We commit to five. Clients occasionally ask for eight or ten, on the basis that more is safer. It is not.
What a shortlist is for
It is the set of people the client should meet, each of whom could be appointed. Not a longlist with the obvious rejections removed. Every person on it has been through a structured interview with us, has confirmed they would take the role at the stated package, and has been assessed against the brief's criteria with the findings written up.
By that definition, a shortlist of ten is a contradiction. Ten people cannot all be appointable for one role, and a panel cannot interview ten people properly in the time a good candidate will wait.
Where the five come from
For a typical UK director-level role we map eighty to a hundred and twenty relevant people. We approach most of them. Around a fifth engage seriously. We interview those, usually fifteen to twenty, and present the five who best fit the brief. The client sees the full map and the reasons the others did not make it.
When it is four
Narrow markets, confidential searches, and roles with unusual constraints (location, security clearance, a specific regulatory history) sometimes produce four. We say so at the brief stage rather than padding the list with a fifth who is there to make up the numbers. Panels can tell.
When it is three
Rarely, and only with the client's agreement. If we can only find three appointable people the brief is probably wrong, and the better conversation is about the brief.
What to ask your search firm
Not "how many will be on the shortlist" but "what does it take to get on it". If the answer does not include an interview with the consultant and a written assessment, you are being sent a longlist.