How Essential Resourcing works
Start with the problem. Not the recruitment product.
You don't need to know whether you need Permanent Recruitment, Retained Search, Fractional Leadership or Market Intelligence before we speak.
You need to know what you're trying to solve.
Maybe you need somebody permanently. Maybe it's a senior hire that needs a proper search of the market. Maybe you need experienced leadership, just not five days a week. Or maybe the brief isn't ready to recruit at all.
My job is to help work that out first.
The Essential approach
Finding people is getting easier. Knowing who's genuinely good isn't.
LinkedIn can find people. AI can find people. A job advert can definitely find you people.
The valuable bit is understanding what the business actually needs, knowing where to look, getting good people interested and working out who's genuinely bloody good.
And sometimes the valuable bit is telling you not to start recruiting yet.
That's what Essential is built around.
Four ways to work with Essential
Which route actually makes sense?
Start with what you're trying to solve. We'll work out the recruitment product afterwards.
Your hiring problem
Permanent Recruitment
“We know what we need and need somebody permanently.”
Specialist, success-based recruitment with a proper brief, market search and focused shortlist.
Explore Permanent RecruitmentRetained Search
“This hire really matters and we need to search the market properly.”
A committed, research-led search for senior, confidential, difficult or commercially important appointments.
Explore Retained SearchFractional Leadership
“We need senior capability, but another full-time permanent hire isn't necessarily the answer.”
Define what leadership the business actually needs, then find the right person to deliver it.
Explore Fractional LeadershipMarket Intelligence & Advisory
“We're not ready to search yet. We need to understand the market first.”
Salary intelligence, talent mapping, competitor insight, brief design and practical hiring advice before you commit.
Explore Market Intelligence & Advisory
What doesn't change
Different routes. Same basic principles.
The service changes depending on the problem. The judgement behind it doesn't.
Whether I'm running a Permanent search, mapping the market for a Retained assignment, finding a Fractional leader or helping you work out what to hire in the first place, a few things don't change.
Get underneath the problem
The job title isn't the brief.
Why are you hiring? What's not working now? What needs to have changed in 12 months?
Before we talk candidates, we need to understand the actual problem.
Reality-check the market
Does the person you're describing actually exist? Does the salary stack up? Where does the relevant talent sit?
If the market is telling us something different from the original brief, I'd rather tell you now.
Look beyond who's available
A job advert has its place. So does LinkedIn. So does AI. So does my network.
The point isn't which tool found the person. It's whether we're looking in the right market and talking to the right people.
Get behind the evidence
A CV tells me where somebody worked. I'm much more interested in what they actually did when they got there.
What did they inherit? What did they change? What happened? What was genuinely theirs?
Help you make the decision
My job doesn't end when I introduce somebody.
Interview structure, candidate feedback, concerns, salary, offers, awkward conversations and market reality all matter.
Finding somebody is only useful if you ultimately make the right decision.
The bit that changes
Same thinking. Different depth, mandate and outcome.
The principles stay consistent. The route changes depending on what you're actually trying to solve.
Permanent Recruitment
- Starting point
- Permanent hire
- Primary outcome
- Appointment
- Search depth
- Focused specialist search
- Market mapping
- As required
- Ongoing calibration
- Throughout the search
- Does it have to end in a hire?
- Usually
Retained Search
- Starting point
- Senior / critical / confidential hire
- Primary outcome
- Appointment after committed market search
- Search depth
- Comprehensive research-led search
- Market mapping
- Core part of the mandate
- Ongoing calibration
- Formal and transparent throughout
- Does it have to end in a hire?
- That's the search mandate
Fractional Leadership
- Starting point
- Leadership problem
- Primary outcome
- Embedded senior leader
- Search depth
- Senior leadership search
- Market mapping
- Targeted to the leadership need
- Ongoing calibration
- Scope and engagement reviews
- Does it have to end in a hire?
- Usually an engagement
Market Intelligence & Advisory
- Starting point
- Market / hiring question
- Primary outcome
- Better hiring decision
- Search depth
- Research-led; may not involve candidate search
- Market mapping
- Often the actual product
- Ongoing calibration
- Research findings shape the recommendation
- Does it have to end in a hire?
- No
When we're searching for somebody
How I actually find the right people.
Not every Essential service follows this exact seven-stage journey.
Retained Search has its own more formal seven-stage methodology. Fractional starts by defining the leadership model. Market Intelligence may finish with a decision rather than a hire.
This is the common search thinking underneath the recruitment work.
Get underneath the brief
The job title isn't the brief.
What does the business actually need this person to change, deliver or improve?
Work out where the good people are
Build the market. Don't just post the job and hope.
Approach people properly
The best person might not be looking. Give them a genuine reason to listen.
Recruitment is a two-way sell.
Get behind the CV
What did they actually deliver? What was genuinely theirs?
Fewer people. More context.
I'm not interested in winning the award for Most CVs Sent Before Lunch.
A focused shortlist. Proper context. No padding.
Help you make the decision
Structured conversations, useful evidence and honest feedback.
Get the bloody thing over the line
Good candidates get lost in bad processes.
Keep momentum, manage the awkward conversations and make sure both sides know where they stand.
Technology + judgement
Technology helps me search. Judgement decides what happens next.
I'm not trying to remove humans from recruitment. I'm trying to use better technology to spend more time on the bits where humans actually add value.
- Research faster.
- Search wider.
- Organise information better.
Then use experience and judgement for the things technology still doesn't decide for you:
- Is the brief right?
- Is this person genuinely good?
- Will they work here?
- Is this move right for them?
- Is this actually the right hire?
Better brief. Better conversations. Better assessment. Better decision. Fewer CVs. Better hiring decisions.
Founder-led means founder-led
When you work with Essential, you work with me.
I'm not taking the brief and handing it to somebody you've never met.
I stay involved from the first conversation through the search, the market feedback, the candidate conversations and the eventual decision.
If something doesn't stack up, I'll tell you. If I think you need a different route, I'll tell you that too.
And if I don't think you should recruit yet, that's a perfectly valid answer.
David WalshChoose your route
Know what you need?
Next step
Got a hiring problem you're trying to work out?
Tell me what's going on.
What are you trying to change? What do you think you need? What's not stacking up?
I'll give you a straight view on the market and which route — if any — I think makes sense.
Start with the problem. We'll work out the recruitment product afterwards.