The Lechley Brief
If this was useful, the Brief is where I write about it first. My weekly email on leadership, talent and what is moving in UK construction and infrastructure, in your inbox every Monday morning.




They are heads down delivering a major programme, trusted by their board, and not scrolling job boards on a Tuesday night. So when a critical commercial or operational role opens up, the candidates who apply are, by definition, the ones available rather than the ones you actually want.
That is the case for proactive search. You map the market, identify the handful of people genuinely capable of the role, and approach them directly with a reason to listen. It takes longer than posting an ad. It also gets you the person who moves the project, not just the person who needed a move.
If you are hiring at director level this year, start with who is right, not who is available.
Lechley Associates runs retained executive search for UK construction leadership. Read how a retained construction executive search runs.
Next step
If you have a senior appointment of your own to make, this is how I run a retained search.
How retained search works
If this was useful, the Brief is where I write about it first. My weekly email on leadership, talent and what is moving in UK construction and infrastructure, in your inbox every Monday morning.



Nobody remembers cutting the trainees in 2009. Ten years on, it is who is missing from every senior shortlist. The long read on downturns and the people we never hired.


Why the first ten years and the last ten need different front doors to the same industry.


The QSs who wait to feel fully ready before applying move a year later than the ones who don't, and it shows over a career.


Most growing contractors have a chair or a non-executive. Far fewer have anyone whose actual job is to challenge them.

