THE SIGNALS
The brief has not been challenged.
If your search firm accepted your brief without pushback, that is a problem. The brief is almost always wrong in some way. A firm that does not challenge it is a firm that will present candidates for the role as written, not the role as needed.
You have seen more than five candidates.
A well-run search presents three candidates. If you are on candidate eight and nothing has progressed to offer, the search is not difficult. The brief is wrong, or the firm is wrong.
The candidates are available.
The best EAs are not on job boards. They are not actively looking. If every candidate presented is immediately available, you are seeing the market, not the top of it.
The firm is not in contact between submissions.
A search is not a CV-forwarding exercise. If your search firm goes quiet between submissions, they are not running a search. They are running a database query.
The timeline has slipped without explanation.
Searches take 6 to 10 weeks when run correctly. If yours is at week 14 with no placement in sight, something has gone wrong. Ask why. If the answer is vague, that is your answer.
Start fresh