Benskin & Hott Talent Partners

Benskin & Hott Talent Partners At Benskin & Hott, our team of Executive Search Partners is committed to delivering an individualized search to each unique client.

Benskin & Hott Talent Partners is a performance-driven national search firm committed to delivering exceptional results through the Power of Partnership speclalizing in placing Accounting/Finance and HR talent on a temp/interim, temp-perm and direct hire. We put ourselves in the mindset of your organization - your talent goals are our talent goals. We see ourselves as true business partners and ex

tensions of your business. With our team's combined 45+ years of recruiting experience, our network of talent is both wide and deep in a range of markets, industries and functions, giving our clients total access to the top talent that will fill their needs. Our specialties lie in the Human Resources, Accounting & Finance and Supply Chain Management functions, where are networks run the deepest. Whether you're a candidate searching for your next great career opportunity or a future client seeking to partner with a search firm that will gain a true understanding of your organization's culture, once you work with Benskin & Hott, you'll find that we really "get" talent and why we're the very best in the business.

06/19/2026

If a recruiter reaches out about a role and won't tell you the company name right away, I understand why that feels suspicious. There are a lot of fake recruiters out there right now and vague details are one of the warning signs people are rightly watching for.

But there's a legitimate reason a real recruiter might hold back the company name early on. The role is confidential. Someone is currently sitting in that seat and the company isn't ready for that person to know they're being replaced. That's not a small thing to manage. If the information gets out too early it can create a situation the client wasn't prepared for and sometimes it costs someone their job before the transition is handled properly.

So when I'm working a confidential search, I'm careful about what I share and when. I've made a commitment to the client to manage the details until the time is right.

The way to tell the difference is pretty simple. A legitimate recruiter isn't going to ask you for money. They're not going to ask you to pay for resume services or candidate marketing. If the conversation stays professional and no one is asking you to open your wallet, the vagueness early on is probably just the search being handled carefully.

If you're genuinely interested, say so. The details come out as the conversation moves forward.

06/17/2026

Not all private equity is the same and it matters that candidates know the difference before they decline an opportunity on category alone.

There are firms that come in, acquire a company, and immediately start cutting. The reporting is intense, the autonomy disappears, and the exit is structured around stripping the business down to what's sellable. That experience has left a lot of good people with a strong negative association with anything PE-backed.

There are also firms that come in because they see genuine potential and want to invest in it. They provide resources the company didn't have before. They're selective about the deals they take because they intend to hold for three to five years and sell something that's grown. Their track record is visible if you look for it.

When you're evaluating a role at a PE-backed company, the question isn't whether it's PE. The question is which kind. How many portfolio companies does this firm have and what happened to them? Did the people they placed stay? What does their hold period look like? Are the companies they've exited in better shape than when they came in?

Your recruiter should know the answers to most of those questions if they've worked with the firm before. Ask them before you form an opinion based on a previous experience that may have nothing to do with the firm in front of you.

06/15/2026

The silence during a hiring process is tough. You've done the interviews, you're interested, and you're hearing nothing.

Here's what I'll tell you though. Most of the time the silence isn't about you. Hiring timelines slip for all kinds of reasons. Budgets get reviewed. A key stakeholder goes on vacation. The person who was supposed to schedule your next round gets pulled onto something urgent. Almost none of it gets communicated to candidates because the hiring manager is dealing with it and doesn't think to send the update.

That's not okay. Candidates deserve better communication than most processes give them. But knowing that it's usually not personal can at least take some of the weight off while you're waiting.

The most useful thing you can do is ask your recruiter to check in and get you a real status update. That's part of what they're there for. You don't have to just sit in it. Ask the question, get the answer, and then give it a realistic window before you read too much into the silence.

06/11/2026

There are strong opinions about retained versus contingent search and I get why. The debate usually centers on whether a recruiter gives every client the same effort regardless of how they're paying. I understand that concern. My answer is that the effort is the same. The engagement is different.

When a client retains me, they've made a commitment and I make one back. I go deeper on the market. I'm more selective about who I present. I turn down competing searches in that space for the duration. That's what the model calls for.

Contingent work has its own rhythm and I've done plenty of it. It's not a lesser version, it's a different one. Both work when everyone understands what they're in and what their end of it looks like.

The most important conversation I have with a new client is usually the one before the search starts. Which model actually makes sense here. What the timeline realistically looks like. What I need from them to do my best work. Getting that straight upfront saves everyone a lot of frustration later.

06/09/2026

I've always believed there's enough business in this market for every recruiter who wants to do the work. Certain clients are going to connect with my style. Others are going to be a better fit for someone else. That's how it's supposed to work and I've never had a problem with it.

I try to look at things from an abundance perspective. If another recruiter in my specialty is doing good work, that's good for the market. It's not a threat to me. The clients who are right for me will find their way to me. The ones who aren't, won't. That's fine.

What I've found over 25 years is that the work speaks for itself if you let it. Clients come back. They refer people to you. They tell the CFO they hired to call you when they need a VP. You don't build that by treating every other recruiter like competition. You build it by doing good work and trusting that it adds up over time.

06/05/2026

One of my recruiters asked me recently how to present a search that has real problems in it. The answer is that you present it as it is.

The search was for a CFO role at an organization that had been through a hard stretch. Leadership changes and financial issues that had been building for a while. These things were true. You cannot recruit a good CFO into that situation without being honest about what it is.

I get why recruiters lead with the mission and the upside. Those things are true too. But any CFO candidate worth talking to is going to ask questions and do their homework. If what they find doesn't match the picture you painted, you lose them and you lose the client's trust at the same time.

The right candidate for that search is someone who genuinely wants a turnaround challenge, understands the risk, and cares about the mission beyond just the title. That's a smaller pool. But there's no point placing someone who expected a stable organization into one that needs to be rescued. That placement won't hold.

06/03/2026

Nobody ever asks the recruiter what they're worried about. That's usually the most useful question in the whole process.

You're going to come into that call with questions about the role. The responsibilities, the comp, the growth. That's fine. But the recruiter knows things that are never going in a job posting. What the manager is actually like to work for. Whether the team is settled or all over the place. Why the last person left, if the client was honest about it. If they've placed people there before, they've heard how those placements went. That's the stuff you want to ask about.

So ask them what they're worried about. Not what they're excited about. What do they think might not work for you specifically. A good recruiter will tell you. A company that takes forever to make decisions might be fine for you or it might be a problem. But knowing it before your second round interview is a lot better than figuring it out in month three.

The first conversation with a recruiter doesn't have to feel like an interview. The more you treat it like a real conversation, the more useful it gets. You're allowed to ask the hard questions. That's what they're there for.

06/01/2026

Don't ever pay a recruiter. I want to lead with that because it's happening again.

Job seekers are getting texts and emails from people claiming to be recruiters. It goes a few rounds, seems real, and then the ask comes: pay for resume services, pay for candidate marketing, pay for access to their network. I have never in 25 years run into a legitimate search firm that charges candidates. Not for placement, not for marketing, not for any of it. The employer pays. That is how this works.

I keep seeing this and it makes me angry because the people getting hit are the ones who have been searching the longest. When you've been out of work for a year and someone seems attentive and promising, you want it to be real. These people know that. That's exactly who they're targeting.

If you genuinely want help with your resume, find a resume writer through a word of mouth recommendation. You're paying for a specific service and you know what you're getting. That's a completely different thing. But a recruiter? No. If they ask you for money, that's your answer.

I've watched this come around before. It showed up in 2008, again around 2016, and here it is again. If you know someone who's currently searching, tell them.

05/28/2026

The candidate isn't going to work for me. They're going to work for the client. I think some recruiters forget that.

I've always thought of myself as a matchmaker of sorts. My job is to set up the dates. Coordinate the trip so they can get to know each other. Make sure both sides show up prepared and feel good about the process. At some point, those two people need to actually talk to each other.

There's an older model in recruiting where you never let a client and candidate have direct contact before an offer. The logic was protecting your placement from being cut out. Pre-LinkedIn, you could actually build that wall. Email addresses were harder to find, phone numbers weren't public. It made a certain kind of sense.

That world is gone. And honestly, even when it existed, I'm not sure it served anyone well. If a hiring manager wants to reach out to a candidate directly and that candidate is comfortable with it, I'm going to make that happen. My job isn't to stand in the middle of a relationship that both people need to build. It's to make sure it gets built right.

I represent the company because they hired me. I also represent the candidate because the next several years of their career are on the line. I've always taken both equally seriously. A placement that works is one where both sides are genuinely excited. You can't manufacture that through a recruiter relay race.

05/26/2026

A hiring manager took the time to reach out to a candidate before leaving the country for two and a half weeks. She wanted to let her know directly that the process would pause and pick back up when she got back. That is a thoughtful thing to do. Most hiring managers don't do it.

The candidate responded at 1:06 in the morning. She said it would have been "much more polite" if the hiring manager had sent the email to the agency instead.

I can tell you more about the email, but I think you already see where this is going.

The hiring manager forwarded it to me that morning and said she was relieved to know how sensitive the candidate was before moving forward. Then she asked me to decline her.

Here's what I keep coming back to. The hiring manager did the right thing. She went out of her way to be transparent. She told a candidate exactly what to expect so the silence wouldn't feel like rejection. That is above and beyond. And it cost her the relationship.

I've been recruiting for 25 years. I know hiring managers who disappear for a month without a word and expect the process to stay warm. The ones who actually take the time to let you know what's happening are rare. When you find one, don't send them a message at 1:06 in the morning calling them condescending.

If you're in a job search right now, your recruiter isn't always going to be the one delivering bad news. Sometimes the hiring manager is just telling you they'll be in Ireland for two weeks. Let them go to Ireland.

Address

15455 Conway Road, Suite 220
St. Louis, MO
63017

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 4pm

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Benskin & Hott Talent Partners posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Benskin & Hott Talent Partners:

Shortcuts

Share

Category