Retained search is particularly valuable when the CPO appointment is business-critical, difficult to recruit, highly specialized, confidential, transformational, or requires access to passive executives who are not actively seeking a new position.

Scion combines national executive market mapping, research, professional relationships, referrals, targeted networking, and direct confidential outreach to engage qualified executives who may never enter an applicant pool.

Candidate evaluation is tailored to the organization's mandate and may include enterprise business partnership, people strategy, organizational design, talent and succession, culture leadership, transformation experience, executive influence, judgment, and long-term organizational fit.

A retained CPO engagement includes discovery, leadership profile development, search strategy, market mapping, direct executive outreach, candidate assessment, candidate management, search updates, stakeholder guidance, interview support, references, finalist management, and offer and closing support.

The titles frequently overlap. Chief People Officer is often used by organizations emphasizing culture, employee experience, talent, organizational capability, and people strategy. Chief Human Resources Officer may reflect a broader enterprise HR mandate that also includes governance, employee relations, compliance, rewards, and HR operations. Scion builds the search around the actual responsibilities rather than relying on title alone.

Yes. Confidential retained search can support sensitive replacement, succession, restructuring, investor-driven leadership changes, newly created roles, and situations where discretion is important for the organization or prospective candidates.

Yes. Search discovery can help stakeholders clarify the leadership mandate, reporting structure, business goals, success criteria, experience priorities, organizational context, and candidate evaluation scorecard before executive outreach begins.

Yes. Scion conducts executive searches nationally and can build the candidate market around industry, geography, relocation expectations, remote or hybrid structure, organization stage, ownership model, and leadership requirements.

Yes. Scion recruits Chief Human Resources Officers, Chief Talent Officers, Vice Presidents of People, Vice Presidents of Human Resources, talent leaders, total rewards executives, people operations leaders, organizational development leaders, employee experience leaders, and related senior positions.

Scion retained engagements include a service guarantee. In the rare event that a placement does not meet expectations, the search may be reinitiated at no additional search fee, subject to the terms and conditions of the specific engagement.