A Closer Look at Private Equity’s Evolving Playbook for Executive Talent
June 23, 2025 – Private equity firms are raising the bar for executive talent, driven by a post-pandemic return to in-office expectations and an intensified focus on leadership performance. As firms prioritize in-person leadership to rebuild culture and drive alignment, a disconnect is emerging between employer demands and candidate preferences for flexibility. At the same time, a slowdown in deal flow and extended hold times are tightening the talent market—particularly for critical roles like CFO—forcing search firms to rethink their approach to sourcing, assessment, and value creation. To meet these shifting demands, executive recruiters are evolving into full-spectrum intelligence partners. From leveraging behavioral assessments and data analytics to surfacing non-obvious candidates and pre-deal talent insights, top firms are delivering more than hires—they’re delivering strategic guidance aligned with investment theses. In this high-stakes environment, PE sponsors want leaders who can act fast, scale impact, and build cultures that endure beyond any single deal.
“In my experience, PE is keying in on candidates who have a demonstrable plan to come in and do more with less and fast,” said Mike Silverstein, managing partner of healthcare IT & life sciences at Direct Recruiters, Inc. “With the debt service on many PE holdings chewing into proforma margins, the concept of a candidate coming in and spending a quarter “observing” has become far less appetizing. PE is pushing hard for experienced candidates with prior PE experience and demonstrated, successful outcomes that can articulate a measurable, KPI-driven plan and have the confidence to execute that plan when dropped in the fray of a portfolio company. Speed to value is the undertone in every conversation.”
Mr. Silverstein is big on 360 reference checking as a means to understand whether a candidate can impact change by leading and not just dictating. “I am leery of candidates who only know how to manage up but don’t pay attention to the folks who work for them (aka corporate politicians),” he said. “Some of our best candidates get referred to us by their “mentees” who would follow them into a fire. Leaders who have a following have the ability to guide organizations through choppy waters without creating a pit of talent attrition for the organization to fall into. Additionally, everyone’s resumes are a little chunky because of moves candidates made during the pandemic. To me, quality reference checks are a lot more important than a little bit of movement between 2020 and 2023.”
High-Stakes Deal Environment
In today’s high-stakes deal environment, one way search firms can create more value for their PE partners is backchannel scuttlebutt on leaders, products, market reputation, and whether people want to join an organization are all lining up at the backdoor, according to Mr. Silverstein. “My best investor relationships lean on me daily for intel on the stuff that is not on a company’s resume,” he said. “This kind of information is decision support data that the best investors swear by, and the average ones don’t value.”
PE clients now demand quantifiable performance metrics over self-reported achievements, according to Josh Gardner, co-founder and CTO of Verata, an AI-powered market research platform catering to private equity firms. “They’re seeking clear evidence that separates market-driven results from an executive’s direct impact across multiple PE cycles,” he said. “This shift reflects increased pressure on returns in today’s economy. Traditional research methods—toggling between LinkedIn, Pitchbook, and other platforms— struggle to deliver this integrated intelligence. Finding candidates with strong metrics driven track records is extremely challenging but absolutely essential. The demand for hard metrics is also pushing software vendors to aggregate these metrics together in easy to search ways. At Verata, meeting this demand has driven our product development and led us to building an integrated data solution that allows for finding PE backed operators in the right verticals with verified exits in seconds rather than hours or days.”
When advising clients to evaluate leadership potential in candidates beyond the resume, Mr. Gardner recommends shifting from “where they worked” to “what they actually delivered” through three critical lenses: performance attribution analysis that distinguishes leadership impact from market trends; consistency across multiple PE cycles in different conditions; and true peer benchmarking that identifies standout performers. “Verata uniquely enables this approach by combining financial data with people intelligence, giving search firms quantified metrics on executive performance that reduce hiring risk and deliver the data-driven recommendations PE clients demand,” he said.
“Search firms should evolve from talent acquisition to comprehensive intelligence partners across the entire investment lifecycle,” Mr. Gardner said. “We’re seeing a huge upward trend in the demand for pre-deal advisors – typically highly experienced multi-exit operators who know a vertical inside and out. These operators are an essential part of the due diligence process and often convert into portfolio company board members or operating partners. At Verata, we’ve built functionality for quickly finding multi-exit operators in specialized verticals to help our executive search and PE clients rapidly find these extremely talented and senior personas.
“We continue to see a trend of PE firms moving away from simple processes that largely pull from those already in their purview,” said Jon Hill, managing partner of The Energists. “Furthermore, leaning heavily on those in network people; whether through perceived past performance; colleges attended ; employer brands / optics, is waning. Instead, we see increasing use of blank sheet of paper type approaches comprising behavioral / psychometric assessments, formal behavioral based interviews, and multi-round processes. Somewhat paradoxically, The Energists has benefitted from a wave of new PE clients, each seeking boutiques’ domain expertise to provide the widest possible talent access within short, efficient processes.”
This enhanced approach has been effective at including non-obvious candidates, many of whom bring new perspectives, innovation, and enhanced cultural dynamics, according to Mr. Hill. “In the past a preference for those who mirror, or comply with, an existing teams’ culture is being usurped by sentiments around: what are we missing and where are our gaps?” he said. “Similarly, within the context of the already volatile energy industry well down the road to transition, considerations for change management skills and adaptability have risen to the top. The what ifs in energy are very real, geographically nuanced, and somewhat at the mercy of shifts in public policy/funding.”
Related: Private Equity’s Leadership Imperative: Driving Impact with Agility and Vision
“Essentially, we see PE firms hedging their talent banks through a broadening of the gene pool facilitated by increasing sophistication in executive recruitment, training, and development processes,” Mr. Hill said. “What is most interesting has been the increased retention of talent post exit. While buy and hold might not be the mantra of the PE fund, hire and hold increasingly is, with executives often times pivoting, and finding success in disparate corporate settings.”
A Private Equity Blueprint To Secure High-Impact Leaders
Private equity firms have started the year with a renewed focus on talent as a driver of value creation. In an increasingly competitive investment environment, securing the right leaders is more critical than ever. Leo Cummings, an associate at Hunt Scanlon Ventures, takes a closer look through the lens of industry experts at JM Search to examine the key talent trends shaping private equity.
Mr. Hill also explained that reaching alignment around medium term organizational objectives for all parties is a good place to start when it comes to value creation for PE clients. “Longer-term relationships that foster genuine partnerships allow search firms to truly understand PE and other fund clients’ high-level objectives,” he said. “Being focused further downstream on the business outcome, and not just the hiring process, optimizes these relationships, leading to longer term productive engagements. Understanding that not every engagement needs to result in a hire in the pursuit of an organizational objective is a good place to start the conversation. Where a key hire does occur, routine check-ins over extended periods with both the candidate and hiring manager, whether dealing with a GP / board member and CEO; CEO and CFO; or portco C-suite and ELT member, the principle remains the same – outcome focus.”
“Truly understanding the fund, its focus and aspirations affords the search firm the ability to get ahead of the puck when it comes to predicting needs and even assisting with opportunistic hires, including operating partners and high impact individual contributors,” Mr. Hill said.
“Over the past year, we’ve witnessed a significant shift in what private equity sponsors expect from their executive teams,” said Paul Heller, managing partner of Caldwell’s global financial services practice. “First and foremost, proven value creation experience has moved from a ‘nice to have’ to a non-negotiable. PE clients now demand C-suite leaders who have successfully driven EBITDA growth through advanced pricing strategies, comprehensive digital transformations, or strategic M&A. It’s no longer enough for executives to merely manage day-to-day operations effectively.”
“Additionally, speed to impact is paramount,” Mr. Heller said. “New leaders cannot afford to spend months getting acquainted with the business; sponsors expect 100-day plans complete with early-win milestones, especially in turnaround or growth-stage situations,” he said. “This sense of urgency aligns with what we call PE fluency. Firms seek executives who instinctively understand the private equity playbook—reporting KPIs rigorously, managing debt covenants, navigating board dynamics, and executing under the relentless deadlines of quarterly value creation cycles. First-time PE executives face steeper learning curves and less runway unless the role is clearly defined as plug-and-play.”
Aligned with the Investment Thesis
“The significance of change leadership and talent development cannot be overstated,” said Jim Bethmann, managing partner of Caldwell’s technology practice. “Beyond individual performance, leaders are evaluated on their ability to attract, develop, and retain high-performing teams. This includes upgrading talent where necessary while fostering a culture aligned with the investment thesis. Emotional intelligence, resilience, and the capacity to unify diverse stakeholders have overtaken pure technical expertise in many search mandates. As a result, sponsors seek executives with industry-specific experience and proven success in similar business models such as healthcare roll-ups, tech-enabled services, or industrial platforms to ensure a smoother transition to value creation.”
In today’s high-stakes deal environment, search firms can differentiate themselves by embedding talent advisory deep into the investment lifecycle, according to Mr. Heller. “First, we go beyond talent acquisition by offering organizational diligence as an integral part of pre-deal workstreams,” he said. “We evaluate the leadership strengths of target companies, assess their cultural health and team cohesion, and identify gaps in C-level capabilities in relation to the investment thesis. This proactive approach warns sponsors about potential talent risks that could undermine value after the deal closes.”
“We build and maintain talent pipelines that align with the deal,” said Mr. Bethmann. “Rather than launching searches in reaction to a signed LOI, we proactively curate role-ready slates of executives tailored to sector specialties (for example, multi-site healthcare or B2B SaaS), deal models (roll-ups versus carve-outs), and transaction stages (early-growth acceleration or pre-exit optimization). This forward-looking approach dramatically shortens time-to-fill and positions the search firm as a strategic partner.”
Firms also enable post-close momentum by supporting interim leadership placements, organizational design, succession planning, and structured onboarding for the critical first 100 days, Mr. Heller explained. “Acting as a talent partner rather than a vendor ensures value creation begins immediately upon closing the deal,” he said. “Fourth, we push on talent fit with the investment thesis by challenging briefs rather than rubber-stamping them. We assess whether the role requires a growth-stage visionary or an efficiency-focused operator, a finance strategist versus a cash-flow mechanic, or a CRO adept at new logo hunting versus expanding existing accounts.”
Related: Interim Executives in Demand for PE and VC Firms
“Finally, we serve as a trusted sounding board, offering candid, data-driven insights on candidate risks, market availability, and necessary trade-offs,” Mr. Bethmann said. “We are committed to saying no when talent doesn’t align. This approach transforms the search partnership from a transactional recruitment process into a lasting collaboration driven by thought leadership.”
“The biggest change is the nature of expectations for senior leaders in PE clients’ portfolio companies, and what that requires in terms of different backgrounds and tool kits,” said Jeremy Cohen, co-founder and CEO of The Talent Studios. “There has been a clear shift to candidates who can dig in for the long haul and impact fundamental value creation versus purely positing a business for exit. Our clients are requiring C-Suite and functional leadership who can institutionalize and platform repeatable, data and technology backed processes that live beyond any one hire and provide a flywheel for growth and professionalization. These hires become the bar for what good looks like and the new cultural expectation.”
“Historically, executive search and candidate assessment has relied on researchable facts and observable attributes of success in terms of career chronology, industry analogs, check-box pedigree,” Mr. Cohen said. “In the increasingly competitive search for a talent edge, our most successful clients are becoming increasingly adept at isolating, identifying, and assessing unobservable attributes including candidates’ honest self-inventories, versatility, change management ability and locus of internal control. This requires understanding candidates in dimensions that are much more sublime.”
“It is imperative for search consultants to arm clients with multiple, reasonable archetypes of candidates for each search, explaining the logic and rational behind each, relative trade-offs, and appraisals of both observable and unobservable attributes of success,” Mr. Cohen continued. “There should be no doubt in a client’s mind that the search has been comprehensive, and they have been given optionality, data, and insight to make the best decision for their business.”
Data-Driven Approaches
Max Woolger, head of growth at Ezekia said that the biggest shift he has seen in PE clients’ expectations when it comes to executive hiring over the past year is a much more data-driven approach. “We have now moved far beyond the CV + cover letter + exec search consultant view,” he said. “I would say even score-carding is now being superseded by technologies, often powered by AI, using data to assess cultural fit, skills, long-term compatibility and so forth. And with these new requirements come new demands for technologies that can underpin and support this shift.”
“By using third party tools that look at key characteristics and skills, analyze them and feed the information back to the human for the human to back better decisions,” Mr. Wolger said. “The way this market is going is very much human in the loop, (em)powered by data and building strong relationships to truly understand the candidate.
“I think the overarching requirement here hasn’t changed for a long time,” said Mr. Wolger. “Avoid being transactional, provide as much value as possible to help your client / prospective client understand what service they may require. The firms that do best invest in long-term partnerships with their clients, and again, technology can play a part here. Technology can assist search firms in managing more relationships, better than ever before, to ensure you are front of mind and in pole position with the customer, when a need arises.”
“I would say that we have seen a much stronger desire for a data driven approach to go along with the classic interviewing and reference checking methodology from years ago,” said George Corrigan, managing partner of The Corrigan Group. “There is an increased desire for scorecards, full market maps, much deeper candidate assessment, more intense focus on a highly specific and detailed job spec before launching a search, and evidence of a strong search strategy starting on day one, etc. I would add that it feels like a lot of this change is being driven and led by talent partners who are now hired vary widely by PE firms of many sizes. These talent professionals are driving the increased use of tools and data on every search and every executive hire. I would also add that there is increased scrutiny when PE firms are choosing a search partner before launching a new search. This means that recruiting firms now need to show up for a pitch presentation with resumes, candidates for the job, a complete search strategy, and strong evidence of successfully completed searches for highly relevant and comparable companies in order to be chosen for a new search project. This is a significant shift from the way that PE firms would select a search partner years ago, and once again requires the use of increased tools and data on the front end.”
Introductions of Elite Candidates
Search firms can help to make proactive opportunistic introductions to key PE clients that are outside of an actual search, but inside of the specific partner’s coverage area and industry focus, according to Mr. Corrigan. “I am mainly talking about CEO, CFO, and board-level introductions of elite candidates who could one be a future CEO or CFO for this client or two be a board member of an important portfolio company or three could be the source of a deal or an idea or could refer a potential acquisition candidate to a partner at a PE firm,” he said. “These meetings always go well when you have a particularly bright executive meeting with a PE partner in that person’s specific industry area. The two people meeting often know many of the same contacts and quickly find common ground – and it is a more free-flowing and open conversation, as opposed to a specific interview about a specific job or a specific search. These are usually great meetings and strongly appreciated by your PE client.”
“The other opportunity is to refer possible deals to PE clients,” Mr. Corrigan said. “Senior search people are often speaking (very) confidentially to CEO, CFO, and board level candidates and can become aware of a possible investment opportunity for a PE client and can make a proprietary introduction. This is another opportunity to add value outside of the normal search relationship. Introducing elite senior executives (that are highly relevant to the specific PE partner) and pursuing possible investment opportunities are two ways that search firms can create more value for their PE partners.”
Related: How to Identify Leadership Potential in Private Equity Acquisitions
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
