Every search runs the same five phases.

From the first intake session to the finished slate, every Venn search runs the same five phases — each one calibrated against a single Position Profile. The structure is deliberate. The discipline is what makes the slate a real recommendation instead of a list.

Five phases. One calibrated slate.

1. 01

   Intake

   It starts with a working session with the hiring manager — and, where it matters, the CEO or the relevant C-level peer. The output is a written Position Profile: the company and why the hire matters now, the role and its first-year outcomes, the team’s culture, the compensation, and the must-haves and preferred attributes that define fit. Typically the profile goes back to you to confirm before sourcing begins — your sign-off is the trigger to launch the search.

2. 02

   Sourcing

   With the profile confirmed, sourcing begins — AI-driven enrichment across LinkedIn, GitHub (for engineering roles), and proprietary databases, paired with recruiter-led pattern matching against the profile. A typical search can source hundreds of potential candidates. Volume is the easy part — the judgment is in the fit against the definition you approved.

3. 03

   Outreach

   Strong candidates are rarely the ones answering job posts. Outreach is personal and specific — built from the Position Profile and the individual’s own background, never a templated blast — so it earns replies from people who aren’t actively looking. The goal is a real conversation with the right people, not a high send count.

4. 04

   Screening

   Screening is where the field narrows to genuine contenders. The recruiter owns the process — the standard every candidate is measured against, drawn straight from the Position Profile — while the screening conversations surface what a résumé can’t: real motivation, compensation expectations, availability, and the substance behind the wins on the page. What moves a candidate forward is how they measure against the Position Profile.

5. 05

   The Slate

   The search delivers a calibrated slate to the hiring manager — each candidate with a written summary: relevant background, why they fit the profile, where they might not, and current status. It’s a considered recommendation, ranked and reasoned, not a long list passed over the wall. Many searches can be decided off the first slate.

Five phases, one calibrated slate.

The common approach to search rewards volume: cast wide, move fast, hand over a long list, and let the hiring manager sort it out. It fills a pipeline, but it pushes the hardest judgment — who actually fits — onto the client.

Venn works the other way. Every phase is calibrated against the same Position Profile, so sourcing, outreach, and screening all measure against one agreed definition of the role rather than drifting from it.

The result is a slate that’s a recommendation, not a pile of résumés — a shortlist you can act on, because every name on it was held to the same standard the search started from. The rigor is front-loaded into the slate, where it changes the decision.

One profile. Five phases. One slate that’s a recommendation.