A Top Executive Search Firm
Recently named one of Europe's top 10 executive search firms
Principal Connections is a multi-award winning executive search firm. For over three decades we have specialised in the identification, assessment, recruitment and development of senior business leaders. Furthermore, we’ve delivery these services to many of the most notable and ambitious enterprises. These have included multinational corporations, international plcs, privately owned companies, commercial semi-states, public sector bodies and not-for-profit organisations across Ireland and internationally.
The most noteworthy companies turn to us when it matters most. Here's why!
Access & Influence
At Principal Connections, we believe that we offer our clients truly unrivalled candidate access. Why? To begin with, we’ve had an on the ground history dating back to 1991 of undertaking the most senior appointments across Ireland and further afield. Therefore, we’ve been around. And hence, we know the top executives, CEOs and board directors. And even more importantly, they know us. What’s more, we are part of one of the world’s top independent executive search firms, Agilium Worldwide. This is a global group of 55 offices operating across 30 countries completing 1000’s of engagements each year. The term “independent” is very important here. Crucially, it means that unlike many of the supersized firms, we offer truly global access without being conflicted from pursuing the most compelling candidates due to extensive global off-limits restrictions.
Speed & Consistency
99% of our candidate shortlists are delivered on or before time at Principal Connections. How? Firstly, we design a strategy for each engagement around our clients’ specific business needs. These custom strategies focus our efforts. The result: our clients quickly begin seeing on target candidates early on. Secondly, we limit the number of concurrent engagements our partners and practice leaders undertake. This means we deliver on or before time. And finally, over the years, we’ve also made large investments in technology, training, research resources, and refining our search methodology. These allow us to undertake engagements with maximum efficiency, consistency and speed.
Quality
We believe in high performance at Principal Connections. That’s why we measure the performance of our own firm each year. At January 2025, we had an unrivalled 98.5% assignment completion ratio. This is simply unmatched by rival firms. Why? We’ll firstly, as a privately owned firm, we are not solely governed by shareholder interests, and so we only undertake engagements that we truly believe we can deliver on. Secondly, all of our engagements are delivered by executive search consultants who have no less than 15 years experience. This is important, as unlike most of our competitors we do not use junior associates to deliver on our clients most important hiring decisions. Thirdly, we conduct fresh, custom research on every project we undertake. To recruit the best executive and non-executive talent, it is not enough to circulate the same candidates from a database – a common practice in bulge-bracket firms because the requirements for every executive search are unique. It’s our belief that accessing the best executive talent for an assignment requires original research.
Diversity & Inclusion
At Principal Connections, we understand diversity and are committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all our employees, applicants and clients. A total of 44% of all the engagements that we were responsible for in 2024 resulted in a female appointment. Testament to our long-term commitment to diversity, we are a Founding Member of the “Executive and Board Resourcing Code” together with IBEC and the 30% Club. (Jun. 2016, updated Apr. 2019) and also, an advocate for “Balance for Better Business“, an independent business-led Review Group established by the Government to improve gender balance in senior leadership in Ireland.