June 25, 2025

Right at the end, when every stage has been completed (the business case discussion, the partner interviews, the psychometric test and so on) and the contract is on the table, the candidate calls to decline: openly irritated with the headhunter, citing some pretext to the client. Candidates pulling out at every stage of the process

ESG compliance is fast becoming a must for private equity. We’re seeing rising demand from PE firms for ESG specialists. In current projects for our private equity clients, we at TALENTspy are noticing two interesting things:• Many people in ESG roles are purpose-driven. They find deep meaning in their work, and private equity is rather

Conversations with clients are often strikingly different. A private equity firm defines the search profile for the CFO of a portfolio company. The investment is heading for exit soon. But the client definitely doesn’t want a “seller”. “Storytelling, roadshow, the sale itself: we’ll handle all that,” the client says. “What we need is a CFO

Our economy has stopped growing, and costs are exploding. It’s a toxic mix for mid-sized companies backed by private equity, because on the liabilities side they often carry ambitious leverage and strict loan conditions, the covenants. So how much weight do PE firms currently give to restructuring expertise when choosing CFOs for their portfolio companies?

Private equity has long been dominated by men, while women have been under-represented in key positions. Growing awareness of the value of diversity in finance, however, has shifted the focus towards attracting and keeping more female talent. PE funds are under increasing pressure from their investors to diversify their teams. In our experience, international universities

In principle, PE firms have the same modern HR tools at their disposal as any other company: parental leave, sabbaticals, working from home and childcare support. For small holding companies, as we see, this is still a challenge. We see two strategies in private equity, depending on the problem a firm is trying to solve.

How do you actually qualify for a CFO role in a private equity-backed company? And how do you get on the radar of the headhunters who fill these roles? A few tips from our work: If you want to be visible, you need a strong track record with concrete successes. Ideally, you can show proven

What’s easily overlooked is that a third person, usually invisible at first, is always part of the negotiation. Especially when a move is involved, and even more so with a posting abroad, several people are at the table: the spouse, teenage children and close relatives are all heavily affected by the candidate’s job change. Our

Which ESG specialists are private equity firms looking for? We see three plus one groups in the ESG candidate market. All of them have relatively little private equity experience. ESG strategists who know sustainable business models as potential targets. They’ve invested in these markets and understand how “green” business models and their competitive dynamics work.

Again and again, candidates pull out after long application processes that have been demanding for both sides. When candidates go through the whole process and still decline at the end, most of them cite personal reasons. The “reason” given is often the invisible third party: the partner, the children, the parents. At a very late