Briefing beats recruiting.
Not the role that is filled quickly - the role that still fits in two years. We start from the HIHB method: first the picture of the role, then the search.
Sources: 1 Leadership IQ; Gallup. 2 German Federal Employment Agency (vacancy duration); SHRM 2025. 3 Work Institute; StepStone. 4 McKinsey; Leadership IQ.
Source: experience from 200+ workshops, as of 2026.
Most processes begin with the search. The risk lies before it: in the phase where no one notices that the role has not been sharpened yet.
Two people make the decision to engage a method-led placement - for different reasons. We meet both.
You are accountable for the hire because the role will shape the next two years of strategy. You do not get a second attempt.
We take over the search once the briefing is in place. You keep the decision. We bring the discipline to sharpen the picture of the role before the search begins - and the experience from 200+ mandates of knowing in which phase a hire tips over.
You carry the process because the recruiting team is waiting for your methodology. You have already described the role three times - each time differently.
We deliver the briefing method as a shared language between management, department heads and recruiting. This raises the quality of every search you are responsible for - including those we never see.
If you want to know whether the system carries beyond the pictures: read what the people who have worked inside our method have to say. Fifteen clients - read their words yourself. (Quotes translated from German.)
"HireWorks stands out from other executive search firms right at the briefing stage. With their proprietary briefing method, we define the profiles we are looking for together and go into depth. We trust HireWorks with our leadership positions in Product, Digital Advertising and Sales."
"With the High-Impact Hiring Blueprint developed by HireWorks, we were able to define the position together in a way that reflects our expectations and philosophy. This kind of preparatory work is indispensable - we would no longer recruit without this briefing method."
"The High-Impact Hiring Blueprint helps us understand who we are looking for, the situation we are in and the challenges of the vacancy. This method allows us to raise the quality of our briefings significantly and to design our hiring processes far more efficiently and with sharper focus."
"What makes the difference: the enthusiasm with which the team finds the right profile, the well-grounded shortlisting of candidates and the structured process of the High-Impact Hiring Blueprint. Valuable assets in building teams in a competitive digital environment."
"HireWorks has accompanied our international growth in recent years and filled several executive positions. What I particularly value: the deep expertise in digital marketing - and the High-Impact Hiring Blueprint, which lets us collaborate as equals."
"Brainlab benefited from working with an agency that quickly understood our requirements. What was impressive was how the High-Impact Hiring Blueprint helped to clarify precisely which candidates fit us. The entire process was structured and efficient."
"At Hekatron we work with the Business Canvas model - so it was easy for us to think our way into the High-Impact Hiring Blueprint: the evolution of the Recruiting Canvas in a language we were already familiar with. The successful placement of our new Head of Digital Marketing confirms it: in HireWorks we have found the right partner."
"Digital transformation depends on experts who accompany the process. In our search for a Chief Marketing Officer, we used the High-Impact Hiring Blueprint to precisely work out the requirements for the role together with HireWorks - and then ran interviews with candidates who fit. We are happy to entrust HireWorks with further key positions."
"We did not want just another recruitment agency, but one that sees and understands us. With the High-Impact Hiring Blueprint, we defined the role in detail - and as a team, we reached a shared understanding of what we expected. That is what convinced us that we had found the right partner in HireWorks."
"Successful collaboration in recruiting requires trust, a deep understanding of the industry, and a strong grasp of the company's culture and structure. With the High-Impact Hiring Blueprint, HireWorks combined all of these in a structured method - and supported us in clarifying the requirements for the innovation role before the search began. The candidates they presented fit us extremely well."
"I have experienced HireWorks in two roles: as a candidate looking for the best challenges, and as a managing director wanting to win new talent for my own organisation. In both situations - at etventure and across several start-up foundations - the High-Impact Hiring Blueprint helped to clarify precisely who really fits. A trusted partnership for which I am sincerely grateful."
"HireWorks has a particular way of putting the client's requirements at the centre - right from the start, with the High-Impact Hiring Blueprint as the methodological framework. The approach is personal, critically inquiring and advisory all at once, with a deep understanding of companies in a digital world. A great pleasure to work with this team."
"HireWorks has supported me several times in my work as Interim CTO - building teams for clients and placing excellent CTO candidates. What I appreciate: the High-Impact Hiring Blueprint ensures that every time, it is precisely clarified who really fits. This methodological depth combined with genuine passion makes the work enjoyable!"
"HireWorks has been accompanying us successfully for years as our team has grown, and has placed numerous online marketing experts with different specialisations. What we particularly appreciate: the High-Impact Hiring Blueprint ensures that the requirements of every role are clarified precisely - combined with a relevant network and consistent process quality. A professional, reliable and trustworthy partner."
"As a growing AdTech company, we need experts whom we define precisely and find systematically. For our leadership and management positions, we have found the right partner in HireWorks - four reasons are decisive for us: expertise in digital business models, a network in the relevant set, efficiency with a high quality standard, and the High-Impact Hiring Blueprint as a methodological foundation for advisory at eye level."
"HireWorks stands out from other executive search firms right at the briefing stage. With their proprietary briefing method, we define the profiles we are looking for together and go into depth. We trust HireWorks with our leadership positions in Product, Digital Advertising and Sales."
"With the High-Impact Hiring Blueprint developed by HireWorks, we were able to define the position together in a way that reflects our expectations and philosophy. This kind of preparatory work is indispensable - we would no longer recruit without this briefing method."
"The High-Impact Hiring Blueprint helps us understand who we are looking for, the situation we are in and the challenges of the vacancy. This method allows us to raise the quality of our briefings significantly and to design our hiring processes far more efficiently and with sharper focus."
"What makes the difference: the enthusiasm with which the team finds the right profile, the well-grounded shortlisting of candidates and the structured process of the High-Impact Hiring Blueprint. Valuable assets in building teams in a competitive digital environment."
"HireWorks has accompanied our international growth in recent years and filled several executive positions. What I particularly value: the deep expertise in digital marketing - and the High-Impact Hiring Blueprint, which lets us collaborate as equals."
"Brainlab benefited from working with an agency that quickly understood our requirements. What was impressive was how the High-Impact Hiring Blueprint helped to clarify precisely which candidates fit us. The entire process was structured and efficient."
"At Hekatron we work with the Business Canvas model - so it was easy for us to think our way into the High-Impact Hiring Blueprint: the evolution of the Recruiting Canvas in a language we were already familiar with. The successful placement of our new Head of Digital Marketing confirms it: in HireWorks we have found the right partner."
"Digital transformation depends on experts who accompany the process. In our search for a Chief Marketing Officer, we used the High-Impact Hiring Blueprint to precisely work out the requirements for the role together with HireWorks - and then ran interviews with candidates who fit. We are happy to entrust HireWorks with further key positions."
"We did not want just another recruitment agency, but one that sees and understands us. With the High-Impact Hiring Blueprint, we defined the role in detail - and as a team, we reached a shared understanding of what we expected. That is what convinced us that we had found the right partner in HireWorks."
"Successful collaboration in recruiting requires trust, a deep understanding of the industry, and a strong grasp of the company's culture and structure. With the High-Impact Hiring Blueprint, HireWorks combined all of these in a structured method - and supported us in clarifying the requirements for the innovation role before the search began. The candidates they presented fit us extremely well."
"I have experienced HireWorks in two roles: as a candidate looking for the best challenges, and as a managing director wanting to win new talent for my own organisation. In both situations - at etventure and across several start-up foundations - the High-Impact Hiring Blueprint helped to clarify precisely who really fits. A trusted partnership for which I am sincerely grateful."
"HireWorks has a particular way of putting the client's requirements at the centre - right from the start, with the High-Impact Hiring Blueprint as the methodological framework. The approach is personal, critically inquiring and advisory all at once, with a deep understanding of companies in a digital world. A great pleasure to work with this team."
"HireWorks has supported me several times in my work as Interim CTO - building teams for clients and placing excellent CTO candidates. What I appreciate: the High-Impact Hiring Blueprint ensures that every time, it is precisely clarified who really fits. This methodological depth combined with genuine passion makes the work enjoyable!"
"HireWorks has been accompanying us successfully for years as our team has grown, and has placed numerous online marketing experts with different specialisations. What we particularly appreciate: the High-Impact Hiring Blueprint ensures that the requirements of every role are clarified precisely - combined with a relevant network and consistent process quality. A professional, reliable and trustworthy partner."
"As a growing AdTech company, we need experts whom we define precisely and find systematically. For our leadership and management positions, we have found the right partner in HireWorks - four reasons are decisive for us: expertise in digital business models, a network in the relevant set, efficiency with a high quality standard, and the High-Impact Hiring Blueprint as a methodological foundation for advisory at eye level."
Few mandates start with a finished job spec. They start with a change in the business. See if you recognise yours:
That change becomes a role that fits your organisation, together with the skill gap you close internally or externally. Every mandate therefore begins with Pre-Recruiting: first the picture of the role, then the search. From there we follow a roadmap with three stations. Step in where your situation stands.
Two hours with all key stakeholders. At the end you have a role definition that withstands questions from management and department heads. Every one of our mandates begins with this workshop.
You can book this step on its own, without a mandate. Two formats on the sister domain:
With the role definition in hand, you decide: your recruiting team fills the role internally. You commission another search firm. Or you give us the mandate. The definition is yours, it works on all three paths.
Your recruiting team fills the role internally, with the role definition in hand. The definition is yours.
Full mandate from sharpening to signature.
Your team is placing the role itself and needs pipeline or capacity. Three tiers, bookable monthly.
Strategy
Beyond the single role: the next 24 months.
Horizon applies the Pre-Recruiting principle to the organisation: first the picture, then the decision, transferred to the five to eight skills your company will need over the next 24 months. A facilitated workshop with management, HR leadership and department heads.
Three levels of depth from two hours to three half-days. Details on the Horizon page.
Enabling HR: working strategically instead of burning out on operations. Beyond the single hire, I strengthen your HR and recruiting organisation. Two advisory services to start.
Back then a visual tool for precise role definition, it convinced the jury because it tackled exactly where recruiting is blind: before the search.
Today evolved into the HIHB method with five structured steps (Contingency, Consistency, Calibration, Coordination, Clarification), tested in more than 200 mandates. The method has been refined, the principle has stayed: first the "picture", then the search.
Experteer Prize 2017 for innovation in executive search. The Recruiting Canvas as the methodological predecessor of today's HIHB method.
See the HIHB method on hihb.io →
Pre-Recruiting Pioneer
Founder of HireWorks (2017), creator of the HIHB method (formerly the Recruiting Canvas). More than 200 mandates with management boards, executive boards and hiring managers in the Mittelstand and tech scale-ups.
Pre-Recruiting is the invisible phase that carries recruiting. Before we search, we design the role so that it is still successful two years on. The HIHB method structures the conversation with all key stakeholders within two hours so that at the end a defensible role definition is in place. Only then do I begin the search.
For research and selection, I work with a dedicated network of researchers. The method remains the same, the hands multiply.
Next step
Before we discuss a mandate, there are three lighter ways in. Pick the one that fits your situation.
LinkedIn posts and articles on the method, no obligation. Dive straight in.
Not a sales call. Condition: one specific role or one specific question. 30 minutes, then we know whether it fits.
If you want to experience the method without a mandate: two workshop formats on the sister domain hihb.io.