You should not have to
find the role. The role
should find you.
The most significant senior appointments are not advertised. The executives who land them are not applying — they are being approached. Reverse Headhunting is the structured programme that puts a senior professional on the receiving end of that process rather than chasing it. Six deliverables. One principal. Direct access to the unadvertised executive market.
Begin a Confidential ConversationThe roles you can see are not the roles that matter at this level.
SHRM data confirms that 80% of senior positions are never publicly advertised. LinkedIn's Economic Graph, updated in 2024, puts the figure for VP-and-above appointments made through professional networks — not job boards — at 85%. These are not marginal statistics. They describe the actual structure of the senior hiring market.
What that means in practice: the executives landing the most significant appointments are not responding to postings. They are already known to the decision-maker before the vacancy exists. The introduction has already happened — through a trusted intermediary, through a network connection, through a direct confidential approach from someone with genuine access to that market.
Reverse Headhunting is the programme that engineers that position deliberately. It does not wait for the right role to appear. It places the candidate in front of the right organisations before those organisations have defined what they are looking for.
The candidates who access the unadvertised market are not more qualified than those applying through conventional channels. They are better represented — or they are already known. Reverse Headhunting addresses both.
This is representation into the unadvertised market. Not coaching. Not a CV service.
Reverse Headhunting was developed specifically because every conventional option — recruitment agencies, career coaches, CV writers — serves a different master or solves a different problem. Recruitment agencies are retained by the employer. Career coaches provide frameworks and accountability. CV writers produce a document.
None of those services put a senior professional directly in front of the right decision-makers in organisations that are not publicly hiring. That is what this programme does.
The methodology applies the same disciplines used in board-level M&A work — direct access, confidential approach, relationship infrastructure — to the work of senior career representation. The candidate's profile does not appear on job boards. Their current employer is not alerted. The approach reaches decision-makers who are not expecting it, from a source they recognise as credible.
Every engagement is conducted personally by Mark Ross Roberts. Not a team, not a junior associate, not an automated process. The same principal who built the network makes the approaches.
Six deliverables. Each one a distinct discipline.
The programme is not a single session and a document. It runs from initial positioning through to the first 90 days in a new role. The six deliverables below are sequential — each one builds on the last.
Confidential Career Memorandum
The primary positioning document — not a CV. A board-ready strategic narrative that communicates the decisions made, the scale operated at, and the commercial outcomes delivered. Written for the decision-makers who will receive it, not for a recruiter's database. This document does not circulate publicly. It is sent selectively, to organisations identified in the next stage.
Target Market Mapping
Identification of the organisations and specific decision-makers most likely to require the candidate's profile — based on sector, growth stage, strategic context, and geographic scope. This is not a list of companies with current vacancies. It is a map of where the candidate's background is most relevant, including organisations where the need may not yet be defined.
Confidential Market Approach
Direct, privately authored introductions to the decision-makers identified in the mapping stage. Each approach is written individually — not templated, not mass-distributed. The candidate's name and current employer are protected until the appropriate moment. The introduction is made from a source with established credibility in that market.
Interview Preparation & Coaching
Structured preparation for the conversations that follow from the market approach. This covers objection handling, narrative control under questioning, compensation disclosure strategy, and managing multiple conversations simultaneously. The preparation is specific to the organisations approached — not a generic interview framework.
Offer Negotiation
Active involvement from first offer through to final terms — base salary, equity, benefits, start date, and contractual conditions. Most senior professionals negotiate their own offers from a position of informational disadvantage. This stage corrects that. Thirty thousand logged hours of board-level negotiation is applied directly to the terms discussion.
Onboarding Support
Structured transition support for the first 90 days post-signature. New mandates fail not because the executive lacks competence — they fail because the first 90 days set a trajectory that is very difficult to reverse. This stage covers stakeholder mapping, early-win identification, and the management of expectations before they calcify.
Reverse Headhunting is not the right programme for every situation.
It is designed for senior professionals who are currently employed, require complete confidentiality, and are ready to move — but not willing to compromise on the quality of the next appointment. The engagement works because the candidate has a track record that warrants direct representation. It is not an entry-level service.
Directors, VPs, and C-suite executives currently in role who cannot be seen to be looking
Senior professionals who have exhausted the visible market and are not finding the right calibre of opportunity
Executives targeting a step up — sector change, geography change, or a move from corporate to board-level
Professionals who have received one offer but want to understand the full market before committing
Senior leaders returning after a planned career break who need to re-enter the market without a gap narrative disadvantage
Executives in sectors or geographies where their network does not reach the decision-makers they need to access
Reverse Headhunting is an engagement-basis programme. There is no standard pricing published. The scope, timeline, and terms are agreed in the initial conversation. To establish whether this programme is the right fit for your situation, the first step is a confidential email.
"Mark's depth of experience is remarkable. He doesn't just coach — he reframes challenges and offers perspectives that genuinely renew your confidence in where you are going."
"After dealing with age bias in the market, Mark reframed my entire approach. The methodology is not career advice — it is a direct route into conversations that would not have happened otherwise."
A confidential conversation.
No obligation. No standard pitch.
The first step is an email. Outline your situation — current role, what you are targeting, and whether confidentiality is a requirement. Mark reads every enquiry personally and will tell you honestly whether this programme is the right fit, and what the engagement would involve.
Engagement-basis · Principal-led · Strictly confidential