Zenith Search Partners

05/28/2026

Some hiring problems don’t really show up until summer.

That’s when vacations start overlapping, key people disappear for a week, and suddenly everyone realizes just how much institutional knowledge lives inside one person’s head.

A lot of teams can operate lean for a while.

Summer tends to test whether they can operate resiliently.

Not a crisis. Just a useful reminder that bandwidth, cross-training, and succession planning matter more than most people think.

Also a reminder that the phrase “I’ll have limited access to email” has become one of the great works of fiction in modern business.

Hope everyone finds a little time to recharge this summer.

05/27/2026

As we ease back into reality after Memorial Day weekend…

A few observations:

1. Nobody fully remembers what day it is yet.

2. “I’ll follow up after the holiday” has officially come due.

3. The inbox has somehow been both quiet and aggressive at the same time.

4. And despite all of that… some of the best ideas seem to happen during these slightly slower weeks.

Hope everyone had a meaningful holiday weekend. Whether it was spent reflecting, remembering, resting, or simply being around people you care about, I hope it was time well spent.

05/19/2026

Most Mondays start with strategy.

By Thursday, most of us are just trying to protect the original intent.

The calendar looked reasonable when we built it. The priorities made sense. The plan had structure.

Then reality showed up with a few edits.

A client need.
A team issue.
A decision that took longer than expected.
A “quick call” that was neither quick nor just a call.

I’ve learned the goal isn’t to keep the week perfectly on track.

It’s to keep the important things from getting buried under the urgent ones.

That’s true in leadership, hiring, and probably inbox management, although I’m still conducting research on that last one.

Curious how others handle it.

What helps you protect the important work when the week starts negotiating back?

05/14/2026

One of the biggest misconceptions in specialized hiring is that the best candidates are actively looking.

Sometimes they are.

More often, they’re doing good work somewhere else.

They’re leading teams, solving problems, managing customers, keeping plants running, growing revenue, or quietly becoming indispensable.

Which is inconvenient, frankly. Life would be easier if every great candidate woke up on Tuesday and decided to update their resume.

But in technical and chemical markets, the strongest people often need a reason to listen before they ever consider a move.

That’s where the search becomes less about “finding applicants” and more about understanding the market, earning trust, and knowing how to start the right conversation.

Curious how others approach this.

What have you found most effective when trying to reach candidates who are not actively looking?

05/08/2026

The April Jobs Report finally gave us something we haven’t seen much lately:

A little breathing room.

115,000 jobs added. Unemployment holding at 4.3%. Not exactly “economic boom” territory… but also not the collapse some people were bracing for.

Honestly, most business leaders I talk to aren’t looking for perfect conditions right now anyway.

They’re looking for signs that they can plan again.

Hire carefully.
Invest selectively.
Move forward without feeling like the ground is shifting every 15 minutes.

What I found interesting is that the report felt… steadier.

Not euphoric. Not disastrous. Just steadier.

And after the last few years, steady has become a pretty underrated word.

Curious what others are seeing.

Does this report change how you’re thinking about hiring over the next few months?

Here's an article to check out: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/08/jobs-report-april-2026.html

Nonfarm payrolls were expected to increase by 55,000 in April, according to the Dow Jones consensus.

05/05/2026

I’ve had more than a few conversations lately that start with:

“We thought we could fill this one internally… but it’s proving tougher than expected.”

That part usually isn’t surprising.

Earlier in my career, on the commercial side of chemical distribution, I remember how long it actually took to get comfortable:

Understanding the products
Understanding the customers
Understanding where you could add value and where you couldn’t

That doesn’t happen quickly.

And it doesn’t always show up clearly on a résumé.

Now, coming at it from the search side, I see where the disconnect happens.

On paper, the role looks straightforward.

In reality, you’re often looking for someone who can operate at the intersection of technical credibility and commercial judgment.

That’s a narrower group than most expect.

The good news is, once you understand what you’re really looking for, the search tends to move with a lot more direction.

Curious how others are seeing it.

Where do roles tend to look simpler on paper than they are in practice?

05/01/2026

As we head into the weekend…

No Jobs Report this week. That shows up next Friday.

Probably fine.

Most hiring decisions I see aren’t driven by a headline anyway.

They’re driven by things like:

“How long did that last search take?”
“Why did that candidate walk away?”
“Do we actually feel confident hiring right now?”

The data eventually confirms things, but the patterns usually show up earlier.

Curious what others are watching.

What’s been the most telling signal for you lately?

04/28/2026

I remember talking with a leader in chemical distribution who said:

“We promoted our best salesperson... and now we need our best salesperson back.”

I laughed.

Then I stopped laughing because I knew exactly what he meant.

Strong individual performers often get promoted for the right reasons:

They know the market.
They know the customers.
They know how to win.

But leadership asks different questions.

Can they coach?
Can they build trust?
Can they hold people accountable without draining the room?

Those skills don’t always arrive with the title.

The best companies I’ve seen treat leadership as a role to prepare for, not just a reward for past production.

Curious how others have seen this play out.

Where do companies most often get promotions right...or wrong?

04/21/2026

The more specialized the role, the less room there is for guesswork.

Not always immediately. But eventually.

You see it when someone is handed a highly technical search and starts by asking questions that could have been answered with a quick look at the company website.

You see it when a role that requires nuance gets treated like it came off an assembly line.

And you definitely see it when speed is mistaken for understanding.

I say that with some humility. Early in my career, I probably thought enthusiasm could cover a few knowledge gaps. It cannot. Enthusiasm is helpful. Expertise is better.

In specialized industries, candidates are evaluating the recruiter too. They can usually tell who understands their world and who is reading from a script.

The good news is this: when experience, curiosity, and real market knowledge come together, hiring gets smarter and trust builds faster.

Curious how others see it.

In technical or niche hiring, what signals credibility to you early on?

04/15/2026

Tax Day has a way of getting everyone’s attention. Even people who would prefer not to think about it.

Over time, I’ve come to appreciate it for a different reason.

It forces a moment of clarity.

Not just on numbers, but on decisions.

What worked.
What didn’t.
And a few things that looked like a good idea at the time. I’ve had those.

In business, we don’t always give ourselves that kind of pause.

But asking a few simple questions can be useful:

What are we spending time on that isn’t paying off?
Where are we investing that actually is?

Not exactly a tax strategy.
More of a survival technique.

Curious if others use this time as a checkpoint, or just try to get through it as quickly as possible.