WHY PARTNER WITH US?

A TOP EXECUTIVE SEARCH FIRM

The most noteworthy companies turn to us when it matters most, here's why

Principal Connections - executive search is a multi-award winning top executive search firm. For three decades we have specialised in the appointment, assessment and development of senior business leaders for many of the most notable multinational corporations, international plcs, privately owned companies, commercial semi-states, public sector bodies and not for profit organisations.

Access & Influence:

At Principal Connections, we believe that we offer our clients truly unrivalled candidate access. Why? To begin with, we've an on the ground history dating back to 1991 of undertaking the most senior appointments across Ireland and the UK. This means that we've been around, and therefore, we know the top executives, CEOs and board directors, and they know us. Secondly, we are part of one of the world's top executive search firms, Agilium Worldwide; a global group of 55 offices operating across 30 countries. The term "independent" is very important here because it means that unlike many of the supersized firms, we offer global access without being conflicted from pursuing the most compelling candidates due to extensive global off-limits restrictions.

Quality:

We believe in high performance at Principal Connections. That's why we measure the performance of our own firm each year. At January 2022, Principal Connections had an unrivalled 98.5% assignment completion ratio. This is simply unmatched by other firms. Why? We'll firstly, as a privately owned firm, we are not solely governed by shareholder interests, and so we only take on engagements that we truly believe we can deliver on. Secondly, all of our engagements are delivered by practice leaders who have no less than 20 years experience. This is important, as unlike most of our competitors we do not use junior associates to deliver on our clients most important hiring decisions. Thirdly, Principal Connections is committed to conducting fresh, custom research on every project we undertake. To recruit the best executive and non-executive talent, it is not enough to circulate the same candidates from a database - a common practice in bulge-bracket firms because the requirements for every executive search are unique. Accessing the best executive talent for an assignment requires original research.

Speed & Consistency:

99% of our candidate shortlists are delivered on or before time at Principal Connections. How? Firstly, we design a strategy for each engagement around our clients’ specific business needs. These custom strategies focus our efforts. The result: our clients quickly begin seeing on target candidates. Secondly, we limit the number of concurrent engagements our practice leaders undertake. This means we deliver on or before time. Finally, over the years, we’ve also made large investments in technology, training, research resources, and refining our search methodology. These allow us to undertake engagement with maximum efficiency, consistency and speed.

Diversity & Inclusion:

At Principal Connections, we understand diversity and are committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all our employees, applicants and clients. A total of 43% of all the engagements that we were responsible for in 2020 resulted in a female appointment. Testament to our long-term commitment to diversity, we are a Founding Member of the "Executive and Board Resourcing Code" together with IBEC and the 30% Club. (Jun. 2016, updated Apr. 2019) and also, an advocate for "Balance for Better Business", an independent business-led Review Group established by the Government to improve gender balance in senior leadership in Ireland.