosstheUnitedStates.Privateequitysponsorsandfounder-ownedbusinesses,DirectortoC-suite,everysearchrunbyme.

Williams Recruitment

Since 2020

Williams Recruitment

Since 2020

One person, accountable

I take your brief, I do the search, I have every conversation, and I am the one answering for it a year later. There is nowhere for me to hide.

One person, accountable

I take your brief, I do the search, I have every conversation, and I am the one answering for it a year later. There is nowhere for me to hide.

Sector depth

In food manufacturing since 2006, ten of those years working inside it. I do not need the sector explained and I will not learn your business on your time.

Sector depth

In food manufacturing since 2006, ten of those years working inside it. I do not need the sector explained and I will not learn your business on your time.

Fit discipline

I put a leader forward only when the move advances their career and answers a problem your business actually has. Appointments hold because of what I decline, not what I close.

Fit discipline

I put a leader forward only when the move advances their career and answers a problem your business actually has. Appointments hold because of what I decline, not what I close.

Sectors

See all seven sectors

Seven sectors in food and beverage manufacturing. Director to C-suite, across the United States.

Seven sectors in food and beverage manufacturing. Director to C-suite, across the United States.

How I work

How I work

No research team. No account manager. I take your brief, I do the search, I have every conversation, and I am the one answering for it a year later.

No research team

Nobody to hand a difficult mandate to when it stops being easy. The person who sold you the search is the person doing it.

A shortlist I believe in

If I am confident in two people, you meet two people. I will not pad the list to look busy.

Image

I will say no

I turn down work outside my sector, and I will tell you a candidate is wrong when placing them would pay me.

Twenty-five conversations a week

Five calls a day with Director-level leaders and above in food manufacturing. That is why I can tell you within a week whether the person you are describing exists.

No research team

Nobody to hand a difficult mandate to when it stops being easy. The person who sold you the search is the person doing it.

A shortlist I believe in

If I am confident in two people, you meet two people. I will not pad the list to look busy.

Image

I will say no

I turn down work outside my sector, and I will tell you a candidate is wrong when placing them would pay me.

Twenty-five conversations a week

Five calls a day with Director-level leaders and above in food manufacturing. That is why I can tell you within a week whether the person you are describing exists.

No research team

Nobody to hand a difficult mandate to when it stops being easy. The person who sold you the search is the person doing it.

A shortlist I believe in

If I am confident in two people, you meet two people. I will not pad the list to look busy.

Image

I will say no

I turn down work outside my sector, and I will tell you a candidate is wrong when placing them would pay me.

Twenty-five conversations a week

Five calls a day with Director-level leaders and above in food manufacturing. That is why I can tell you within a week whether the person you are describing exists.

Our Approach

How a search runs

I do every step myself, so the person who understood your brief never hands it to somebody who did not.

Understand

Search

Screen

Understand the business

I sit with you until I know the role, the business and what wrong would look like. Most briefs describe a job. I want what the last person did or did not do, what the board is nervous about, and what happens to the plan if this hire does not land.

Understand the business

I sit with you until I know the role, the business and what wrong would look like. Most briefs describe a job. I want what the last person did or did not do, what the board is nervous about, and what happens to the plan if this hire does not land.

pasta dish on white plate

Search the whole market

I map every credible person at that level in your sector, not the ones who happen to be looking. I approach them directly, including the people who were not thinking about moving, which is usually where the best of them are.

pasta dish on white plate

Search the whole market

I map every credible person at that level in your sector, not the ones who happen to be looking. I approach them directly, including the people who were not thinking about moving, which is usually where the best of them are.

clear drinking glass with brown liquid

Screen before you see anyone

Everyone you meet has already had a conversation with me, and I screen on fit rather than availability. Then I stay in it through resignation, counter offer and the first ninety days, because that is where senior appointments come apart.

clear drinking glass with brown liquid

Screen before you see anyone

Everyone you meet has already had a conversation with me, and I screen on fit rather than availability. Then I stay in it through resignation, counter offer and the first ninety days, because that is where senior appointments come apart.

Why Williams Recruitment

I would rather lose the mandate than send you a shortlist I do not believe in

Most of this market runs on volume. Send more, place faster, move on. I will turn down work outside my sector, and I will tell you a candidate is wrong when placing them would pay me.

Sector, not function

Operations, supply chain, technical, commercial, finance, general management. Sector and seniority are the screens. I know how a food business works from the inside.

Sector, not function

Operations, supply chain, technical, commercial, finance, general management. Sector and seniority are the screens. I know how a food business works from the inside.

Built for both sides of the deal

A leader who does well in a founder-led business is often wrong for a sponsor-backed one. I screen for fit with your business, not with the job title.

Built for both sides of the deal

A leader who does well in a founder-led business is often wrong for a sponsor-backed one. I screen for fit with your business, not with the job title.

Straight answers at the briefing

If the spec is wrong you hear it on the first call, not three months in. If the right answer is promoting someone you already have, I will say so.

Straight answers at the briefing

If the spec is wrong you hear it on the first call, not three months in. If the right answer is promoting someone you already have, I will say so.

Nobody to hand it to

When a firm has forty consultants, the person who sold you the search is rarely the person doing it. Here they are the same person.

Nobody to hand it to

When a firm has forty consultants, the person who sold you the search is rarely the person doing it. Here they are the same person.

The difference

Why businesses choose Williams Recruitment

Why businesses choose Williams Recruitment

The volume model

Place people, make as much money as possible, move on. That is the model most of this market still runs.

Paid to close, not to be right

The candidate who can be placed, not the one who should be

Ten mandates, a shortlist barely met

Gone once the invoice clears

Speed sold as the answer to risk

How I work

Boards now ask what happens if this goes wrong. My answer is to act as a partner and focus on whether the leader stays, not on whether I get paid.

Fit before availability

Two people if I believe in two

Every conversation had by me

Accountable a year after the offer

Trust that brings the next search

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In food manufacturing since

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In food manufacturing since

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Founded

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Founded

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Director-level conversations a week

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Director-level conversations a week

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Sectors, and nothing outside them

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Sectors, and nothing outside them

FAQs

Questions I get asked

Something I have not answered? Book a call

Why do you work alone?

Because the person who takes your brief should be the person who runs the search and answers for it a year later. It limits how many searches I run at once. It is also why the work is any good.

How long have you worked in the US?

What did you do before recruitment?

What have you got wrong?

What do you do all day?

Where are you based?