The published methodology

The NRRA Standard Process

Every profession worth trusting can tell you, in advance, how the work will run. This is the six-phase engagement process certified reverse recruiters are trained and examined on — and what you, as a client, are entitled to expect at each phase.

A reverse recruiting engagement is a managed campaign, not a bundle of favors. The Standard Process exists so that clients can compare practitioners on substance, practitioners can be examined against a shared method, and the Championship's judges can score real work against a common frame. Individual firms extend and brand the process — the standard defines the floor, not the ceiling.

Phase one · typically week 1–2

Discovery & Strategy

The engagement starts with clarity, in writing. Before any outreach happens, client and practitioner agree on what winning looks like.

Structured intake: career history, targets, constraints, compensation range, and confidentiality requirements.
A written search strategy: target roles, industries, geographies, and positioning — agreed and signed off by the client.
A scope-of-work agreement covering services, outreach volume, fees, and reporting cadence. The standard requires scope in writing before payment.

Phase two · typically week 2–4

Positioning & Materials

The client's story is engineered before it is told. Materials are built to pass applicant-tracking software and to persuade the human who reads past it.

Resume and executive bio aligned to the agreed targets — achievement-led, evidence-backed, never embellished.
LinkedIn profile rebuilt for recruiter search visibility and decision-maker credibility.
Positioning brief: the narrative, proof points, and differentiators that drive every approach that follows.
Client approval is required on every document that will represent them.

Phase three · typically week 3–5

Market Mapping

Research before outreach. The practitioner maps where the client's next role actually lives — most of it never posted.

A target-company list built from the strategy — researched, tiered, and approved by the client.
A recruiter map: the retained and contingency recruiters who actually place the client's function and level.
Decision-maker identification inside each target: the people a shortlist would form around.
Signal monitoring — funding, expansion, leadership changes, and filings that predict unposted openings.

Phase four · ongoing, week 4 onward

The Campaign

The visible heart of the engagement: sustained, professional outreach on the client's behalf, run like a pipeline and reported like one.

Distribution to the mapped recruiters, positioning the client for current and future searches.
Researched, personalized approaches to decision-makers at target companies — with the client's approval on method and message.
Selective response to posted roles where they genuinely fit the strategy.
A managed pipeline and a written weekly report: what was done, who responded, and what happens next. The weekly report is a requirement of the standard, not a courtesy.

Phase five · as interviews land

Interviews

Every conversation is prepared for, and every conversation is debriefed. No client of a certified practitioner walks into an interview cold.

Company- and interviewer-specific preparation for each round.
Mock interviews with structured, honest feedback.
Post-interview debriefs that feed back into positioning and the pipeline.

Phase six · at the finish

Offer & Negotiation

The phase that most often pays for the entire engagement. Offers are evaluated whole — and countered with evidence.

Whole-package evaluation: base, bonus, equity, benefits, severance, and role trajectory.
A data-backed negotiation strategy and, where appropriate, scripting for the conversations.
Comparison support when multiple offers land — the goal of a well-run campaign.

The lines that may not be crossed

What the standard requires — and forbids.

Required, always

The client's entitlements

Scope and fees in writing before payment · client approval on all materials and outreach methods · a written weekly report · confidentiality of the search · honest expectation-setting grounded in the market, not the sale.

Forbidden, always

Grounds for ethics review

Guaranteeing employment or interviews · embellishing or fabricating a client's record · misrepresenting the client to a hiring party · undisclosed conflicts of interest · reusing a client's confidential information. Violations are reviewable under the Code of Ethics up to revocation of credential.

A note on outcomes. The standard governs method, not luck. An ethical practitioner guarantees professional effort to a defined standard — never a job. Anyone who guarantees you employment is telling you they are not bound by this standard.

See the process run by a certified professional.

The directory lists practitioners who are trained, examined, and reviewed against this standard.

Hire a reverse recruiter Train on the standard