Search is about more than finding someone who can do the job.
How AVID EXEC runs a search
Every AVID search starts with understanding what success actually needs to look like — for the organization, for the role and for the person stepping into it.
That means going well beyond a job summary and a résumé. We ask the right questions. We listen carefully. We challenge assumptions when needed. And we bring experience, market knowledge and informed discernment to uncover what may not be obvious on paper.
We start with the organization — where it is today, where it is going, what this role needs to influence or change, who this person needs to work with, and what meaningful success should look like in the first year and beyond.
From there, we build the search and assess talent against that reality.
Capability matters. Experience matters. Accomplishment matters. But what matters first is alignment — because the right talent should not simply fill a role. It should strengthen the organization, complement the people already in it and create the conditions for shared, long-term success and work joy.
We listen. We connect the dots. Then we ask another question.
AVID is deeply curious about people, organizations, businesses and the work they do. Curiosity alone is not the differentiator. Over 15 years of executive search and recruitment, combined with prior management and executive leadership experience, help us understand subject matter quickly, connect information that might otherwise seem unrelated and know what question to ask next.
That is often how we get to the good stuff: what does not appear on a résumé, job summary or organizational chart, but can change how we understand a person, an opportunity or the potential alignment between them.
Clients and candidates often feel that AVID gets them. Quite simply, we do the work required to get them.
People are more than what's on paper. Companies are too.
We assess experience and demonstrated accomplishment, then go deeper: why is this person good at what they do, what proves it, and how do they consistently execute, influence, lead and create value? Developed emotional intelligence is not a soft skill. It is part of execution capability. We apply the same thinking to organizations. Compensation, title and benefits matter, but so do who someone will work with, what they can influence, what they can build and why the opportunity matters. Capability matters. Alignment matters too.
Why does this hire really matter?
What needs to be different twelve to eighteen months after this person arrives?
What would exceptional performance look like here?
What has made someone successful — or unsuccessful — in this environment before?
What will this person inherit, and what needs to be built?
Where is the organization vulnerable?
What does the leadership team genuinely need from this person?
Why would the right person leave something good to come here?
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Why are you good at what you do — and what proves it?
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Where have you consistently created value, and how did you achieve it?
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How do people experience you as a leader or colleague?
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Where have you had to change your approach?
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What kind of environment brings out your best — and what gets in your way?
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What are you no longer willing to trade away?
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What would make the next opportunity genuinely worth moving for?
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In your career or current job, when are you the most happy?
AVID doesn’t ask questions to fill in blanks. We ask questions to understand.
Why are they good at what they do? And what proves it?
For every position and every serious candidate, we develop an assessment that goes beyond qualifications and experience.
Capability
Can they do it?
Value Proposition
Why are they particularly good at it?
Evidence
What proven and consistent outcomes demonstrate that?
Execution
How do they achieve those outcomes?
Emotional intelligence
How do they lead, influence, communicate, adapt and create value through others?
Alignment
Why this person, in this organization, with this leadership team, at this point in time?
Future value
What could become possible because this person is there?
Together, what someone knows, what they have consistently accomplished, how they execute and how they create value reveal their real Value Proposition — and what they might enable next: stronger succession, deeper capability, improved performance, resilience and competitive advantage.
Executive Search
Retained search for senior leadership, executive and highly specialized roles that carry real consequence.
Contingency Recruitment
Professional and specialist roles, paid only on placement, read against the same thirteen attributes.
Leadership Advisory Consulting
Succession, structure, compensation and exits: the conversations boards find hardest, often before or instead of a search.
Real value. Real need. Real alignment.
We start by understanding a person’s real value proposition — what they do exceptionally well, how they create value, what they are known for and what they want more of in their work.
Then we look at where that value is genuinely needed.
That is alignment.
When capability, accomplishment, purpose and aspiration meet what an organization truly needs — and what it can meaningfully offer in return — that is where the opportunity becomes bigger than a job.
It becomes a place where what you are good at matters. Where your contribution is felt. Where you are valued. Where there is room to grow, influence and build. Where the work feels purposeful.
We call that Work Joy. It is the point where what someone does well, what matters to them and what an organization genuinely needs come together in a way that creates shared success.
Helping good people get noticed for the value they actually bring.
That distinction is important. AVID's search work is direct and relationship-driven. Noticeable is an AVID endorsed industry partner and an optional, complementary resource for people pursuing opportunities independently — never a requirement for taking part in an AVID search.
You directly search for and recruit people because of the experience, accomplishments, reputation and value they have already put into the world.
Sometimes that journey starts with you. Sometimes it does not. Sometimes a candidate is not ultimately selected for the role you are working on together. And sometimes, along the way, someone simply needs help presenting their experience and value more effectively.
You never want to stand in the way of someone finding a great opportunity. You want good people to keep moving forward, continuing to pursue work where they can contribute, grow, feel purposeful and find better alignment.
That is why you support Noticeable.
Noticeable is a smart, AI-driven optimization tool that helps candidates strengthen how they present their value — from improving and tailoring their résumé for specific opportunities to helping them better navigate online application systems, LinkedIn and the broader job search process.
You worked with Noticeable as an endorsed industry partner, contributing real-world search and recruitment experience to the testing, refinement and evolution of the platform.
You believe technology is most valuable when it helps people communicate who they are, what they have accomplished and the value they can bring more clearly.
Because your involvement with someone should never limit where their career can go next.
AI-driven career optimization informed by real-world recruitment expertise.
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Analyze an existing résumé and identify where your Value Proposition is not fully communicated.
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Build or substantially improve a professional résumé, written to be read.
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Compare and optimize your résumé against a specific job posting.
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Identify and communicate qualitative and quantitative accomplishments.
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Articulate your individual Value Proposition, emotional intelligence, leadership and execution style.
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Prepare documents for Applicant Tracking Systems, AI screening and application algorithms.
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Create supporting documents that help you elevate yourself throughout selection and interviews.
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Improve LinkedIn positioning, personal brand and discoverability.
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Practise with a realistic AI-driven simulated interview and receive coaching observations.
AVID EXEC cannot represent every talented person we meet, and in every search only one person gets the job. Our particular search may end. Our interest in someone’s success does not have to. Noticeable gives good people another way to keep moving forward.
Meet Marcus. Your guide to getting noticed.
Marcus is our digital-driven guide to the AVID EXEC × Noticeable partnership. He explains how the technology works, why AVID became involved and how Noticeable can help candidates better understand, articulate and promote the value they bring.
AVID is deeply human in how we assess people. We’re also deeply curious about technology that can help good people be better understood.
What kinds of roles does AVID EXEC search for?
AVID conducts search and recruitment across all levels — from junior and intermediate professionals through management, senior leadership and executive positions. Commercial and multi-family real estate is our sweet spot, with deep experience across leadership, asset management, leasing, property management, specialized administration, project coordination and project management, land development, finance and specialized accounting. Our work also extends into Engineering, Finance & Accounting, Corporate/Professional Leadership, and Not-for-Profit & Association environments. We do not believe the importance of a role is determined by its title. Organizations are interdependent, and every good hire has the potential to strengthen the people, work and results around it.
Do you only work on executive searches?
No. Executive search is an important part of our work and something we have done successfully for many years, but AVID also conducts search and recruitment for junior, intermediate, professional, technical, operational and management roles on a contingency basis. Many of our strongest client relationships involve working across the organization over time. Once we understand a company — its people, leadership, culture, expectations and direction — we can often add value across a wide range of talent needs.
How do you find candidates who are not actively looking?
This is what we do — and it is why our network, market knowledge and reach matter. Approximately 99% of the candidates we work with on a search are directly contacted by AVID. We identify people whose experience, accomplishments, reputation and value proposition suggest there may be meaningful alignment with the opportunity, and we start the conversation. Often, the strongest person for a role is already doing good work somewhere else and was not planning to make a move. That is also why our job ads are written differently. They are not simply lists of responsibilities. We treat them more like an executive job summary — bringing forward the mandate, the context, the culture, the leadership environment and the alignment traits that make the role meaningful. Our job is to know where to look, understand who may be relevant and create enough trust and interest to begin the right conversation.
How much do you need to know about our organization before starting a search?
A lot. A conventional job description is only the beginning — sometimes we do not even get one, and other times we lead development of a fuller job summary. We want to understand where the organization is today, where it is going, why the role matters now, what needs to change or improve, who the person will work with, how decisions are made and what success should look like once they are in the role. That context is what allows us to assess more than whether someone can do the job. It helps us understand whether they are likely to thrive in it.
How do you assess whether someone is the right fit?
We look at much more than experience and credentials. We assess demonstrated accomplishment, how someone creates value, how they think, communicate, influence, lead and execute, and what has made them successful in the environments they have worked in. Developed emotional intelligence matters too — it is one of the strongest determiners of success and, in our experience, often the most important. So we dig into that a lot. How someone reads a room, builds trust, handles pressure, navigates conflict, adapts, influences and works with others tells us a great deal about how they are likely to perform once they are in the role. Motivation, values, work style and aspirations matter as well — including what someone wants more, or less, of in their next opportunity. Capability gets someone into the conversation. Alignment is what gives the relationship the opportunity to last.
What if the person we need looks different from what we originally thought?
It happens all the time. Then we talk about it. Search often surfaces information that was not obvious at the beginning. Sometimes the market confirms the original thinking. Sometimes it challenges it. There may be a different background worth considering, a capability that matters more than originally expected, or an exceptional person who does not fit the initial profile perfectly but could bring something more valuable. AVID’s role is not simply to follow a checklist. It is to bring experience, market intelligence and informed discernment to the process — and to say what we see.
How involved is AVID throughout the search?
Very. This is not a hand-off model. We remain closely involved from the initial understanding of the opportunity through market outreach, candidate assessment, presentation, interviews, feedback, references, offer discussions and close. Over time, that level of involvement has allowed us to build deep, trusted and insightful relationships with our clients — often working directly with owners, presidents, vice-presidents and other senior decision-makers who rely on us to understand both the business and the people behind it. That insight matters. The better we understand how an organization operates, how decisions are made and what its leaders value, the better positioned we are to identify people who can genuinely add to it. Search is ultimately about people making important decisions. We believe both the client and the candidate deserve thoughtful communication, straight answers and a high level of care throughout that process.
How do you protect confidentiality?
Confidentiality is a cornerstone of our practice. We are often trusted with sensitive information on both sides of a search — candidate information, organizational change, leadership transitions, succession planning, compensation, business strategy and other matters that are not ours to share. We take those contractual and professional obligations seriously. Candidate information is never shared casually, and client information is handled within the agreed parameters of the engagement. It is not always our story to tell. Our role is to understand the opportunity deeply, protect the information entrusted to us and broker the conversation thoughtfully and insightfully between the people who need to be part of it.
How long does a search usually take?
It depends on the role, the market and the complexity of the mandate. What matters more to us than an arbitrary timeline is maintaining momentum while giving the search enough room to uncover the right people. Some searches move quickly. Others require a wider market reach, more discretion or more time for the right conversations to develop. We keep clients informed throughout so they understand what we are seeing in the market, how the search is progressing and where decisions may need to be made.
What does working with AVID feel like?
Collaborative, candid and highly personal. We become invested in understanding the business and in getting the hire right. We ask questions, challenge thinking when it is useful, share what the market is telling us and stay close to the process. We care about the outcome because the right talent can materially change an organization — and the right opportunity can materially change someone’s working life. That is the work we like to do.