Our Executive Search Approach

“Sitting on many boards I have had experience with a long list of executive recruiters over the years.  The quality and “fit” of candidates I have seen from Ed Lauing puts him at the top of that list.  He has found my companies perfect candidates for some very tough job specs. He also is adamant about finding the crucial “chemistry” fit.  But he goes beyond today’s job definition for the executive. Ed finds executives who can continue to impact the future for many years by comfortably taking on more scope as the company grows.  He brings us very seasoned guys, already proven, and fired up to do it again.”

“ESP trumps other recruiters by exceeding the spec AND solving for a perfect FIT on chemistry and culture.”  

"This was our 7th search with Ed Lauing at ESP.  We needed an expert to start-up our healthcare business.  He found him - with amazing tenacity in a very competitive market.  Ed Lauing and his team have an uncanny sixth sense about who will best fit our team, our culture, and our customers.  He has a very high bar for candidates.  We love him!”  

“Ed really listened to us, correlated the technical, business and cultural issues and gave us a list of great candidates that resulted in two critical hires for us.”  

“These guys have years and years of experience.  Over time in the search I really came to see the value of their wisdom.”  

“Working with Ed as a CEO candidate for Handmade was an absolute pleasure every step of the way.  Not only does he care about making a perfect match for all involved, but his personal experience as a CEO equips him with valuable insights and perspective. I've been in my post for many months and Ed still continues to check in to see how things are going and ensure everyone is happy.  Simply put, Ed removes the myth that recruiters are solely focused on their commission.  I have no doubt that I will be taking advantage of Ed's skill and expertise to round out my team in the future.”  

“I always think of Ed when one of my portfolio companies does an executive search.  Instantly responsive, indefatigable, highest possible integrity.  I called him at home one night about a search, and he was in the CEO’s office the next morning.  He did a great job on a tough search for one of my portfolio companies - landing an energetic young exec with precisely the right combination of brains, drive and domain expertise.  As a former CEO of VC-backed companies, Ed is refreshingly different from other recruiters.  He just 'gets it.'"  

We were under a tight timeline and Gary Reeman was able to provide us high quality, pre-screened applicants in a very short period of time.  Gary demonstrated they had strong geographic reach from Europe which was great because we needed someone in Brazil which is a challenging market. He listened well to our needs and developed a pool of applicants with different attributes to help us narrow down on the right “type” of candidate.

Throughout the search process for our first enterprise sales executive Gary showed a thorough understanding of our requirements.  He met every milestone and timeline.  Each candidate met my hiring criteria,  and the successful candidate is a good fit within our organization and culture as well.

What sets ESP apart is their operating experience inside companies. For example, the two recruiters I worked with are previous CEOs. This gives them a business sense that I immediately felt. They get the pressures and the nuance in addition to the company strategy and operations. ESP is honest about both sides. They point out the current weak spots in the company which helps the candidate quickly hone in what issues they are being hired to solve.