How to Choose an Executive Search Firm for a Growing CPG Brand
Choosing an executive search firm for a growing CPG brand comes down to more than finding a recruiter with a large candidate database. The right search partner should understand the consumer products industry, your company's stage of growth, the leadership challenges ahead, and the type of executive who can succeed in your environment. Look for a firm with relevant CPG experience, a demonstrated track record of executive placements, access to passive talent, a clear search methodology, and senior-level involvement throughout the process.
For a growing consumer brand, the executive search firm you choose can have a significant impact on the quality of your leadership team—and ultimately, your ability to scale.
When Should a CPG Company Use an Executive Search Firm?
Not every leadership hire requires an executive search firm. A growing CPG company may be able to recruit many positions through its internal team, professional network, or traditional recruiting channels.
Executive search becomes particularly valuable when you're hiring for a business-critical leadership position, especially when the right candidate needs a specific combination of functional expertise, CPG experience, and growth-stage leadership.
You may want to consider an executive search firm when:
You're hiring a CEO, President, CFO, COO, CMO, VP of Sales, or other senior leader.
The role requires experience in a specific CPG category or channel.
The strongest candidates are likely to be passive—not actively applying for jobs.
Your company is entering a new stage of growth and needs a different level of leadership.
The role is confidential or particularly sensitive.
Your internal team doesn't have the time or network to conduct a targeted executive search.
A failed hire would create significant financial, operational, or organizational risk.
Before beginning a search, however, it's important to make sure you're solving the right problem.
A leadership hire should start with the question: What does the business need to be able to do next that it cannot do effectively today?
For more on identifying that need, see How to Identify Leadership Gaps in a Growing Consumer Brand.
What to Look for in an Executive Search Firm
There are thousands of recruiting and executive search firms, but their experience and approach can vary significantly. For a growing CPG company, these are some of the most important factors to evaluate.
1. CPG and Consumer Products Expertise
Industry experience should be one of the first things you evaluate.
Consumer products companies operate differently from many other industries. Leaders may need to understand retail, wholesale, distributors, e-commerce, trade spend, supply chain, manufacturing, category management, brand building, and rapidly changing consumer behavior.
A search firm that regularly works with CPG companies is more likely to understand the nuances of the talent market and recognize which experiences actually translate to your business.
Look for experience across categories relevant to your company, such as:
Food and beverage
Supplements and wellness
Personal care and beauty
Pet care
Natural and organic products
Retail and wholesale
DTC and e-commerce
Industry expertise also helps a search firm evaluate candidates in context. A candidate who successfully led sales at a $500 million consumer company may have an impressive resume, but that doesn't automatically mean they're the right VP of Sales for a $20 million emerging brand.
The most relevant experience is often experience that matches both where your company is today and where it's going next.
For more on evaluating executive experience, see What Makes a Great CPG Executive? 7 Traits to Look for When Hiring Leadership.
2. Experience With Emerging and Growth-Stage Brands
CPG expertise alone isn't enough.
A search firm may have extensive experience with large consumer companies but limited experience working with founder-led or rapidly scaling brands. Those environments require different leadership profiles.
Growing brands often need executives who can:
Operate strategically and tactically
Build teams and infrastructure
Make decisions with imperfect information
Work closely with founders
Adapt as the organization changes
Take ownership without a large team underneath them
Navigate rapid growth and changing priorities
The executive who succeeds at a highly structured Fortune 500 company may not be the same person who succeeds at a founder-led CPG brand.
Your search partner should understand that distinction.
This is also why it's important to define the role around your business needs, rather than simply copying the title or organizational structure of a larger company.
The Biggest Executive Hiring Mistakes Growing Consumer Brands Make explores why hiring for the company's current state rather than its next stage can lead to the wrong executive profile.
3. A Demonstrated Track Record of Executive Placements
Don't rely solely on a search firm's stated areas of expertise. Ask for evidence.
A strong executive search firm should be able to demonstrate relevant experience through:
Client examples
Executive placements
Industry experience
Client testimonials
Relevant case studies
Repeat engagements
References from companies similar to yours
The goal isn't simply to find a firm that has placed executives. It's to find one that has successfully placed the kinds of executives your company needs.
Consider asking:
Have you recruited this type of executive before?
Have you worked with companies at our stage of growth?
Have you worked within our category?
Can you provide relevant client references?
How often do clients come back to you for additional searches?
The answers can tell you considerably more than a firm's overall placement volume.
4. Access to Passive Executive Candidates
One of the primary reasons companies turn to executive search is access to talent they aren't likely to find through a traditional job posting.
Many experienced executives aren't actively looking for their next role. They may be successful in their current position and willing to consider the right opportunity—but they're unlikely to see a job posting and apply.
A strong executive search process proactively identifies and approaches those candidates.
This means your search partner should be able to:
Define the ideal executive profile.
Map the relevant talent market.
Identify companies and executives that match the criteria.
Conduct targeted outreach.
Introduce the opportunity in a compelling and credible way.
Evaluate interested candidates against the company's needs.
For a growing CPG company, this targeted approach can expand the candidate pool well beyond people who are already looking for a new job.
Read more about the process in CPG Executive Search: What Consumer Brands Should Know Before Hiring a Leadership Team.
5. A Clear Search Methodology
Ask a prospective search firm to walk you through its process from kickoff to placement.
A strong methodology should include more than sourcing candidates.
It should address:
Understanding the company's business and growth objectives
Defining the leadership mandate
Building the ideal candidate profile
Mapping the talent market
Identifying target companies and executives
Conducting proactive outreach
Evaluating functional and leadership fit
Managing interviews and feedback
Conducting references
Supporting the offer and closing process
The strongest search processes begin with the business problem—not the job description.
For example, if a company says it needs a CFO, the search should explore why.
Is the business preparing for fundraising? Managing increasingly complex cash flow? Entering new retail channels? Preparing for an acquisition? Building a more sophisticated finance organization?
Those answers should influence the candidate profile.
A search firm should be able to explain not only where it will find candidates, but why those candidates are relevant to your specific business.
6. Senior-Level Involvement in the Search
Ask who will actually conduct the search.
Some firms involve senior partners during the initial sales process and then hand the search to junior recruiters or associates.
For a critical executive hire, you may want to understand:
Who will lead the search?
Who will interview candidates?
Who will communicate with your leadership team?
Who will provide market insight?
How accessible will the senior search professionals be?
How many searches is the team managing simultaneously?
At Fairfield Partners, every search is conducted by two Managing Partners, who remain involved in candidate interviews and follow-up calls throughout the search rather than passing the work to a junior-level associate.
7. A Search Partner That Understands Your Brand
An executive search firm isn't simply representing a job. It is representing your company to prospective executives.
That matters particularly for emerging consumer brands competing with larger, more established companies for senior talent.
Your search partner needs to be able to communicate:
What makes your brand differentiated
Why the opportunity is compelling
Where the company is going
What the executive will have the opportunity to build
What the culture is actually like
What challenges the executive will inherit
Why the role matters
The best candidates aren't evaluating compensation and title alone. They're evaluating the opportunity.
A search firm should be able to sell the vision honestly while giving candidates a realistic understanding of the role.
Retained vs. Contingency Executive Search
When evaluating search firms, you'll also want to understand how the engagement is structured.
Retained executive search typically involves an exclusive relationship between the company and search firm. The search firm is engaged to conduct a targeted search for a specific leadership position.
Contingency recruiting generally means the recruiter is paid when a candidate is successfully hired, and multiple recruiters may be working on the same role.
Neither model is automatically right for every hiring situation. The appropriate approach depends on the role, level of seniority, search complexity, confidentiality, and talent market.
For senior CPG leadership positions, a retained search can provide the dedicated focus and proactive market mapping required for a highly targeted search.
When evaluating a retained firm, ask what you are actually receiving in exchange for the engagement: How much research is conducted? How is the market mapped? Who is conducting outreach? Who is evaluating candidates? How involved will the senior partners be?
Questions to Ask an Executive Search Firm
Before choosing a search partner, consider asking:
About Industry Experience
How much of your work is with CPG and consumer products companies?
Which consumer categories do you specialize in?
Have you worked with companies at our stage of growth?
Do you have experience with founder-led brands?
Do you have experience with private equity-backed companies?
About the Search
How do you define the ideal candidate?
How do you map the talent market?
How do you identify passive candidates?
How many candidates do you typically present?
How do you evaluate candidates before presenting them?
How do you assess cultural and leadership fit?
About Your Team
Who will lead our search?
Who will interview candidates?
How involved will senior partners be?
How many other searches will the team be managing?
About Results
Can you provide relevant client references?
Can you share examples of similar placements?
How do you measure the success of a search?
What happens if the candidate doesn't work out?
About the Engagement
Is the search retained or contingency?
What are the fees?
What is the expected timeline?
What does the replacement guarantee cover?
What happens if the search needs to be adjusted?
The goal isn't simply to find the firm with the biggest database or the longest list of clients. It's to understand how the firm will approach your specific search.
How to Evaluate an Executive Search Firm's Track Record
A firm's track record should be evaluated for relevance, not just volume.
For a growing CPG company, look for evidence that the firm has successfully worked with:
Similar companies
Has the firm worked with emerging, founder-led, private equity-backed, or rapidly scaling consumer brands?
Similar roles
Has it placed the type of executive you're hiring—CFO, COO, CMO, VP of Sales, CEO, President, or another senior leader?
Similar categories
Does the firm's experience include your category and adjacent categories?
Similar challenges
Has the firm recruited leaders to solve challenges like retail expansion, e-commerce growth, supply chain complexity, fundraising, organizational development, or international expansion?
Repeat clients
Do companies return to the firm for additional executive searches?
That last point can be particularly revealing. A single successful placement demonstrates that a search worked. Multiple searches with the same client can demonstrate that the firm has become a trusted part of that company's leadership strategy.
Fairfield Partners' client experience spans emerging brands and established consumer companies across food, beverage, supplements, personal care, pet care, and other consumer categories. The firm's site also features client relationships involving multiple searches and repeat engagements.
See the Fairfield Partners client experience for examples of the companies the firm has worked with.
Why Industry Expertise Matters in CPG Executive Search
For CPG companies, industry expertise isn't simply about knowing the names of major brands.
It's about understanding the talent ecosystem.
A CPG executive may need experience with:
Grocery, mass, club, specialty, or natural retail
Distributor and broker relationships
Retailer-specific dynamics
E-commerce and DTC
Trade promotion and pricing
Manufacturing and supply chain
Category management
Brand building
Consumer insights
Product development
Omnichannel growth
The right executive search partner should understand how those pieces interact.
This becomes even more important for natural products companies. An executive with experience in traditional CPG may have excellent functional credentials, but natural and emerging brands can have different customers, channels, values, operating models, and growth challenges.
Fairfield Partners has specialized in the natural products industry since 2005, with experience across food, beverage, supplements, personal care, and pet care.
Why Fairfield Partners
Fairfield Partners specializes in executive search for high-growth consumer brands, with more than 20 years of specialized search experience. The firm has worked with consumer and natural-products companies across food, beverage, supplements, personal care, pet care, and related categories.
Fairfield's approach is built around understanding the business behind the role—not simply filling a job description.
Consumer and CPG Expertise
Fairfield has served the natural-products industry since 2005 and has worked with both emerging brands and established consumer companies. Its search work spans CEO, President, VP, Director, and other leadership positions, with particular experience across sales, marketing, finance, and operations.
Two Managing Partners on Every Search
Every Fairfield search is led by two Managing Partners, who remain involved in candidate interviews and follow-up throughout the process. The firm does not hand searches off to junior-level associates.
Proactive Search for Passive Talent
Fairfield's approach focuses on targeted outreach rather than relying on job boards. The firm identifies and engages executives who may not be actively searching but could be interested in the right opportunity.
A True Extension of Your Team
Fairfield works as an extension of the client's team, representing the brand to candidates and taking the time to understand the company's business, culture, goals, and growth trajectory. Client testimonials across the firm's site repeatedly highlight that aspect of the process.
A One-Year Guarantee
Fairfield Partners provides a one-year guarantee on every search. If a placed candidate does not remain with the organization for a full year, Fairfield conducts a replacement search at no additional fee.
For a growing CPG company, that kind of structure can provide additional accountability around one of the most consequential decisions the business will make.
Choosing the Right Executive Search Firm for Your CPG Brand
The right executive search firm isn't necessarily the largest firm or the one with the longest list of clients.
For a growing CPG brand, the most important question is whether the firm understands your business, your industry, your stage of growth, and the leadership you need next.
Before choosing a search partner, look for:
Demonstrated CPG and consumer products expertise
Experience with companies at your stage of growth
Relevant executive placements
Access to passive executive talent
A clearly defined search methodology
Senior-level involvement throughout the process
An ability to understand and represent your brand
Relevant client references and repeat engagements
Clear expectations around fees, timeline, and guarantees
The goal of executive search isn't simply to find someone who can perform a job.
It's to find the leader who has the experience, judgment, and capabilities to help your business navigate its next stage of growth.
Explore Fairfield Partners' executive search expertise or contact Fairfield Partners to discuss your next leadership search.
