Executive Search · Standard Search
Standard Search
For stations that want help building the candidate pool and running the first round of interviews, while keeping the on-site finalist round inside their own organization. Everything in a Basic Search, plus a fully managed videoconference round of eight to ten semifinalists. Eight to twelve weeks from kickoff through the videoconference round.
When to choose this
A Standard Search is the right engagement when you want help reaching candidates and running a structured first interview round, but your committee will own the in-person finalist visits and the final decision. It is well suited to senior officer searches, content and development leadership, and specialized roles where the committee benefits from a facilitated first round but does not need on-site support.
Two questions help decide. Does your team have the time and structure to run on-site finalist interviews and make the final call? Would your committee gain meaningful value from having someone else build, schedule, and run the videoconference round of eight to ten candidates? If yes to both, this is the right level.
What you receive
Everything in our Basic Search, with a deeper recruiting commitment and a fully managed first interview round.
All Basic Search recruiting, with 50 completed contacts
The position posting to our Jobs page, a targeted email to our Job Alerts database, a jointly built advertising plan, résumé collection through our intake portal, and senior-recruiter outreach by phone. At the Standard Search level we commit to 50 completed contacts, up from 35 in the Basic Search.
A detailed PDF report on the candidate pool
Once recruiting closes, we compile a full report on every applicant: résumé, cover letter, and our notes from outreach. The committee uses the report to identify the eight to ten candidates who will move into the first round of interviews.
Question development with the station
We draft the question set for the videoconference round in partnership with the committee, calibrated to the role and to what the committee most needs to learn from the candidates.
A second report with finalist materials
Ahead of the interviews, we produce a focused finalist packet for the committee: each candidate's materials, their key strengths against the role, and the questions we plan to ask. Committee members arrive prepared.
Full management of the videoconference round
Our goal is for the selection committee to be able to just show up. We handle communications and logistics with applicants, pre-test the videoconference platform with each candidate, work with your station's IT to get the technology set up on your end, operate the platform on interview day (including switching between candidates), and pose the prearranged questions. Committee members are free to listen, take notes, and follow up.
Finalist selection and handoff
After the videoconference round, we work with your committee to select the finalists for in-person interviews at the station. From that point, the on-site round and final decision are yours to run.
Communication with unsuccessful candidates
As candidates exit the process at each stage, we follow up personally. It is a small thing that matters: every public-media professional remembers how they were treated by a search firm, and we want them to remember Livingston, and your station, well.
Timeline
A Standard Search runs eight to twelve weeks from kickoff through the videoconference round. The on-site finalist round adds whatever additional time your committee needs to schedule and travel candidates.
Diversity outcomes
Across all of our searches, 85% of finalist pools (the three to five candidates a client interviews in person) and 65% of selected candidates have been people of color, women, or both. These outcomes are not the product of a separate "diversity track." They are the product of the way every Livingston search is designed: recruiting broadly, applying structured, consistent screening, and partnering with affinity networks across public radio and television.
Discuss whether this is the right level.
We respond to every inquiry personally within two business days.