Ross Hoare

Director

I studied Geography at The University Edinburgh and climate change was a central theme that ran through my degree. After graduating, I knew that I wanted to develop my career in an area which would have a positive impact on our environment and help tackle the effects of climate change. Renewable energy has always really appealed to me and prior to joining Hyperion, I spent nearly five years as Head of Project Resources for a renewable energy installation business. We specialised in solar PV but also installed small-scale wind turbines and renewable heating technologies.

After five great years of the solar boom, I was looking for a new challenge where I could build on my knowledge of and passion for the sector, but by doing something completely different. Hyperion gave me the opportunity to do this and to work within new areas of cleantech. I joined Hyperion Executive Search in 2015 and as COO, (now Director of Hyperion Search Ltd) I draw upon my wealth of experience and insight, helping our clients to recruit the very best talent available in the sector. I oversee the delivery of our search assignments and am passionate about delivering the best possible experience for both our clients and candidates. I love working with our clients who are all having such a big impact on tackling climate change

Having grown up in Kent and studied in Edinburgh, I settled in Liverpool in 2009 and very much consider it home. As an avid Liverpool FC supporter, I try to get to Anfield as much as I can. Nothing beats a Champions League match under the floodlights at Anfield! I’m lucky to have two amazing boys who always make me smile, and keep me very busy!! I love spending time outside as a family and holidays in Cornwall. Knowing that my work in the cleantech sector will contribute towards making the world a better place for us, my children and future generations is my biggest inspiration.

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12 January 2026

The Importance of a Well-Constructed Interview Process

Once you’ve made the decision to proceed with a senior hire into your business and engaged with a specialist search firm, if you haven’t already, it’s time to map out your interview process.

This is often neglected, with the interview process being made up on the fly. With over a decade’s experience managing senior level searches, I can say this rarely makes for a smooth process. Real consideration is required as to what you need to get out of the interview process, in order to give you the confidence to make a candidate a job offer.

What are the most important things you need to find out from a candidate, and who is best placed in your organisation to obtain this information? Which members of your Exec leadership team need to be involved? Will your investors want the opportunity to interview candidates?

What are you looking to achieve with each interview stage? Each stage should have a clear purpose, rather than merely getting multiple people to cover the same topics with the candidate. Decide who will be assessing different competencies. Everyone involved in the interview process should have a specific objective.

Complete interview panel alignment is non-negotiable for senior executive hiring. We saw a C-level search fail when an interviewer, a direct report who felt threatened by the candidate’s incoming position, successfully derailed the process, creating a very poor candidate experience. Managing internal stakeholder dynamics early in the process is vital.

Having a very clear process mapped out from the start and being able to communicate this with candidates, creates a more positive experience and impression of your business. It demonstrates your company is organised and that you’re taking this process seriously.

We would recommend no more than three interview stages.

Too often we have seen an ad hoc interview process with too many stages, end unsuccessfully. Candidates can get frustrated when new stages keep getting added, increasing the chance of losing great candidates to competitors who move faster and who are more decisive. We recently had a client that insisted on a seven-stage interview process with multiple stakeholders over the course of a couple of months. This was against our advice and subsequently resulted in their chosen candidate accepting an alternative offer. Time kills deals.

It’s important to keep up the momentum in an interview process; to keep candidates fully engaged and motivated, to reduce the risk of them accepting other offers and to stop their enthusiasm from dwindling. When candidates have been shortlisted, work with your key hiring stakeholders to block out diaries and map the process out. You want to avoid weeks between different stages. You want this process to be as tight as possible to give you the best chance of a successful outcome. Unfortunately, we’ve seen many processes fail due to the interview process dragging on for months. Equally, I’ve seen slick interview processes that cut weeks off client’s time to hire, bringing forward the positive impact a new senior leadership hire can have on their business.

One final tip, interviews are two-way processes. Remember to sell the opportunity of working for your business as well as deciding whether a candidate is the right fit for you. The last thing you want is to make a candidate an offer which is turned down because you missed the opportunity to sell your business and the role. Even in soft markets, top talent is always in demand, and always has options.

Ross Hoare

#talent#HR

14 October 2025

The Most Important Part of a Search Process - The Kick-Off Meeting

This is my most enjoyable part of a search process. I know if we get this right, the rest of the search process is so much easier, faster, and we’ll nail the search. If you are investing money in a search process for a critical business hire, it’s also essential that you invest the appropriate time with your search partner at the start of the process, as we call it, the Kick-Off meeting, to ensure the best chance of success.

The kick-off meeting, or assignment briefing meeting, is essential to an effective search process. It covers a lot of ground, but good candidates, the passive ones not searching for a job, ask these questions. Us knowing the answers reflects well on us both, and makes for a positive impression and momentum. This meeting covers:

The background and culture of the business

The background on why the role is open

A thorough understanding of the role – alignment on the job description

What impact will this role have on the business. What is the opportunity for the candidate?

A thorough understanding of the person profile required for the role

Full details of the remuneration package

Agreement on the search process: timescales, how the client likes to be updated on progress, interview process, decision making process, key stakeholders involved, any confidentiality considerations.

There’s a lot of information to cover, especially if this is the first time working together. This is an opportunity for your search partner to really get under the skin of the business. For us this is typically a 90 minute meeting or call. It’s the best investment you’ll make.

Don’t gloss over the details.

This is a chance to be very specific about topics like culture, mindset, values, expectations, tasks, team and compensation. Also defining the interview and decision-making process, who is involved, at what stage and when. The importance of this is a whole article in itself. On the kick-off meeting you can make sure there’s full alignment and no grey areas when it comes to expectations and what it is exactly that you are looking for and why. No one wants surprises at the end of a process.

Your chosen search partner is representing your business in the market. Choose your partner wisely, you need to ensure that they are able to talk knowledgably and confidently about your business and the markets you’re in. The majority of the time they will be approaching passive candidates, those not actively looking to change roles. You need to be sure that they are best equipped to ‘sell’ the opportunity of joining your business. First impressions count a lot when it comes to attracting great talent, and you often only get one shot to convince a candidate that your opportunity is worth exploring.

The investment of time at the start of the search can save weeks during the process. It ensures your search partner is searching in the right places, speaking with the right people, conveying the right messages, qualifying against the right criteria, and creating a smooth process with no surprises. Because as previously said in business and in hiring, no one likes surprises.