# What a search firm actually needs before it can start looking

URL: https://skillsforce.com.sg/insights/how-to-brief-executive-search-firm-singapore
Title: How to brief an executive search firm in Singapore | Skillsforce
Description: The six things a search firm needs from you before it can start, and why a confidential search does not exempt you from MOM's fair-hiring rules.
Updated 1 September 2026. First published 1 September 2026. Author: Skillsforce (People-operations team)
Category: hiring-recruitment

Most first-time briefs to a search firm are a job description and a deadline. Neither tells a consultant who to approach, who will say yes to a hire, or how confidential the whole thing needs to stay. A brief that actually works covers six things, and one of them is a legal obligation employers routinely assume does not apply to them because the search is quiet.

## What does an executive search firm need from an employer to start?

A written brief: the role's scope and two or three genuine disqualifiers, the salary as a band, who sits on the panel and signs off, a realistic decision timeline, how confidentiality works if the incumbent hasn't been told, and whether the hire needs an Employment Pass or S Pass, since that brings its own advertising duty.

## Key points

- A working brief covers six things: role scope with two or three real disqualifiers, the salary stated as a band, who sits on the panel and who has final sign-off, a realistic decision timeline, the confidentiality plan, and whether the hire needs a work pass.
- Confidential does not mean exempt. If the hire needs a new Employment Pass or S Pass, MOM's 14-day MyCareersFuture advertising duty and fair consideration of candidates still apply, whether or not the search itself is public.
- The same four exemptions from that advertising duty apply to both Employment Pass and S Pass applications: a company with fewer than 10 employees, a fixed monthly salary of S$22,500 or more, a role of one month or less, and a role filled by a local transferee. Employment Pass applicants get one further exemption, for an overseas intra-corporate transferee.
- A salary stated as a single figure invites a candidate to anchor high and a panel to argue later about what was actually offered. A band, agreed before the search starts, avoids both.
- Naming who has final sign-off before the search begins, not when an offer is ready, is the single change that shortens most searches the most.
- Vague disqualifiers cost more time than a long list of nice-to-haves. Two or three genuine deal-breakers, stated plainly, do more work than a wish list a consultant has to guess at.

Send a search firm a job description and a deadline, and you will get candidates back eventually, some of them plausible. Send a brief that also states your real disqualifiers, a salary band, who signs off the offer, and how confidential the whole thing needs to stay, and you get a shortlist that does not fall apart at the offer stage. The difference comes down to six specific things, most of which an employer briefing a search for the first time has simply never been asked for before.

## What actually belongs in the brief

Start with the role, but not as a job description. A consultant needs to know what the role is actually for, not what its title suggests, and which two or three things would genuinely disqualify an otherwise strong candidate. A long list of nice-to-haves does the opposite of what it intends: it gives the consultant nothing to screen against and everything to guess at. "Must have run a finance function through an audit and a system migration at the same time" disqualifies people. "Strong communication skills" does not.

State the salary as a band, agreed in advance with whoever has final sign-off, not as a single number pulled from a benchmarking report. A single figure gets read as a floor by the candidate and as a ceiling by whoever approves the offer, and the gap between those two readings is exactly where negotiations stall in the final week. A band, set honestly before the search starts, gives the consultant room to manage both sides without promising something the business will not actually pay.

Name the panel and the sign-off before the search begins, not once candidates appear. This is the single most common reason a well-run search still drags: a panel assembled late, or a sign-off that turns out to sit with someone who was never in the room. If the person who needs to approve the final offer is not named on day one, assume the timeline you agreed will slip regardless of how well the search itself goes.

It is worth being specific about what "the panel" means, too. A search firm working from "the leadership team will interview" has no way to schedule around anyone, and a rotating cast of interviewers across two or three months is one of the more common reasons a strong candidate drops out before an offer is even made. Name the two or three people who will actually assess the candidate, note who among them is unavailable for any stretch of the search window, and confirm separately who has to say yes before an offer goes out. Those can be different people, and a brief that assumes they are the same one is a brief that will need correcting mid-search.

Agree a realistic timeline, and be honest with yourself about what "realistic" means for the seat. A confidential senior search runs on months, not weeks, because mapping a market and approaching people who are not looking cannot be compressed the way an open recruitment process can. Our piece on [how long hiring actually takes](/insights/recruitment-shortlist-timeline-singapore) sets out what is fixed by regulation and what genuinely depends on how quickly your own side moves once candidates are in front of you.

## How confidentiality actually works

If the reason for the search is that a current incumbent has not been told they are being replaced, say so at the outset, plainly, rather than letting the consultant infer it. Confidentiality changes who gets approached and when the vacancy becomes public, not what has to happen procedurally. A consultant working a confidential brief needs to know exactly who inside your organisation is aware the search exists, because that list is usually smaller than an employer first assumes, and every additional person who knows is a chance the search becomes public before you want it to.

Confidentiality is also the reason the licence check matters more here than in an open recruitment. Ask for the firm's MOM Employment Agency licence number and confirm it against MOM's public Employment Agencies Directory before the brief goes any further. A firm carrying a confidential mandate that will not name its own licence, or resists being checked, is not the firm to hand a sensitive search to. This is a separate question from choosing search over recruitment in the first place; if you have not settled that question yet, our piece on [executive search vs recruitment](/insights/executive-search-vs-recruitment-singapore) covers when a search is actually warranted and when it is not.

## Confidential does not mean exempt

Running a search quietly, through a named consultant, with nobody outside a small circle aware it is happening, changes nothing about whether the hire needs to be advertised. If the role needs a new Employment Pass or S Pass, MOM's Fair Consideration Framework still requires the job to be advertised on MyCareersFuture for at least 14 consecutive days, with fair consideration of every applicant, before the pass application goes in. There is no carve-out for confidential searches, and none for using a search firm or a headhunter at all. MOM states plainly that a company using a recruitment agency still has to advertise; the agency can place the advertisement on the employer's behalf, but the duty itself does not move.

The exemptions that do exist are the same four for an Employment Pass and an S Pass: a company with fewer than 10 employees; a role with a fixed monthly salary of S$22,500 or more; a role that is short-term, meaning not more than one month; and a role to be filled by a local transferee, an existing employee moving between related branches, subsidiaries or affiliates in Singapore. Employment Pass applicants get one further exemption that S Pass applicants do not: an overseas intra-corporate transferee who meets MOM's own conditions for that route. None of the four shared exemptions turns on whether the search was confidential or open, and none of them turns on seniority. A confidential search for a chief financial officer earning S$18,000 a month, at a company with 40 staff, still needs the 14-day advertisement before a pass application, exactly as an open recruitment for the same role would.

Where the salary genuinely clears S$22,500 a month fixed, the advertising duty falls away on its own, which is one reason senior confidential searches for foreign hires above that line feel exempt when they are not: the exemption is doing the work, not the confidentiality. Employment Pass qualifying salary itself is age-banded and varies by sector, rising from S$5,600 in general sectors (S$6,200 in financial services) at the youngest band to S$10,700 (S$11,800 in financial services) at 45 and above, which is worth checking against the specific candidate's age before assuming the S$22,500 exemption applies by default.

## Building the one-page brief

A brief that covers all of this fits on one page. Before the first call with a search firm, an employer should be able to answer:

- What is the role actually for, and what two or three things would disqualify an otherwise strong candidate?
- What is the salary band, agreed with whoever signs off the offer, not a single number pulled from a survey?
- Who sits on the interview panel, and who has the final say on an offer?
- What is a realistic decision timeline for this seat, given that a confidential search runs on months?
- Does this search need to stay confidential, and if so, who inside the company already knows?
- Will the hire need a new Employment Pass or S Pass, and if so, has the 14-day MyCareersFuture window and fair-consideration duty been planned for, or does an exemption genuinely apply?

Answering all six before the first call does not guarantee a fast search. It removes the questions a consultant would otherwise have to raise mid-search, which is where most of the avoidable delay actually sits.

## Fair hiring standards apply regardless of how quiet the search is

One more point worth stating plainly, because a confidential process can make it feel optional: TAFEP's Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices, which MOM expects every employer in Singapore to follow, require selection on merit regardless of age, race, gender, religion, marital or family status, or disability. A confidential search changes who is approached and when the process becomes visible. It does not change what the selection has to be based on, and MOM's enforcement route does not distinguish between an open recruitment and a discreet one when a complaint is raised.

## Getting the brief right the first time

Most of what makes a search run well is decided before the consultant makes a single approach: scope and disqualifiers, a salary band with sign-off already agreed, a named panel, an honest timeline, a confidentiality plan, and a clear answer on whether the hire triggers a work-pass advertising duty. None of it is complicated. Most of it simply never gets asked, which is why so many searches stall on a question the brief should have answered on day one.

None of this replaces a good conversation with the firm you engage. A brief is a starting point a consultant can push back on, not a form to fill in once and forget. The employers who get the best results tend to be the ones willing to say, honestly, which of the six items above they have not actually decided yet, rather than guessing an answer to look prepared. A search firm worth engaging would rather spend twenty minutes settling the salary band or the sign-off question before the search starts than discover three months in that the number in the brief was never actually approved. If you are weighing whether a specific seat needs a search at all, or want a hand building the brief itself, our [recruitment](/services/recruitment) team can work through it with you before the first approach is made.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is the minimum a search firm actually needs before starting work?

A written brief, not a conversation the consultant has to reconstruct from memory later. At minimum: the role's scope and its real disqualifiers, a salary band, who is on the interview panel, who signs off the final offer, a target timeline, whether the search needs to stay confidential from the current incumbent, and whether the hire will need a work pass. Anything missing from that list becomes a question the consultant has to ask mid-search, which is where weeks get lost.

### Does a confidential executive search exempt an employer from advertising the role?

Only if the hire itself is exempt for other reasons. There is no exemption from MOM's Fair Consideration Framework for confidentiality or for using a search firm. If the role needs a new Employment Pass or S Pass, the employer must still advertise it on MyCareersFuture for at least 14 consecutive days and fairly consider applicants before applying, unless one of MOM's published exemptions applies. A search firm can place that advertisement on the employer's behalf, but the duty itself is not waived by discretion.

### Do the same advertising exemptions apply to both the Employment Pass and the S Pass?

Yes. MOM publishes the same four exemptions for both passes: a company with fewer than 10 employees, a role with a fixed monthly salary of S$22,500 and above, a role that is short-term at not more than one month, and a role to be filled by a local transferee, meaning an existing employee moving between related branches, subsidiaries or affiliates in Singapore. For the Employment Pass only, MOM separately exempts an overseas intra-corporate transferee who meets its own conditions.

### Why brief a salary band rather than a single number?

A single figure gets treated as a floor by the candidate and a ceiling by the panel, and the gap between those two readings is exactly where a late-stage negotiation stalls. A band, agreed with whoever signs off the offer before the search starts, gives the consultant room to manage expectations honestly on both sides. MyCareersFuture also expects a posted salary to be shown as a range rather than a single figure, with the top of that range no more than twice the bottom, so a band is the format you will need in any case once a work-pass application is involved.

### Who should sit on the interview panel for a senior search?

Whoever will actually work with the hire, plus whoever has to approve the offer. Naming both groups before the search starts, rather than assembling a panel once candidates appear, is what keeps a shortlist from stalling at the interview stage. A panel that changes mid-search, or a sign-off that turns out to sit with someone who was never consulted, is the most common reason a search that started well drags on.

### How do I check that a search firm is properly licensed in Singapore?

Ask for its MOM Employment Agency licence number and confirm it against MOM's public Employment Agencies Directory before the brief goes any further. A licence runs for up to three years and is renewable, and checking it costs nothing. Doing this at the confidential stage, rather than waiting until a contract is signed, protects the employer as much as the candidate.

### What happens after I hand the search firm a brief?

Mapping the realistic market, discreet direct approaches, and proper referencing all take longer than an open recruitment process, because none of it can be compressed by posting a job ad more widely. Our separate piece on how long hiring actually takes in Singapore sets out what is fixed by regulation and what depends entirely on how the employer's own side moves once candidates are found.

## Sources

- [MOM: Consider all candidates fairly before you apply for an Employment Pass](https://www.mom.gov.sg/passes-and-permits/employment-pass/consider-all-candidates-fairly) (Accessed 1 September 2026)
- [MOM: Consider all candidates fairly before you apply for an S Pass](https://www.mom.gov.sg/passes-and-permits/s-pass/consider-all-candidates-fairly) (Accessed 1 September 2026)
- [MOM: Fair Consideration Framework](https://www.mom.gov.sg/employment-practices/fair-consideration-framework) (Accessed 1 September 2026)
- [MOM FAQ: If I engage a recruitment agency, do I still need to advertise on MyCareersFuture?](https://www.mom.gov.sg/faq/fair-consideration-framework/if-i-engage-a-recruitment-agency-do-i-still-need-to-advertise-on-mycareersfuture) (Accessed 1 September 2026)
- [MOM: Why are jobs in small companies with fewer than 10 employees exempted from advertising](https://www.mom.gov.sg/faq/fair-consideration-framework/why-are-jobs-in-small-companies-with-fewer-than-10-employees-exempted-from-advertising) (Accessed 1 September 2026)
- [MOM: Employment Pass eligibility and requirements](https://www.mom.gov.sg/passes-and-permits/employment-pass/eligibility) (Accessed 1 September 2026)
- [MOM: Key facts on employment agency licence](https://www.mom.gov.sg/employment-agencies/key-facts) (Accessed 1 September 2026)
- [TAFEP: Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices](https://www.tal.sg/tafep/getting-started/fair/tripartite-guidelines) (Accessed 1 September 2026)

## Related

- [Executive search vs recruitment](https://skillsforce.com.sg/insights/executive-search-vs-recruitment-singapore)
- [How long hiring actually takes](https://skillsforce.com.sg/insights/recruitment-shortlist-timeline-singapore)
- [How to check an agency's EA licence](https://skillsforce.com.sg/insights/how-to-check-recruitment-agency-ea-licence-singapore)
- [Recruitment & Executive Search](https://skillsforce.com.sg/services/recruitment)