What if you could partner with specialists as invested as you?

I’m William Laitinen, CEO of Exige.

I’ve been working with the world’s most talented people for 2 decades. Helping to shape their people strategy through growth and restructuring advice.

We work with the unique needs of the creators we serve; our objective is to ensure our entrepreneur’s extraordinary creation comes to life through exceptional people.

In the 20 years I have been in the industry, recruitment has changed, but today you can…

  • access all the data you want…but you can’t automate the ability to read people.
  • create a massive list of candidates…but you still need to carefully select those who share your values.
  • find exceptional candidates from across the world…but you still need to coach both sides to a successful outcome.

At the end of the day, it’s all about relationships.

I founded Exige in 2001 with one goal: change the face of recruitment.

Why? Because after years in the industry, I’d seen the trends firsthand:

 

  • Low-quality shortlists
     (thanks to minimal research)
  • Bad candidate experiences
     (thanks to questionable ethics)
  • Endless recruitment wait times
     (thanks to random non-approaches)
  • Mediocre candidates
     (thanks to superficial searches).

I was determined to create something different.

I was determined to create a team that consistently uncovered outstanding candidates — through exhaustive research, a clear value system, and boutique attention to a group of hand-selected clients.

Headquartered in picturesque Devon… serving multinationals across Europe

We operate out of offices in the UK and Switzerland, serving some of the world’s largest brands in the Western European markets.
We believe…

Mother Nature is the greatest nurturer

Our primary location in countryside Devon — with its rolling hills, pristine wildlife, and acres upon acres of rich greenery — helps us to be better people and better headhunters.

Our environment is a reflection of our culture & values:

We are contemplative, thinking people who know that ongoing reflection is key to growth.
We believe life is too short to be driven by the external need for keeping up with others.
We are a life-first team that seeks meaningful experiences outside of 9-5 to enrich our lives — and our work.

But we can’t expect nature to be there for us…

if we don’t do our part.

In the last 30 years, we’ve lost more than 500,000 square miles of forest.

With fewer trees and increasingly smaller forest cover, there’s

  • more circulating carbon dioxide
  • more noxious greenhouse gases
  • more heat trapped in our atmosphere.

That’s why we’ve made a commitment to ourselves… and to our planet:

  • 10%

    of revenue from every Exige search fee is donated to protect our forests.

  • We’ve also

    taken additional steps to reduce our carbon footprint, so we can all enjoy a safe, healthy Earth.

Read more about our commitment to the environment here.

Learn More

At Exige, our values lead to concrete behaviors:

Relationships Matter

There’s only one (real) secret to landing outstanding leaders: carefully cultivated relationships — with the candidates, stakeholders, and everyone in between.

Every exceptional match is driven by trust. And we build that trust painstakingly, with frequent meetings, regular updates, and a genuine desire for human connection.

Say No to Shortcuts

It’s simple to say and harder to execute: for the absolute best person, you’ve got to do the work. All of it.

 

Anyone can serve up a data dump. For a highly filtered list of stars, you need to review thousands of profiles and invest hundreds of hours.

Select with Confidence

We are not scared to select — truly select — for our clients, even if that means a smaller shortlist.

 

“Why are you leaving?” “What are you hoping to find?” “What work makes you really happy?” By asking carefully-crafted questions that get to the heart of their motivations, we get incisive responses that help us determine YES or NO.

A trusted search partner to industry leaders

A 98% success rate is not an accident

It’s the product of a rigorously tested method honed over 18 years

Our process, in 120 seconds

Helping teams across Europe hire smarter

Corporate Trainings / Events / Conferences

Are you an HR Director looking to improve your recruitment process… and build better teams?

Our CEO William Laitinen presents at company events and conferences across Europe — sharing time-tested, actionable recruitment secrets with the people who need it most.

Topics Include:

  1. Exodus of Talent:

    The 5 reasons why 90% of your talent will leave your (innovative) organisation — and what you can do to prevent it

  2. What is Talent, Anyway?

    How to identify and attract (truly) high-performing people — with a fail-proof equation

  3. Stop Stealing My People!

    How to stop headhunters like me from taking your very best talent

  4. I Want Your People:

    How to attract the very best talent from your top competitors

  5. The Wild Gardener:

    Using nature and system thinking to better evaluate your team’s performance

  6. How Do I Build a Great Team Culture?

    Sculpting your culture for short and long-term talent development

“Useful and engaging”

It was great having Will over to talk about the Exige Value Framework. Our attendees found the insights useful and engaging.
Ewa Widenka, Innovation Manager, Ninety Consulting
Want to learn about a recruitment-related topic not listed here?
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