Questions
Asked most often.
How the firm works, answered short. If yours is not here, it is one conversation away.
What does Rand Thompson Consultants do?
Rand Thompson Consultants is an executive search firm for financial services in New York City, founded in 1982. It recruits from analyst to managing director across thirteen areas and thirteen sectors, among them investment banking, private equity, private credit, asset management, and corporate development, and it offers advisory and candidate representation alongside search.
Who leads Rand Thompson Consultants?
John F. Mazzei, the Managing Partner. He has led the firm since 1999 and runs its financial institutions practice.
How do I contact Rand Thompson Consultants?
Telephone +1 (212) 758-6737, email jmazzei@randthompson.com, or use the contact form at randthompson.com/contact. The office is in New York, NY 10022.
Do you work on a retained or contingent basis?
Both. Retained for senior and confidential mandates. Contingent where the client prefers to pay on completion. We say which suits a role before we open it.
Which roles do you cover?
Thirteen areas and thirteen sectors, analyst through managing director, with depth in mid and senior searches and team build-outs.
Why are clients unnamed in your postings?
Most searches are confidential. Each posting carries the title, group, sector, location, and level, and the client is named in a first conversation.
Where is the firm based?
Rand Thompson Consultants is based in New York City, where it was founded in 1982.
How long does a search take?
It depends on the seat and the market, and the firm does not quote a number before it has seen the brief. What it does commit to is the same five steps on the same calendar, agreed with the client at the start, whether the search is retained or contingent.
Who actually runs my search?
John F. Mazzei takes the brief and runs the search. There is no pitch team that hands the work to someone junior once the engagement letter is signed.
What happens on the first call?
The firm asks what you are trying to build rather than what the specification says. Often that covers what the market pays, who is movable, and whether the plan is realistic. Sometimes it closes the search before it opens, which is a good outcome.
Do you do anything other than search?
Yes. Compensation benchmarking, hiring strategy, team build-out planning, hiring process design, and career workshops. Each is engaged and paid for on its own, with no mandate required to follow.
What do you need from me to start?
The seat, the level, the reporting line, and what would make the hire a success a year in. If any of those are still open, that is the conversation to have first.
I am not looking to move. Should I still talk to you?
Yes, and most of the people the firm places were not looking when it called. A conversation now means the firm knows where you sit when something that fits does open.
What happens to my details?
They stay with the firm. Nothing you send reaches a client without your agreement, and the firm does not circulate a profile to see who bites.
Do you work outside financial services?
The firm recruits across the sectors on What We Do where the seat is an investing, transaction, corporate development, or corporate finance role.
Can I see what the market is paying?
Ask. The firm answers questions about what the market pays in the areas it recruits in, whether or not a search follows.
Still a question
Ask it on a call.
Thirty minutes with the consultant you need, by telephone or on Zoom.
Email and telephone reach John F. Mazzei directly. The form reaches him and the firm’s team.