The Logic Seems Sound — Until It Is Not
When a senior facilities or construction leadership role has been open for a while, or when the pressure to fill it is intense, hiring organizations sometimes arrive at the same conclusion: if one search firm has not produced results, engaging two or three simultaneously should accelerate the outcome. More firms mean more candidates. More candidates mean a faster hire. The math seems obvious.
It is wrong. In practice, running multiple contingency search firms in parallel on the same executive role is one of the most reliable ways to extend a search, reduce candidate quality, and damage the organization’s reputation in the market it is trying to hire from. The logic that makes this approach feel efficient is precisely what makes it counterproductive.
This post explains the mechanism behind why parallel contingency searches fail in construction, facilities, and real estate executive hiring, and what organizations should do instead.
How the Candidate Market Actually Works
Senior Candidates Are Not a Warehouse of Available Inventory
The first problem with parallel contingency searches is a misunderstanding of the candidate pool. When an organization engages three contingency firms to fill a VP of Facilities role, it might assume that each firm is accessing a different group of candidates. In most cases, they are not. The pool of qualified, experienced candidates for a senior construction or facilities leadership role in any given market is not large. The firms are largely talking to the same people.
When a candidate receives outreach from three different firms about the same role at the same organization within a short window, the signal is clear: this organization is casting as wide a net as possible, which typically reads as desperation rather than selectivity. Senior executives who are genuinely strong candidates, and who have options, often disengage at this point. The candidates who remain in the process tend to be the ones who are less discerning about how they are being represented.
No Firm Invests Deeply in a Race
Contingency search means the firm only gets paid if its candidate gets hired. In a parallel contingency arrangement, every firm knows it is competing with other firms for the same fee. That structure creates a powerful incentive to submit candidates quickly rather than carefully. Speed of submission becomes the competitive variable, not quality of fit.
The result is a volume of resumes delivered fast, with minimal vetting, minimal candidate preparation, and minimal relationship-building with the candidates who are submitted. The organization receives a large stack of profiles, most of which require significant screening time to evaluate, and a small number of which are genuinely qualified. The hiring team, which was already stretched to manage the search, now has to do the evaluation work that the search firms should have done.
Candidate Experience Deteriorates Quickly
A candidate who is submitted by multiple firms to the same role is in an uncomfortable position. They did not ask to be submitted by three firms. They may not have known they were being submitted at all, depending on how the engagement was handled. When they enter the interview process, they often do not know which firm “owns” their candidacy from the organization’s perspective, which creates administrative confusion and can result in the candidate being excluded from consideration entirely if the organization has a policy about duplicate submissions.
The senior executives most worth having in a process are acutely aware of how they are being managed and what it signals about the organization’s professionalism and culture. A search process that feels chaotic or disorganized on the front end raises legitimate questions about what working for the organization will actually be like. Strong candidates factor this into their decision.
What Organizations Actually Get from Parallel Contingency Search
A Slower Process Disguised as Speed
The initial submission volume from multiple contingency firms creates an illusion of momentum. Within the first two weeks, the organization may have received thirty or forty profiles. Sorting through them, identifying duplicates, coordinating with HR on submission policies, and scheduling initial screening calls takes significant internal time. By the time the organization has a short list, weeks have passed and the actual quality of the candidates is often no better than what a single well-run search would have produced.
Meanwhile, the best candidates who were initially approached by multiple firms have frequently moved on. They were available and interested at the moment of first contact. The organizational delay, combined with the disorganized experience of being submitted by competing firms, prompted them to stay in their current role or accept another offer elsewhere.
Market Reputation Risk Is Real and Lasting
The construction, facilities, and real estate executive market is smaller than organizations typically assume. Word travels. A search process that leaves candidates feeling handled poorly, submitted without proper preparation, or confused about who represents them creates a reputation effect that outlasts the search. The next time the organization needs to hire a senior leader, the memory of the previous process influences whether strong candidates are willing to engage.
In sectors like higher education facilities management, institutional construction, and owners’ rep project leadership, where professional communities are tight and referral networks matter, this reputational risk is particularly acute. Organizations that run disorganized searches pay a compounding cost that extends well beyond the individual role they were trying to fill.
What Works Instead
One Firm, Fully Engaged, with Clear Accountability
The alternative to parallel contingency search is not complicated. It is engaging a single firm that specializes in the relevant sector, giving that firm an exclusive or near-exclusive mandate for a defined period, and holding them accountable to a clear timeline and deliverable standard. One firm with full ownership of the search has every incentive to do it thoroughly. The fee is not at risk from a competing firm. The relationship with the client is not provisional. The quality of the work reflects directly on the firm’s reputation with a client it wants to keep.
A specialized firm, with a genuine network in the relevant sector, will produce a better candidate slate from a more carefully managed process than three generalist contingency firms running a volume race. This is not a theoretical claim. It is the consistent experience of organizations that have tried both approaches.
Set the Timeline and Hold It
Much of the pressure that leads organizations to engage multiple firms comes from a search that has already been running too long. The solution is not more firms; it is better process design from the start. A search with a clear brief, defined evaluation criteria, aligned internal stakeholders, and a committed decision-making timeline will produce a hire faster than a search that lacks any of those elements, regardless of how many firms are involved.
If a search has stalled, the first diagnostic question is not “do we need more firms?” It is “what is actually blocking a decision?” Often the answer is internal: misaligned stakeholders, undefined role scope, or compensation that has not been approved at the level the market requires. Addressing those root causes produces results. Adding more contingency firms does not.
How Real8 Group Structures Its Engagements
Real8 Group does not compete in parallel contingency arrangements. Our searches are structured as focused, exclusive engagements with clear accountabilities on both sides. We commit to a candidate slate within a defined timeline from kickoff, typically presenting qualified candidates within two to three weeks for most Director and VP-level roles. That commitment is what our clients hold us to, and it is what we hold ourselves to.
If you are currently running a search that has stalled, or considering how to structure a new search for a VP of Facilities, Director of Construction, or similar senior role, we are glad to talk through what a well-structured engagement looks like. Visit real8group.com/how-we-work to learn more, or reach out at real8group.com/contact. When you are ready to start, visit real8group.com/finding-talent.
Real8 Group is a specialized executive search firm serving the real estate, construction, engineering, and facilities operations sectors across the U.S.
