Chief Executive Officer
Research and Productivity Council (RPC)

Candidate due diligence

We will provide you with an update on your candidacy as soon as possible and make you aware if we will be proceeding further and presenting your candidacy to the Search Committee for its consideration. If both parties wish to proceed, in advance of an interview with the Committee we would ask that you begin gathering any information that might have an impact on your final decision. Usually there are three categories: 

1. Matters of Fact – These include benefits, pension plans, vacation policy, perquisites, and an approximate indication of the compensation plan. If a physical move would be required to accept the position, please learn about housing, schools, relocation assistance, and any other matters of this kind that are important to you.

2. Matters of Family – If a physical move will ultimately prove unacceptable to your family members, please determine that at this stage.

3. Matters of Fit – Please list the remaining questions that you would need to have answered about the position and the organization and pass them along to us. We will be happy to answer them for you.

The goal of gathering all of this information is to help you make an intelligent decision, as soon as possible, about the degree of your interest. In fairness to everyone, please do not go further if you really think you are unlikely to accept the position should it be offered to you. If you have additional questions following our initial discussion, but your interest is tentative and you are still “exploring,” please let us know. We can help you get the additional information you need.

It is not uncommon for candidates to be pursuing multiple opportunities concurrently. In the interest of transparency, if you are a candidate for another opportunity, please let us know immediately, and keep us informed of your status. Doing so does not reflect negatively on your application; it simply ensures full disclosure from all parties involved.

Etiquette regarding an offer

If this position is offered to you, we would like to know that you will honour two standards of professionalism:

• First, that you will treat the offer in confidence (with the exception of discussing it with members of your immediate family, legal or financial counsel) and will not ‘shop’ or discuss the offer with your present employer.

• Second, that if you accept the offer, your word is your bond and we can count on the fact that you will be joining our client. We understand that candidates can sometimes have doubts and second thoughts after making the decision to make a major career change. These feelings are quite common, and you are wise to anticipate that they may arise. On the other hand, we want to avoid the substantial loss of time and cost of opportunity that would accompany a reversal of your decision, in much the same way as you would want to avoid handing in your resignation and then having our client cancel the offer.

If either of these conditions is unacceptable to you, please inform us immediately. We will do our best to keep you informed throughout the process.

Résumé accuracy

The Association of Executive Search Consultants estimates that approximately one in five résumés contain material information that is untrue. Examples include the listing of degrees that have not been obtained, titles and dates of employment that are incorrect, and accomplishments that are overstated. As a result, our firm has adopted the practice of verifying the claims made in the résumés of finalist candidates. Our policy is to discontinue the candidacy of anyone whose résumé contains distortions of material information.

If you notice an error in your résumé after you have forwarded it to us, please contact us immediately and send us a corrected copy.