We always start by measuring the market before sending a single outreach.

First, the broad market.

Controller + SaaS + US

4,435 candidates

Healthy.

No concerns.

Then we started adding requirements.

1,001 candidates

Still workable.

227 candidates

Now we're recruiting specialists.

That's expected. ASC 606 is a legitimate requirement for many Controller roles in technology companies.

So far, nothing unusual.

Then we added the remaining requirements.

Big 4 background
PE-backed SaaS experience

The result?

6 candidates.

Not six applicants.

Not six people interested.

Six people in the market.

At this point, many recruiting conversations head in one of two directions.

"The market is impossible."

Or...

"We'll need to lower our standards."

We weren't convinced either was true.

The Clue Was Hiding in Plain Sight

Instead of asking:

"Who matches this exact profile?"

We asked:

"What capabilities are we actually hiring for?"

The role still required:

Senior accounting leadership
ASC 606 expertise
Experience operating inside a PE-backed business

None of those were changing.

But one requirement deserved another look.

SaaS.

Not because SaaS experience isn't valuable.

Because databases don't classify companies perfectly.

One company may be tagged as SaaS.

Another nearly identical business may be tagged as Software.

Another as Cloud Services.

Another as Cybersecurity.

Another as EdTech.

Different labels.

Very similar finance organizations.

If our sourcing strategy depended on one industry tag, we weren't measuring the market.

We were measuring the database.

We Changed One Thing

We kept the hiring bar exactly where it was.

The only thing we changed was the sourcing universe.

Instead of searching only PE-backed SaaS companies, we searched across PE-backed:

SaaS
Software
Cloud Services
Cybersecurity
EdTech

The result?

220 candidates.

Same hiring standards.

A completely different sourcing pool.

Why 220 Matters

People often hear "220 candidates" and assume that means 220 people ready for interview.

That's not how recruiting works.

Think of it like a sales funnel.

Start with 220 candidates.

The first outreach campaign targets roughly 100.

Around 60-70 will see the message.

Perhaps 12-20 will respond.

After conversations about technical experience, leadership, compensation, career goals, and timing, you might identify 3-5 candidates worth presenting to the client.

That's a healthy search.

More importantly, you still have another 120 candidates available for a second campaign if needed.

Now compare that with a market of 6 candidates.

Even if every recruiter on earth worked the search perfectly, the math doesn't.

One person recently accepted another job.

Two aren't interested.

One isn't a technical fit after the interview.

The search can stall before it really begins.

That's not a recruiting problem.

It's a market-size problem.

The Real Lesson

This search wasn't rescued by lowering hiring standards.

It was rescued by separating hiring criteria from search criteria.

Hiring criteria determine who can succeed.

Search criteria determine who you'll actually find.

Those are not the same thing.

The best recruiters don't simply build Boolean strings.

They design markets.

Because before you ask:

"How many candidates have you contacted?"

You should ask something much more important:

"How many candidates actually exist?"

The answer determines everything that follows.

The original search returned 6 candidates.

By broadening the sourcing universe to adjacent technology companies—while keeping every meaningful hiring requirement intact—we expanded the addressable market to 220 candidates.

We didn't lower the hiring bar.

We built a better search.

And that's the difference between hoping a hire exists...

...and knowing the math works before the first outreach is ever sent.

If you enjoyed this, don't forget to subscribe.

Every week, we take an accounting or finance role that's been open for 90+ days, deconstruct the search, and rebuild it until there's a realistic path to making a hire—without sacrificing the capabilities that matter most.

If you're hiring now—or expect to be in the future—send us the job description.

We'll tell you:

• Whether the candidate pool actually exists

• What's limiting the search

• What a realistic path to a hire looks like

If it makes sense to work together, we'll run the search on a contingency basis.

No retainer. No upfront fees. Nothing owed unless you make a hire.

Reach us at [email protected]