Hiring rarely fails loudly. It fails quietly first.You see it when outcomes don't move after a "strong hire." When alignment meetings create silence. When the team starts protecting themselves instead of shipping.I learned this the hard way. Watched it happen. Now I help leaders avoid it.I'm Jess. I run Nonstop Talent in NZ.I work with leaders hiring for roles where the downside is high and the signal is messy. Engineering. Product. Data. Cyber. The hires that determine whether you ship or stall.My approach is simple:Clarify the outcome the hire must changeIdentify the real risks in your context (team, pace, constraints)Headhunt candidates who have done this kind of work in this kind of environmentIf you're hiring for impact, not activity, message me the role and what "must be different by day 90."

Jessica Dong

I’m an agency recruiter, so I get the version candidates say when they’re trying not to get burnt twice.

Last week, before salary, before benefits, before any of the selling… a senior engineer just went:

“Who’s paying the company right now: customers, or just investors?”

And you could feel why they asked.

They weren’t being difficult.
They were doing self-defence.

Because they’ve watched the movie where the deck is beautiful, the roadmap is loud, everyone’s “moving fast”…

…and then three months later it’s quiet layoffs, quiet rewrites, quiet people disappearing from Slack at 2pm on a Tuesday.

A CTO once said to me, really quietly:
“I didn’t lose my best engineer to more money. I lost them to another five years of untangling someone else’s mess.”

That’s the shift I’m noticing in 2026.

Salary still matters.

But the best people are interviewing for how long they can stay without shrinking.

So if your strongest candidates keep going cold right near the end…

what are they learning about the business in the interview loop that you’re not saying out loud yet?

Jessica Xin Dong

SaaS + Enterprise Digital Hiring | Contract & Perm | Cut cost of delay

I help international and Japanese law firms in Tokyo hire the partners they actually want to keep.

Before I was a recruiter, I was a lawyer. Originally from New Zealand, I’ve spent the last 20 years in Japan, working with firms on some of the most complex, senior-level legal searches in the market.

These days, I focus exclusively on partner and team moves. I advise firms on strategy, identify top-tier talent, and help both sides make decisions with clarity and confidence.

Recent successful mandates (all Tokyo) include:

→ Corporate Bengoshi Partner | US law firm — The firm needed someone who could originate work independently and bridge Japanese and international client relationships. After a confidential, months-long process, we identified and placed a candidate who wasn't actively looking.

→ Project Finance Partner | International firm — A niche within a niche. Project finance expertise at the partner level in Tokyo is genuinely scarce. We mapped the market and surfaced candidates others had overlooked, securing a placement the firm had been unable to make for over a year.

→ Corporate Bengoshi Partner | Leading Japanese firm — Japanese firms present unique challenges: internal consensus, discretion, and candidate reluctance to move. We navigated all three to deliver a candidate the firm hadn't been able to reach on their own.

→ Corporate Partner | Top-tier US law firm — A repeat client engagement, and a placement that made waves in the market.

Clients say they value my straight talk, extensive market knowledge, and ability to navigate the nuances of Japan’s legal ecosystem. I take on a small number of retained or exclusive searches at any one time, and always aim to deliver with quality, not quantity.

If you’re hiring, curious about the partner market, or just want an outside view, feel free to reach out.

📧 paul.cochrane@definitive-consulting.com
🌐 www.definitive-consulting.com

I also lead Just Search Group, a group of specialised recruitment businesses - including Just Legal, Just HR, and Definitive Consulting Group Japan - focused on professional services searches across APAC. In addition to growing the Group, I coach recruiters on sourcing, sales, and long-term success in search.

🌐 www.justsearchgroup.com

Paul Cochrane

Personal development and continuous improvement are extremely important to me. I'm constantly trying to improve - literally on a daily basis - in every area, even on the small stuff.
 
Every recruitment firm talks about training and development, but other than perhaps some initial classroom time, a lot of it is just flowery language to attract people.
 
Since Scott Wallace joined Just Search Group, he's made a massive contribution in establishing a structured training plan, building on some great work that Jason Lewis did last year. 

Scott's now leading this on a weekly basis, with the goal of developing our consultants and billers to achieve their own personal goals and objectives.
 
We recently had the pleasure of bringing in David Wolstenholme to run a personal branding workshop for us. I don't think the team knew what to expect, but I could tell it was genuinely eye-opening and invaluable for them.
 
We also have an in-house headhunting programme, courtesy of Definitive Consulting . Headhunting may not sound that difficult, but doing it well is another matter entirely. Very few people in the industry headhunt well, and we take a lot of pride in this.
 
We're not stopping there, though. We have plans for additional training and development initiatives, all aimed at delivering high-quality service to our clients and candidates.
 
A message to recruiters in Tokyo: if you're not getting the development you want at your current firm, reach out to us. Scott's DMs are open!

Partner Recruitment for Law Firms in Tokyo | CEO, Just Search Group

Japan produces outstanding generalist partners. However, the global market no longer rewards generalists.
 
A high-profile Japanese Bengoshi partner I met recently said something refreshingly honest:
 
"I need one thing that makes me stand out."
 
This is a person doing sophisticated cross-border work. Trusted by clients. Senior. Busy. Successful by any domestic measure. And he's wise to be concerned.
 
Japan creates generalists by design. Clients expect breadth. Firms reward coverage. Saying "yes" matters more than saying "I'm not the best person for that."
 
Internally, that works. But externally, it's starting to become a problem.
 
Global clients and PE funds don't buy "I do a bit of everything." They buy clarity. They want a quick answer to a simple question: Why you?
 
The big Japanese firms are doing incredible work. Massive deal flow. Sophisticated mandates. But I'll go to a senior partner's profile, and there's one deal listed. Sometimes, nothing recent at all.
 
So the market has no idea what they're actually working on.
 
The smaller firms have the opposite issue. They list every practice area under the sun. Corporate, IP, employment, real estate, dispute resolution - you name it. And sure, maybe they do handle all of that. But when a client's looking for someone to solve a specific problem, that breadth just creates confusion.
 
If I can't quickly figure out what you're known for, I'm moving on - and I'm a recruiter! 
Imagine what a prospective client is thinking...
 
The partners doing well right now aren't necessarily the narrowest specialists. They're the ones who've chosen a clear external message, even if they're still doing more behind the scenes. One-to-many expertise. A repeatable deal type. A recognisable client problem they solve better than anyone else.
 
Being excellent at many things is still valuable. But being known for one thing speaks louder and more clearly to potential clients in today's market.
 
Not putting yourself out there hurts. So does showing up with a blurry profile.

Freshfields has launched a non-equity partner tier.

Probably about time. I'd imagine most firms that haven't already got one will follow suit. There are really only a few holdouts left committed to pure equity.

There are two sides to this.

On one hand, I think it's going to make it harder for those pure equity firms to grow. But it does make them more exclusive and sought after for some - and that's not a bad thing, particularly for the type of partners those equity-only firms are targeting.

As the article notes, this has largely been driven by Kirkland. They've had massive success - partly, at least, because they gave people a partner title and a genuine shot to prove what they can do. I respect that.

That said, I do feel there's quite a bit of "follow the leader" going on here - firms not wanting to lose out to what their neighbours are doing. I get that. But I do admire the firms that have their own strategy.

Either way, this keeps shaking up the legal market, which is good for the profession and for those of us in legal search.

Open article: Freshfields adds non-equity tier as market shift continues by nonbillable.co.uk

Freshfields adds non-equity tier as market shift continues

I’m in regular contact with a number of partners.

They’re not actively looking. Most aren’t even passively open.

But they always pick up when I call.

They keep their ears to the ground and know that more information is better than less.

Most of them I’ll never help move. And that’s okay.

What I do give them is information. And in return they share theirs - but more importantly, their reactions.

If one of them is immediately anti about something I’m working on, I start to rethink what I’m doing.

Conversely, they’ll often point out positives about an opportunity or a firm that I may be overlooking.

Sure, there’s a transactional element to these conversations. But I keep calling and they keep answering… so I guess I’m offering some value.

And I always appreciate their views.

Even when they tell me I’m barking up a tree I probably shouldn’t be.

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The Battle

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