Collingwood is a retained executive search firm based in Tarporley, Cheshire. We are paid to run a defined search process for a specific appointment, rather than to forward CVs against a job advert.
Where we are
Location: Suite 4, Wright House, 67 High Street, Tarporley, Cheshire, CW6 0DP.
Telephone: +44 (0) 1829 732374.
Email: enquiries@collingwoodsearch.co.uk
Tarporley sits between Chester and Crewe, and most of our clients are within an hour of the office. A good deal of our work is not local at all, and the process is the same either way.
What we do
Specialism: retained executive search and advertising-led selection for board and senior leadership appointments. Collingwood was founded in 2005 by Doug Mackay and is the England and Wales partner in Talentor International, a network of independent search firms.
Alongside search we run talent mapping, talent pipelining, leadership development and outplacement. Here is how an executive search assignment runs, start to finish.
The sectors we work in
Sectors: Collingwood works in five:
- Building products and construction
- Medical technology and medical devices
- Private healthcare
- Aerospace and defence
- Technology
Each sector page carries the appointments we have completed in it, with the brief, the difficulty and the outcome.
Why a Cheshire firm is not necessarily a local one
Being based in Cheshire matters less than it used to, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise. Most assignments now run remotely, and the majority of the people we place sit outside the UK, concentrated in Europe, the Middle East and North America. Collingwood has recruited in more than 25 countries.
What being here does mean is that a client within reach of Tarporley can sit down with us, and a good number do. The first conversation is usually better in person.
The appointments we are asked to make
Almost all of it is board and one-below-board. Across the appointments published as case studies, the roles that recur are Managing Director, Finance Director, Operations Director, Sales and Commercial Director, HR Director, Technical and Engineering Director, and Chief Operating Officer, alongside more specialist briefs such as Clinical Director, Medical Director and Chief Information Security Officer.
The common thread is not seniority for its own sake. It is that the business has decided the next stage needs capability it does not currently have, and getting the appointment wrong is expensive in a way a mis-hire two levels down is not.
Retained, and what that actually means
A contingency recruiter is paid if you hire someone they sent. That is a reasonable model for roles with a deep and available candidate pool, and a poor one for a leadership appointment where the person you want is employed, well paid and not looking.
Retained means Collingwood is engaged to run the search itself: mapping the market, approaching people who are not applying for anything, assessing them against a brief agreed with you, and staying involved through offer and start. It is the difference between being sent candidates and being shown the market. Here is a fuller account of the difference between retained search and contingency recruitment.
It also changes what you can ask for. Because the fee is not contingent on a placement, we can tell you that the profile you have described does not exist at the salary you have set, or that an internal candidate is stronger than anyone we would bring you. Those conversations are worth more than a shortlist, and a contingency model has no room for them.
Clients and the executives we placed describe the process in their own words, unedited, on our testimonials page.
Talk to us
Contact: call +44 (0) 1829 732374, email enquiries@collingwoodsearch.co.uk, or get in touch for a confidential discussion. If you are weighing up a leadership appointment and are not yet sure the role is right, that is a conversation worth having before a search starts rather than after.