About Us

At Absolute Value, we act as an extension of your team; performing the search as thoroughly as if you were doing it yourself. We avoid the “Ready, Fire, Aim” syndrome by taking the time to learn what is important to you.  This way we know exactly what to look for and why great candidates will want to join your team. Our preparation enables us to find the candidates you want – quicker and with greater success.

We don’t follow the “spray and pray” approach to recruiting that so many others do. Recruiting is about marketing and selling and we know all about that. Step 1 is preparation. Step 2 is “knowing where to fish.”

Our work is focused on the areas we know best: SaaS, information services, and technology-enabled businesses.  We have an extensive network in these areas because we’ve spent our entire careers in them. We’re also able to approach candidates as peers; we’re not just another recruiter chasing them down.

And Step 3? Well, that’s knowing how to effectively market your job to great candidates and being able to express to them why working for you is a great opportunity. That’s our favorite part!

This is the most important part. We dig deep to find out if the candidate is someone that you’ll want to hire. We meet with candidates multiple times to get to know them and properly assess their fit with your needs. Our assessment methodology is detailed and thorough:

• We start with their accomplishments. Usually, this is their numbers. In marketing, it is how they have moved the needle. What have they achieved? Have they consistently over-achieved expectations? For sales: what was their % plan, quota, raw achievement, and stack ranking for the past 3 years?
• After their performance, we go over their background in detail. Do they have the experience needed?  Are they an expert?  What types of customers have they sold or marketed to? Have they job-hopped?
• Skills come next. Do they have the expertise needed? What’s their process? Do they track activity?  How do they manage and prioritize their pipeline? How do they articulate the value proposition of what they’re selling now?  How about their objection handling and closing skills?
• We work to understand what kind of person they are. Do they have intellectual curiosity? Are they coachable? Are they ethical? Do they follow through on their commitments? Will they fit with your culture?
• We discuss compensation in detail, making sure to understand equity and whether there might be a problem with a non-compete.
• Finally, we test to make sure they are emotionally ready to make a change.  If we get to the offer stage, will they accept?  Will they turn down that counteroffer that may come?
• It’s only when we’re fully convinced that you’ll want to hire them that we present them to you.

Our detailed Candidate Summaries help you interview efficiently.

Once we’re convinced, we send you a structured candidate overview that effectively gives you our interview notes.  We tell the whole story: their achievements/sales numbers and what we learned about them: good and bad, because no one’s perfect. Our efficient and thorough process means that we typically only need to present 2-3 candidates before you will want to hire one of them.  Check out our Metrics and think about how they compare to your experience with other recruiters.

Because of our thorough process, it’s rare you won’t want to interview a candidate we present.  Only after we’ve become fully convinced you’re going to be interested in a candidate do we present her/him.