“I tried reverse recruitment after getting nowhere with online applications, and working with Arno ended up being a far better use of my time. He was honest about what was realistic, helped sharpen how I presented my experience, and handled the outreach.”
The Reverse Recruitment Method™
Executive search, run for you.
A confidential, done-for-you job search for Director-to-C-suite leaders. A recruiter's process, a recruiter's access, and a recruiter's discipline, pointed at the market on your behalf instead of the employer's.
Definition
What is Reverse Recruiting?
Reverse Recruiting is executive search run for the candidate instead of the employer. A reverse recruiter identifies the companies and decision-makers that fit a leader's next move, builds the positioning and documents, runs the outreach in the leader's name, and manages the pipeline of conversations until an offer is accepted.
A traditional recruiter is paid by the hiring company and works only on the roles that company has open. A career coach advises you and hands the work back. A reverse recruiter does the work: the targeting, the approaches, the follow-up and the scheduling, while you stay in role. The résumé and LinkedIn profile are built inside the engagement as working assets, not sold as the end product.
Why the category exists
Roughly seven in ten senior roles are never publicly posted. They fill through referral, retained-search shortlists, internal moves and direct approaches. A job-board search never touches that market. Reverse Recruiting was built to work it deliberately: the same channels a retained search firm uses, run for the person rather than the position.
Arno Markus formalised the approach as the Reverse Recruitment Method™ after years as an executive recruiter in Helsinki, Amsterdam and Toronto, and in 2026 founded the National Reverse Recruiter Association so that the profession would have a published standard process, a code of ethics and an earned credential.
How an engagement runs
Four stages, weekly working sessions, full visibility.
The engagement runs in monthly cycles. Every approach made in your name is agreed with you first and logged, so you always know who has been contacted, what was said, and what happens next.
01
Weeks 1–2
Target map
A working session with Arno or a senior strategist to define the move: level, sector, geography, comp band, and what you will not accept. From that, a deliberately narrow list of companies and the decision-makers who own the hire, vetted on culture, trajectory and fit. Typically 15 to 40 organisations, not 400.
02
Weeks 2–4
Positioning
Executive résumé, LinkedIn architecture, executive bio and a senior-voice outreach narrative, built by the award-winning iCareerSolutions team to lead with scope, P&L and impact rather than function. Built for three readers at once: the applicant tracking system, the recruiter with eight seconds, and the hiring executive who has to decide by Friday.
03
Ongoing
Outreach in your name
Warm-path introductions through mutual connections, direct approaches to hiring leaders, and targeted contact with the retained search partners who run mandates at your level. Messaging reads as a peer reaching out, never as a candidate applying. Sequenced, tracked, and agreed with you before it goes.
04
To signed offer
Pipeline to offer
Interview preparation per target, including back-channel research on the people you will meet. Weekly working sessions to review the pipeline and adjust the targeting. Offer analysis and negotiation support until the offer you want is signed.
What is included
Everything a retained search firm would do for a client company, done for you.
- Senior strategist on the engagement. Arno or a senior member of the iCareerSolutions team runs the campaign with you. It is never handed to a junior associate.
- Target map and decision-maker research. Companies, hiring leaders, board and investor context, and the retained search firms active at your level.
- Executive résumé, LinkedIn profile and executive bio. Built inside the engagement by a 32-time award-winning team; yours to keep and to update.
- Outreach and follow-up, run in your name. Warm introductions, direct approaches, recruiter contact, and the persistence a search needs and most candidates cannot sustain while in role.
- Application handling. For the posted roles worth pursuing, the applications are prepared and submitted for you.
- Interview preparation. Dossiers per target, question preparation, and rehearsal for panel and board-level conversations.
- Offer analysis and negotiation support. Compensation benchmarking, equity and package review, and negotiation strategy.
- Weekly working sessions and a written pipeline report. You see every approach, every response and every next step.
Fee structure
A fixed engagement fee agreed in writing before work starts. It is never a percentage of your salary, and nothing is due when you accept a position. Scope and pricing are set out in a written proposal within 48 hours of the first call.
Who it is for
Built for leaders whose next move cannot be public.
The in-seat executive
Currently employed, cannot risk visibility, and has no time to run a search properly. The engagement runs quietly alongside the day job.
The leader stepping up a level
VP to SVP, SVP to C-suite, operator to officer, or first board seat. The current documents undersell the scope; the market needs a new narrative.
The leader rebuilding leverage
Restructured out, or six months into a search that has produced polite silence. The channel was wrong, not the candidate.
Levels
Director, VP, SVP, C-suite, President, GM and board candidates. Mid-career professionals are served through the iCareerSolutions team.
Markets
United States and Canada primarily; United Kingdom and Europe through the firm's cross-border practice. Sector-agnostic, with depth in technology, healthcare, financial services and industrials.
Not a fit
Anyone looking for a document and nothing else, or a guaranteed outcome on a fixed date. The method produces conversations with decision-makers; it does not manufacture offers.
In their words
What it looks like from the client's side.
“After being laid off for the second time in three years, I felt overwhelmed and unsure of how to approach my next job search. Fortunately, Arno and my dedicated recruiter at iCareerSolutions provided the guidance I needed, supported by personalized coaching every step of the way.”
“Arno is the front door to an incredible team of knowledgeable, caring, and diligent people who will educate, guide, and most importantly work on your behalf to find that next career.”
Questions senior leaders ask
Reverse Recruiting, answered plainly.
What is Reverse Recruiting?
Reverse recruiting is executive search run for the candidate instead of the employer. A reverse recruiter identifies the companies and decision-makers that fit a leader's next move, builds the positioning and documents, runs the outreach in the leader's name, and manages the pipeline of conversations until an offer is accepted. Traditional recruiters work for the company that pays them. A reverse recruiter works for you.
How is Reverse Recruiting different from résumé writing or career coaching?
Résumé writing produces a document. Coaching produces advice. Reverse recruiting produces conversations with hiring decision-makers. The résumé and LinkedIn profile are built inside the engagement as working assets, not sold as the end product, and the search itself is run for you rather than handed back to you as homework.
Who is the Reverse Recruitment Method™ designed for?
Director, VP, SVP and C-suite leaders, board candidates, and high-potential leaders stepping up a level. Most clients are currently employed and need the search to stay confidential. Many have strong track records that their current documents undersell.
How does the engagement work?
A 20-minute confidential call establishes fit. If the method suits your situation, a written scope follows within 48 hours. The engagement then runs in monthly cycles: target mapping and positioning first, then outreach and pipeline management, with weekly working sessions and full visibility of every approach made in your name.
How is the fee structured?
A fixed engagement fee agreed in writing before work starts. It is never a percentage of your salary, and nothing is due when you accept a position.
Can the search stay confidential while I am still in my role?
Yes. Confidential searches are the norm, not the exception. Outreach is targeted and personal rather than broadcast, your documents are never posted to job boards, and every approach is agreed with you before it is made.
What results should I expect, and how quickly?
Across active engagements, 97% of clients reach a first interview, typically inside the first few weeks of outreach. Time to offer depends on level, sector and market; senior searches commonly run three to five months from first outreach to accepted offer.
What is the National Reverse Recruiter Association?
The NRRA is the standards body for the Reverse Recruiting profession: a published standard process, a code of ethics, and earned credentials for practitioners. Arno Markus is its Founding President, and iCareerSolutions is the founding firm.
Confidential · Senior · Selective
The call is a decision, not a pitch.
Twenty confidential minutes to establish whether the method is right for your situation. If it is, a written scope follows within 48 hours. If it is not, we will tell you that too.