Executive search and direct approach in French-speaking Switzerland

Complicated watchmaking happens in the Vallée de Joux. So do complicated hires.

I recruit the executives, experts and leaders that companies can’t find on their own. I approach them myself. We solve this hire together, and you follow the search in a portal.

Executive search since 2005 · Cantonal and federal recruitment licences · Le Brassus, Vallée de Joux

Roles in complex R&D, company leadership, IT or watchmaking engineering, in French-speaking Switzerland and across Europe.

Line portrait of Guillaume Alexandre

I’m the right recruiter in any of these cases:

  • This role is new to you

    Nobody in-house knows what this profile looks like.

  • It’s a niche area of expertise

    These people don’t read your job ads.

  • The search isn’t working

    The role stays open and the applications you receive don’t fit.

And in every case, we build it together.

You get involved, and you understand your market.

Before we contact anyone, we analyse the market.

Your company

Your challenge

  • What’s holding you back today?
  • What can’t the company do without this person?
  • What will they need to change?

Your market

Talent intelligence

  • Which companies should we target?
  • Which job titles?
  • How large is the target population?
  • Who else is hiring right now?

Figures to decide who to look for, where, and whether to widen the search.

A portal for working together.

Your say before anyone is approached, if you wish

In a niche, everyone knows everyone: people will soon work out that it’s you. So you can approve who is approached, in a secure space. Sometimes we even make the call together.

The same view for everyone

You, the colleagues involved and I can all see where the search stands and what each of us needs to do.

Hosted in Switzerland, files and CVs in the European Union. Included in the assignment.

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Portal screen: four assignments, their stages and the candidates for one of them
Portal screen: the Role and AI report, task by task
Portal screen: an identified profile, and the question of whether to approach them
Demo assignment, fictitious data.

A good hire isn’t found. It’s built together.

Start from a good brief, test it against the market, talk to people, adjust. The goal: the best person to move the company forward.

  1. The brief

    Together

    Your challenge, the role, what we’ll assess.

  2. The research

    By me

    I gather and sort the market data.

  3. The market analysis

    Together

    A document with figures, discussed in a meeting. We adjust or widen the search.

  4. The calibration

    Together

    With the colleagues involved, and your say before anyone is approached, if you wish.

  5. The direct approach

    By me

    I talk to people and report their answers back to you.

  6. My assessment

    By me

    Against the grid we defined together: factual, unbiased, repeatable.

  7. Your interviews

    By you

    You meet the people.

  8. The final hire

    By you

    You decide.

  9. In the background, until signature

    By me

    I stay in touch with each person: what they think, what makes them hesitate. The relationship isn’t lost along the way.

Data can be found. Convincing people to join is human.

I started as a headhunter in 2005. Since then, I’ve been seeking out people who aren’t looking for a job, and I talk to them myself.

The machine, for what no team could do

Gathering the public data of an entire market. Protecting private data: profiles and CVs only go through tools I build, with strict rules.

The human, wherever the relationship matters

Understanding your need, convincing someone to make a move, and supporting them through to signature.

Two AI tools, included in the assignment.

Will this role be the same in 3 years?

From your job description, the tool estimates, based on published research, which tasks AI is likely to transform within 3 years. Better to know before you hire.

Extract from a report, fictitious exampleCloud platform lead

Generate infrastructure modulesReplaced
Diagnose incidentsAccelerated
Set strategy with senior managementHuman
Lead and grow the teamHuman

Published method, six sources, including Science and the ILO. A reasoned projection, not a certainty.

The right questions, on the right skills.

From the brief, we choose the skills and the interview questions. You find them in the portal, next to the CV, so you can take notes during the interview.

Leading change

Tell me about a difficult decision you had to defend to your senior management.

Fees in three stages.

A percentage of salary, fixed when we sign our agreement, which doesn’t change afterwards. We discuss it in our first conversation.

  1. Delivery of the market analysis, a document you keep.

  2. Presentation of the candidates, with their written consent.

  3. Signature by the person you hire.

  • 6-month guarantee

    If the person doesn’t stay, I restart the search at no extra fee, once.

  • 12 months without approaching your team

    I don’t recruit from it for any other client.

  • Exclusivity

    A single firm on the role. Your job ads and employee referrals carry on.

Your questions.

What is the direct approach?

I contact people who are already in a job and don’t read job ads, and I introduce you to those who want an interview. It’s also called headhunting, or executive search.

What’s your complicated hire?

I reply myself: my reading of the role, my fees, and if I’m not the right person, I’ll tell you.

Book a video call

Or write to me using the form below: I’ll reply within 2 working days.

[email protected]+41 79 962 41 92
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