Associate Position Profile

Three Brands. One Vision. Unlimited Impact.

About Our Companies

Join the team powering three innovative brands with one shared mission of helping organizations grow and thrive. Comhar Partners is a leading retained executive search firm specializing in identifying and securing top leadership talent for clients nationwide. We partner closely with organizations across industries to find the executives who will shape their future. Our client list includes well-known brands like Sargento, Grainger, Hampton Social, and Naples Botanical Garden.

Our sister company, KeyHires, focuses exclusively on mid-career talent acquisition, delivering highly targeted candidate pipelines through precise data and digital marketing. We act as an extension of our clients’ hiring teams, providing the insights and talent they need without the overhead of a full-scale search. In addition to building custom talent pipelines, KeyHires also offers Reverse Executive Search, a unique service that matches top professionals with the companies and opportunities best aligned with their expertise and career goals.

Curated Contacts rounds out our portfolio, helping companies secure funding and generate high-value leads. We combine proprietary data, strategic outreach, and tailored presentations to connect clients with the right investors, partners, and customers at the right time.

Together, these three companies form a powerhouse of solutions, driving growth from the executive level to the sales funnel, all under one collaborative team!

We’re a small but growing team, which means you’ll work closely with leadership and get exposure to multiple parts of the business. Some days will be about keeping details in order; others will be about building something new from scratch. If you’re organized, proactive, and excited by variety, you’ll have the chance to make a real impact here. We value creativity, collaboration, and follow-through, and we’re looking for someone who takes pride in doing great work and learning along the way.

About the Role

The Associate will identify top talent for executive and mid-level positions, lead candidate generation, and provide outreach and scheduling support. This role will support the Directors and Managing Directors in the entire life-cycle of the executive search process by leveraging technology. The Associate will develop techniques and procedures for organizing, locating, and enabling access to viable candidates and research. This position will be an integral part of a collaborative team to help ensure Comhar Partners, KeyHires, and Curated Contacts projects a positive image to sources and prospects in the marketplace.

Location: Currently remote, however the role will be Hybrid (3 days a week in the Northshore of Illinois) in the near future.

Role & Responsibilities

  • Carefully set and follow weekly plans to ensure adequate submittal and interview activity.
  • High volume call campaigns and observing Director/Managing Director calls to learn how to sell candidates on the opportunities.
  • Assists with primary and secondary research to build a detailed understanding of target markets and/or companies using a range of online resources and databases.
  • Gains a clear understanding of client search assignments to effectively develop and execute search strategy that identifies executives in target organizations.
  • Accurately updates candidate information into Keyhires, a proprietary database, in a timely manner with high levels of quality (i.e., properly spelled names, appropriate locations, extrapolated e-mail addresses).
  • Carefully follows the weekly queue to ensure timely execution of name generation and business development activities.
  • Analyzes existing Project Management processes to define, document, and drive changes, effectively working across the organization with stakeholders to develop and support new and existing features
  • Profiles companies to successfully build competitor landscapes per market and per segment.
  • Proactively identifies and tracks organizational, industry, and/or functional trends and reports findings.
  • Assists with marketing and business development initiatives.
  • Provides effective and efficient corrective actions to resolve technology issues and manages offshore/international vendors for optimal end-user experience.
  • Completes special projects as assigned by the Managing Directors.

Experience and Skills Requirements

  • Bachelor’s degree in communications, business, or related field
  • 2+ years of experience in recruiting industry
  • Knowledge of Client Relationship Management (CRM) tools is a plus
  • High level of self-motivation and energy, an optimistic attitude, and very strong analytical, organizational, and interpersonal skills
  • Entrepreneurial and self-assured; takes direction well and outspoken regarding suggestions or creative ideas
  • Must be able to maintain confidential information in an appropriate manner, as well as use good judgment in the wording and inclusion of sensitive information
  • Possess sufficient conceptual skills to help understand broad industry concepts and analytical skills to determine the depth of experience of candidates; ability to synthesize data from multiple sources
  • Genuinely interested in learning about people, businesses, and industry characteristics/needs
  • Excellent time management skills and the ability to handle multiple tasks efficiently and accurately, and adhere to deadlines
  • Strong writing, proofreading, and editing skills

For more information please contact:

Bernard Layton

Chief Executive Officer blayton@comharpartners.com (847) 722-4180

Nick Layton

Managing Director nlayton@comharpartners.com (847) 373-6520

Morgan Layton

Vice President, Development mlayton@keyhires.com (224) 805-9369

Dakotah Brown

Director dbrown@comharpartners.com

763) 438-5711