Executive search candidate report template: the confidential assessment a client reads
On this page
- What goes in an executive search candidate report?
- The candidate report template
- A filled example
- How do you write the assessment so the client can rely on it?
- How is a candidate report different from a submittal or a shortlist report?
- How should a candidate report be handled?
- Where do the notes for the report come from?
- What mistakes weaken a candidate report?
- Questions people ask
An executive search candidate report (also called a confidential candidate report or candidate assessment) is the consultant's written assessment of one shortlisted candidate against the position specification. A useful one fits on two to four pages and covers a summary and recommendation, career history with the scope of each role, an assessment against every criterion in the specification with evidence, motivation, compensation and terms, references, and the risks the client should test at interview. The template below follows that order, with a shortened filled example and the handling rules that keep it confidential.
The report rests on the conversations behind it. For the first confidential conversation, use our executive search screening questions; for the client's own loop after the shortlist, the interview guide for executive roles.
What goes in an executive search candidate report?
| Section | The question it answers for the client | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Summary and recommendation | Should I meet this person, and what is the main reason and the main risk? | 3 to 5 sentences |
| At a glance | Where are they now, and how big is the job they do today? | 5 lines |
| Career history | What have they run, at what scale, and what did they deliver? | Half a page to a page |
| Assessment against the specification | How do they measure against each thing we said we need? | The longest section |
| Leadership and situation fit | Are they suited to our situation, not just to the title? | A paragraph |
| Motivation | Why would they move, and what would make them say no? | A paragraph |
| Compensation and terms | What will it take, and when could they start? | 5 to 8 lines |
| References | Who has been asked, and what do they say? | A short list |
| Risks and open questions | What should we test when we meet them? | 3 to 5 bullets |
| Next steps | What happens now, and by when? | 2 to 3 lines |
The candidate report template
CONFIDENTIAL CANDIDATE REPORT
[Client] - [Position] - Prepared by [consultant] - [date]
Prepared with the candidate's agreement. Not for onward distribution.
1. SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATION
[Who they are in one sentence. Why they are on the shortlist. The main
risk. Recommendation: Meet / Meet, test [risk] / Hold.]
2. AT A GLANCE
Current role: [title, company, since]
Scope: [P&L or budget, headcount, markets, reporting line]
Location: [and willingness to relocate or travel]
Credentials: [degrees, licenses - as stated / verified]
3. CAREER HISTORY (most recent first; last 15 years in detail)
[Company] - [one line: size, ownership, stage]
[Title], [dates], reporting to [title]
Scope: [budget, team, geographies]
Delivered: [two or three results with numbers, as the candidate
described them]
Why moved: [their account]
4. ASSESSMENT AGAINST THE SPECIFICATION
(one block per criterion, in the order of the specification)
[Criterion] Rating: Strong / Meets / Partial / Not evidenced
Evidence: [what they did, when, at what scale; their words in
quotation marks where it matters]
Consultant's view: [your judgment, labelled as yours]
5. LEADERSHIP AND SITUATION FIT
[How they lead, the situations they have done best in (turnaround,
scale-up, integration, steady state), and how that matches the
client's situation as briefed.]
6. MOTIVATION
[Why this role, why now, what would make them decline.]
7. COMPENSATION AND TERMS
Current: [base; bonus target and last paid; equity or long-term
incentive, with vesting and unvested value if shared]
Expectations: [as stated]
Notice: [period, and any garden leave]
Covenants: [non-compete or non-solicit as described by the
candidate - not reviewed by us]
Other processes: [stage, if shared]
8. REFERENCES
Taken: [name, relationship (former boss / peer / direct report),
key points]
Planned: [who, when]
Backchannel: [only as agreed with the client and the candidate]
9. RISKS AND OPEN QUESTIONS
- [Risk] - suggested test at interview: [question or exercise]
- [Open question] - to be confirmed by [date]
10. NEXT STEPS
[Proposed meeting, who should meet them first, timing constraints.]A filled example
An invented candidate for an invented search, shortened to four sections:
1. SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATION
Chief Financial Officer of a privately held, 1,400-person logistics
business. On the shortlist for her two refinancings and the ERP
replacement she led. Main risk: no public-company reporting experience.
Recommendation: Meet; test readiness for quarterly reporting.
4. ASSESSMENT AGAINST THE SPECIFICATION
Capital markets experience Rating: Strong
Evidence: Led a 2024 refinancing and a 2025 amendment with a lender
group of seven banks. "We moved covenant testing from quarterly
EBITDA to a liquidity test; that bought us the room to invest."
Consultant's view: the most relevant experience on the shortlist.
Public-company reporting Rating: Not evidenced
Evidence: Prepared lender reporting and an audit under private-company
standards only. Has not owned an earnings cycle.
Consultant's view: the gap the client should test; she was candid
about it and named the adviser she would hire.
7. COMPENSATION AND TERMS
Current: base [figure]; bonus target 50%, last paid 60%; unvested
equity she estimates at [figure]. Notice: three months. Covenants:
12-month non-solicit of employees, as she describes it.
9. RISKS AND OPEN QUESTIONS
- Public reporting - ask her to walk through how she would run the
first quarter close as a listed company.
- Unvested equity - client to confirm whether a buyout is possible
before the second interview.How do you write the assessment so the client can rely on it?
- Separate evidence from judgment. Every criterion has an evidence line and a "consultant's view" line. A board member who disagrees with your view can still use your evidence.
- Give scale and dates. "Led a transformation" says nothing; "cut cost to serve 11% across 40 sites between 2023 and 2025" can be checked and compared.
- Rate against the specification, not the other candidates. Comparison belongs in the shortlist report, where it is explicit.
- Mark what is unverified. Credentials, figures and covenants are "as stated" until checked. Say so.
- Quote sparingly and exactly. One sentence in the candidate's words per criterion is plenty, and it must be what they said, not your paraphrase in quotation marks.
- Leave out what is not job-related. Age, family, health and appearance have no place in the report; our guide on what not to write in interview notes applies doubly to a document that may be read by a board.
How is a candidate report different from a submittal or a shortlist report?
| Document | Purpose | Typical length | Reader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agency submittal | Get the hiring manager to book a first interview | Half a page to a page | Hiring manager |
| Candidate report | Assess one candidate in depth against the specification | 2 to 4 pages | CEO, hiring executive, sometimes the board |
| Shortlist report | Compare the shortlist and recommend an interview order | 1 to 2 pages on top of the candidate reports | The client's decision makers |
If you work contingent searches below executive level, the shorter candidate submittal template is the right format; a four-page report for a mid-level role will not be read.
How should a candidate report be handled?
- Candidate's agreement first. Confirm the candidate is happy for their details to go to this client, by name, before you send anything. Senior candidates are often employed and visible; a leaked report can cost them their current role.
- Named recipients only. Agree with the client who receives reports, and mark each one confidential and not for onward distribution.
- Send a fixed file. A PDF from your system, not an editable document passed around by email.
- Retention. Keep reports, and the interview notes behind them, only as long as your retention policy allows, and delete them on schedule.
- References with permission. Take references only when the candidate agrees, and agree with the client in advance whether backchannel references are part of the search. The reference check template includes the write-up.
Where do the notes for the report come from?
From two or three long conversations, often in person, plus references. The report is only as good as the notes: exact figures, dates and the candidate's own words on the criteria that matter. Many consultants now use an AI notetaker for the video conversations and write by hand in person; our comparison of AI note takers for executive search covers discretion and long meetings. Where the tool stores transcripts matters more in search than anywhere else in recruiting: Interview Signal, for example, keeps transcripts, quotes and notes on the consultant's own computer rather than in a vendor's cloud, while the audio goes to a speech-to-text provider during the call and is not retained.
What mistakes weaken a candidate report?
- A biography instead of an assessment. The career history is not the report; the assessment against the specification is.
- Every criterion rated "Meets". If nothing is Partial or Not evidenced, the client will assume you have not looked.
- Risks left for the client to find. A risk you name, with a way to test it, builds trust; a risk the client discovers costs it.
- Compensation guessed. Write what the candidate said and mark it as stated; never fill a gap with an estimate.
- Inconsistent format across the shortlist. The client compares reports side by side; use the same sections, in the same order, for every candidate.
Questions people ask
What is an executive search candidate report?
It is the search consultant's confidential written assessment of one shortlisted candidate against the client's position specification. It usually covers a summary and recommendation, career history with the scope of each role, evidence against each criterion in the specification, motivation, compensation and terms, the status of references, and the risks the client should test at interview.
How long should an executive search candidate report be?
Two to four pages per candidate is a workable length: long enough to give evidence against each criterion in the specification, short enough that a CEO or board member reads all of it. Put the summary and recommendation on the first page, and move long career detail to the resume or an appendix rather than the body of the report.
What is the difference between a candidate report and a shortlist report?
A candidate report assesses one person in depth against the specification. A shortlist report sits on top of several candidate reports and compares them: one page per search with each candidate's headline, ratings against the main criteria side by side, and the consultant's recommended interview order. Clients read the shortlist report first and the candidate reports before they meet each person.
Should a candidate see their report before it goes to the client?
Many consultants confirm the factual parts with the candidate before sending: dates, titles, scope figures, compensation and notice. The assessment and the consultant's view are written for the client and are not usually shared in advance. Either way, the candidate should have agreed to their details going to that client before any report is sent.