About Us

Four Reasons We Stand Apart

Founded in 1969 by President and Managing Director C. Mitchell Oakley Jr., Charles Aris has assisted more than 500 organizations worldwide with their executive search and staffing needs. We are a full service executive search firm with offerings that include Executive Search, Staffing Research, Candidate Due Diligence and Personality Profiling.

Our clients tell us there are four main reasons they choose us over competitors:

1. Expertise. We know how to identify world-class leadership talent. With 40 years of experience, we have one of the most comprehensive databases of candidates in the executive search industry — and we're constantly adding to it. Most of our recruiters joined Charles Aris after successful careers in their industries of focus. So whether your business ranges from industrial products, consumer packaged goods or retail to health care, life sciences or professional services, our team has the knowledge and access to understand and solve your specific talent needs.
2. Execution. We know where to find qualified, available and interested talent. More importantly, we know how to get it to you. For every position, we follow our time-tested and highly effective Priority Search Process, a 14-step approach that identifies, qualifies and delivers the talent you need. How do we know it works? The answer is simple: 2.57 to 1. For every 2.57 job candidates we put in front of clients, one of them is hired. That means you save time and money. We average more than 80 placements a year, with more than one-third of them in Fortune 500 companies.
3. Focus on Cultural Fit. Making sure candidates for your leadership roles have the right technical skills is just half the answer. It's equally important that they fit your culture — and we make sure they will. With our 360-degree reference process, we speak with every candidate's bosses, peers and subordinates to get a strong sense of their personality and leadership style — before we even introduce them to you. Just as significantly, we evaluate candidates with the customizable Drake P3 system, which matches the behavioral traits of candidates with the core competencies you believe are critical for success in a given role. You can download a sample Drake P3 profile here.
4. World-Class Deliverables. Details matter, and our deliverables show our commitment to getting things right. We start with a detailed Assignment Specification, which we write and send to you at the start of the search to make sure we're all on the same page. Throughout the search you will receive a weekly update that details the status of every candidate in our pipeline. You will then receive an in-depth scorecard detailing the background, strengths and weaknesses of every candidate we put before you. In short, you will know exactly where your search stands from start to finish.