The Compliance Recruitment Agency Checklist: What Regulated Firms Should Be Asking
The Compliance Recruitment Agency Checklist: What Regulated Firms Should Be Asking
Choosing the right compliance recruitment agency is one of those decisions that looks straightforward until it goes wrong. By the time a search has produced three rounds of unsuitable candidates, burned through ten weeks of management time, and allowed the vacancy to sit open during a period of regulatory sensitivity, the cost of the wrong choice has become very clear.
The questions below are the ones regulated firms should be asking — and getting specific answers to — before appointing a compliance recruiter. They are not designed to be difficult. A good agency will welcome them. An agency that cannot answer them clearly is telling you something important.
Questions About Sector Knowledge
Compliance obligations differ significantly between banking, asset management, insurance, consumer credit, and payment services. An agency with genuine depth in your sector will answer this specifically, not generically.
This is a basic knowledge test. The Senior Managers and Certification Regime places personal accountability on designated senior managers. An agency recruiting into regulated firms should be entirely comfortable with this framework and what it means for the candidate profile.
Ask for specifics — firm type, seniority level, and whether the hire is still in post. Track record in your sector is the most reliable predictor of success on your search.
Questions About Candidate Access
The strongest compliance candidates at senior level are rarely on job boards. A recruiter who relies primarily on active applications will miss the majority of the viable market. Ask specifically how they access and approach passive candidates.
This should produce a specific, honest answer. Vague claims about a large database are not the same as genuine candidate relationships. The distinction matters enormously in a tight market.
Recent comparable placements are the clearest evidence that the agency has current, relevant access to the candidate pool you need.
Questions About the Search Process
A realistic answer for a senior compliance search is three to four weeks to a first shortlist. An agency promising a shortlist within a week for a head of compliance role is either working from a speculative database or has not thought carefully about the brief. Either is a concern.
Quality matters more than quantity. A shortlist of four thoroughly assessed candidates is more valuable than ten CVs with a covering note. Ask what the agency’s own assessment process looks like before a candidate reaches you.
MLRO and head of compliance appointments often need to be handled discreetly. The agency should have a clear, practised approach to this — including how they approach candidates without disclosing the client, and how they manage situations where candidates know the current postholder.
Questions About Market Intelligence
This should be answered with a specific range and supporting context — not a vague “it depends.” If the number is above your budget, a good agency will tell you now rather than after you have lost candidates at offer stage.
This question separates agencies that are focused on winning the instruction from those that are focused on completing the search successfully. The honest answer will sometimes be uncomfortable. That is exactly why it is worth asking.
Questions About Professional Standing
For senior appointments at regulated firms, the professional infrastructure of the recruitment agency matters. Membership of a professional body, ICAEW registration, or equivalent credentialling indicates a level of accountability that standard agency terms do not.
In many agencies, the partner who wins the instruction hands the search to a more junior consultant. Knowing who is actually running your search — and what their relevant experience is — is a reasonable thing to establish before you sign terms.
These questions will not guarantee a successful hire. But they will quickly separate agencies that have the depth to serve a regulated firm well from those that are operating at a more generic level. In compliance recruitment, that distinction is the difference between a search that closes and one that does not.
Adrian is a Fellow of the ICAEW and holds an ICAEW practising certificate in his own name. Exec Capital (Co. No. 15037964) is an ICAEW-Registered Practice specialising in executive and senior recruitment for regulated firms. Verify on find.icaew.com
Ready to Brief a Compliance Search?
FD Capital are happy to answer every question on this list. Call us on 0203 834 9616 or get in touch below to start the conversation.
Related posts:
How the FCA Form A approval process works: a practical guide for regulated firm boards
How long does FCA SMF approval actually take? A realistic timeline for regulated firm boards
How SMCR is changing the senior appointment timetable for FCA-regulated firms
Why Your Compliance Hire Keeps Falling Through (And What to Do About It)
Adrian Lawrence FCA is the founder of Exec Capital. He is a Chartered Accountant and holds an ICAEW practising certificate in his own name with over 25 years’ experience operating at C-suite level, Adrian brings direct executive experience to senior search. His background spans private equity-backed businesses, owner-managed companies, and listed environments, giving Exec Capital a practitioner’s understanding of what leadership hires actually require.
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