The brief is where searches are won or lost, and most of them are written in an afternoon by someone who has not done it before.
Here is what ours contain, and why.
The organisation and where it is going
Two pages, written for a candidate who has never heard of you. What the business does, the numbers, the plan for the next three years, and what is difficult about it. Candidates at this level read the difficult part first. If it is missing they assume you are hiding something.
The role by outcomes, not tasks
What this person will have achieved at twelve months, in three or four sentences the CEO would sign. Then the decisions the role makes without referral, the ones it makes with the CEO, and the ones it does not make. Then the relationships: Board, peers, regulators, the biggest customers.
A list of responsibilities copied from the last job description tells a candidate nothing about whether the job is worth leaving a good one for.
The person, derived from the role
Only now the experience and capability required, and each item traced to something in the role. If a requirement cannot be traced, it is a preference, and preferences shrink the market for no return. "Must have sector experience" is the usual example: sometimes essential, more often a habit.
The package, benchmarked
Base, bonus and how it has paid out historically, long-term incentive, pension, notice, location and flexibility. Benchmarked against ten to fifteen named comparators before the brief goes out, so the number in it is one the market will accept.
The process, with dates
Who interviews, in what order, on which dates, with the decision date at the end. Candidates commit to a process they can see. A brief with "interviews to be arranged" in it costs weeks.
What the search firm should add
The market: how many relevant people there are, where they sit, what they earn, and what will make them move. And the uncomfortable paragraph: what about this role, as described, will put good people off. If your search firm has not written that paragraph, ask for it before you sign off the brief.