What an Executive Market Map Contains
An Executive Market Map identifies: the specific companies where executives with the required profile have developed (by industry, stage, and function), the career paths that produce the competencies the role requires, the networks and communities where this executive profile is concentrated, the compensation expectations and package structures that are competitive for this talent pool, and the availability signals that indicate which executives are open to considering a move. This intelligence is built before any candidate is contacted — not discovered during outreach.
Why Market Mapping Produces Better Candidates
Searches that begin without market mapping rely on whoever responds to generic outreach or appears in a database. This systematically underrepresents the strongest candidates — who are typically employed, not actively searching, and not responding to unsolicited messages from unknown parties. The Executive Market Map enables targeted, credibility-based outreach to specific individuals identified as genuine candidates — producing a candidate pool that reflects the actual market rather than the accessible market.
The Market Mapping Process
Majhi Group conducts a formal market mapping exercise at the beginning of every retained engagement. This involves structured research across relevant companies, networks, and professional communities — producing a target list of specific individuals who meet the profile criteria. The market map is validated against the candidate profile agreed in the Executive Search Canvas, ensuring alignment between what the search is looking for and what the market can provide.
Market Map as a Calibration Tool
In some searches, the market map reveals that the candidate profile defined at intake does not exist at the supply and compensation levels the client expected. This is critical intelligence that prevents a search from proceeding against an impossible brief — enabling profile recalibration before time and effort are wasted. The Executive Market Map is a calibration tool as much as a sourcing tool.