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How We’re Different

Executive Search Researchers Who Recruit Differently

Intellerati is neither a retained executive search firm nor a contingency firm. We are an executive search research firm that offers unbundled executive search services. Intellerati offers candidate identification and candidate development (candidate outreach and screening), diversity recruiting research, and human capital intelligence. Unlike traditional recruiting research firms, our investigative approach makes candidate sourcing smarter. We consistently uncover top executive talent that other firms miss, outperforming traditional search firms.

Investigative Recruitment Researchers

ΩIntellerati Founder and CEO Krista Bradford leads every engagement. Once you know more about her — see below — you will understand what makes Intellerati so different.

Krista Bradford for the Wall Street Journal. Photo Credit: Joe Buglewicz

CEO Krista Bradford

Before founding Intellerati, Founder and Chief Executive Officer Krista Bradford served as a three-time Emmy Award-winning investigative reporter and television journalist. Ms. Bradford held positions with WNBC and WWOR in New York as well as with stations in Boston, Denver, Los Angeles, and St. Louis. She was a national news correspondent for “The Reporters” on the Fox Television Network and a senior correspondent for Tribune’s nationally syndicated “Now It Can Be Told” news magazine show. She studied at Harvard University and Columbia University, ultimately obtaining her B.A. in Liberal Arts at The New School.

Investigative Executive Search Researchers

Ms. Bradford specialized in investigative journalism within the subspecialty of data journalism. She harnessed the power of data to break stories that previously were impossible to report. Her computer-assisted research enable her to shine a light on important matters of public interest that would otherwise not have been known.

Montage of Krista Bradford’s Investigative Reporting Career

How Intellerati Became the First Investigative Recruitment Research Firm in the Nation

A decade ago, Krista went to work at an elite retained executive search firm in Manhattan and was shocked by what she witnessed. Remarkably, while virtually every other industry invests in robust, investigative expertise as a “best practice”, the recruiting industry has failed to match force with that trend. It goes a long way toward explaining why 40% of retained executive search engagements fail to complete. Retained search firms fail because they insist on searching with their eyes closed.

Investigative Research Finds Dream Candidates

Typical candidate sourcing is not equipped to sift through hundreds of millions of candidate profiles. AI tools help, but they are not yet operating at the level you need to to make inferences, spot patterns, and follow the breadcrumbs that lead to ideal candidates. Therein lies the opportunity.

“Research is the execution engine of executive search that identifies, develops, and ultimately delivers star talent. Build a better engine and you create the ultimate recruiting machine.”

— Krist Bradford, CEO Intellerati

A treasure trove of candidate information exists outside traditional recruiting databases and inside LinkedIn 850+ million member records. Yet to discover dream candidates, you need investigative research experts capable of harnessing the power of data. Think Nate Silver. Think Moneyball. That is precisely what Intellerati does.

Intellerati’s executive search services are ideally suited to clients seeking the quality of retained search, yet prefer a more flexible month-at-a-time model with the opportunity to save. For employers seeking full-service retained executive search through to hire, The Good Search offers next-generation retained search services that consistently outperform traditional retained search firms. To learn more, check out our clients, candidate sourcing video, and our Executive Recruiting Research Blog.

Got questions? Let’s talk.

If you’d like to explore possible ways to work together, let’s talk. We understand that no recruitment research firm is the right firm for every engagement every time. But, regardless, we make it a practice to listen and to try to help.