When a growing company needs to add a senior leader, the stakes are high and the margin for error is thin. Onboard Recruiting Partners works as Chicago C Suite Recruiters serving businesses across the United States from its headquarters in Rochester Hills, Michigan, bringing a structured, relationship-driven approach to every executive search. The firm specializes in leadership and key functional roles for growth-stage companies, where the right hire can shape the trajectory of an entire organization. In our experience, this approach reduces risk and accelerates measurable impact for leadership teams.
A Retained Search Model Built for Growing Companies
Onboard Recruiting Partners operates exclusively on a retained basis, which means each engagement is a dedicated, structured effort rather than a contingency sprint. That distinction matters. Retained search aligns the firm’s focus with finding the right long-term hire, not simply filling a seat. Founder Chris Masson brings more than 25 years of hands-on management experience from corporate environments including Sherwin-Williams and AkzoNobel, as well as his own entrepreneurial venture. Practitioners in this field often note that this operator’s vantage point helps translate business strategy into leadership requirements that go beyond a resume.
Because Chris personally runs every search, clients work directly with the expert they hired. There is no handoff to junior staff once the engagement begins. That continuity matters when the role carries real organizational weight. Learn more about the firm’s background and philosophy on the Onboard Recruiting Partners about page.
Chicago C Suite Recruiters Focused on Leadership and Functional Roles
As Chicago C Suite Recruiters, Onboard Recruiting Partners concentrates on positions that shape company culture, operational direction, and long-term growth. The firm does not engage in high-volume staffing or entry-level hiring. Every search is scoped around roles that carry genuine strategic weight within the organization.
Positions Onboard Helps Clients Hire with Confidence
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C-Suite Leadership
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Director of Human Resources
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Human Resources Manager
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Talent Acquisition Leader
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Marketing Director
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Brand Marketing Manager
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Engineering Manager
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Operations Manager
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Divisional Merchant Manager
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Category Manager and Buyer
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Regional Manager
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District Manager
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Store Manager
Each search begins with a thorough intake process designed to surface not just technical requirements, but leadership style expectations, team dynamics, and the cultural environment a candidate will need to thrive in. Explore the firm’s full range of functional expertise on the industries and expertise overview.
Markets Onboard Recruiting Partners Serves
Onboard Recruiting Partners works with organizations at different stages of growth, all connected by one common need: finding leadership that fits. The firm’s national client base spans a wide range of company types and structures, including:
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Mid-Sized Companies: Organizations that have moved past the startup phase and need leaders who can manage complexity while maintaining momentum.
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Growth-Focused Organizations: Companies in active expansion mode where a single leadership hire can accelerate or complicate everything else happening internally.
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Private Companies: Founder-led or family-operated businesses looking for outside talent that respects the existing culture while bringing new capability.
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Corporate Teams: Established companies seeking to backfill or elevate key functional roles with a more intentional evaluation process.
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Entrepreneurial Businesses: Early-to-mid-stage ventures where leadership hires carry outsized influence on team direction and company health.
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Leadership-Driven Environments: Organizations that take seriously the idea that the quality of their people defines the quality of their outcomes.
The firm’s primary focus is companies in the range of approximately 50 to 500 employees, where leadership team composition directly affects how Onboard Recruiting Partners performs, retains talent, and competes for market position.
How Chicago C Suite Recruiters Approach Each Search
The process that defines Chicago C Suite Recruiters at Onboard Recruiting Partners goes beyond sourcing names from a database. Before any candidate is presented, the team assesses cultural alignment, leadership approach, and team dynamics. That evaluation is built into the search process from the first conversation, not treated as an afterthought during final interviews.
Honest communication is central to how Onboard Recruiting Partners operates. If a search is heading in the wrong direction, the firm says so. If internal alignment around the role definition is missing, that conversation happens early. The goal is to treat every hire as a meaningful business decision, not a transaction to be closed quickly.
Employers who want to understand what a retained engagement looks like in practice can visit the employer services page or connect with Onboard Recruiting Partners on LinkedIn.
Why the Retained Model Produces Better Outcomes
For growing companies unfamiliar with retained executive search, the distinction from contingency recruiting is worth understanding. Contingency firms are paid only when a hire is made, which creates pressure to move fast and present candidates early. A retained engagement operates differently: the firm is committed to the search from the start, which allows for a deeper, more deliberate process.
That difference is especially meaningful when the role being filled will influence company culture, operational performance, or team structure for years. Founders and CEOs who partner with Chicago C Suite Recruiters at Onboard gain a process that treats the decision with the care it deserves. The search is designed to reduce hiring risk, surface the right long-term fit, and bring clarity to a process that can otherwise feel uncertain and reactive.
For companies ready to approach their next leadership hire with more intention and structure, the embedded form below is the right place to begin the conversation. Onboard Recruiting Partners is built for exactly this kind of work, and every search reflects that focus from the first call to the final placement. Visit the Onboard Recruiting Partners home page to learn more about what the firm stands for and how it works with clients.
FAQs
What types of companies do Chicago C Suite Recruiters at Onboard Recruiting Partners typically work with?
Onboard Recruiting Partners focuses on growth-stage companies, generally those with between approximately 50 and 500 employees. The firm works with private companies, mid-sized organizations, founder-led businesses, and entrepreneurial ventures that need to build or strengthen their leadership teams. The common thread is that each client is at a point where the quality of a single hire will have real and lasting impact on how Onboard Recruiting Partners performs.
How is a retained executive search different from a contingency search?
In a contingency model, a recruiter is only paid when a hire is made, which creates pressure to present candidates quickly and move through the process fast. A retained search works differently: the engagement is funded from the beginning, which allows the firm to run a thorough, structured process focused on finding the right person rather than the fastest available option. That distinction matters most when the role being filled carries significant organizational weight, as leadership hires almost always do.
What functional areas does Onboard Recruiting Partners specialize in?
Onboard Recruiting Partners works across several key functional areas that are critical to growing businesses: Human Resources, marketing, engineering, operations, and merchant functions. Within those areas, the firm recruits for roles ranging from C-Suite executives to Director, Manager, and key individual contributor positions that carry strategic importance. The firm does not engage in high-volume or entry-level staffing.
Does Chris Masson personally run every search, or does a team handle the work?
Chris Masson personally leads every search at Onboard Recruiting Partners. Clients are not handed off to junior staff after the initial conversation. This is one of the defining characteristics of the boutique model: the person who understands the client’s business, culture, and leadership needs is the same person conducting candidate evaluation throughout the entire engagement. That continuity produces more consistent results and a more honest search process.
How does Onboard evaluate whether a candidate is the right cultural and leadership fit?
Cultural and leadership fit evaluation begins at the intake stage, before any candidates are identified. Onboard Recruiting Partners works with clients to clarify what leadership style the team actually needs, what the working environment looks like in practice, and what dynamics exist within the broader team. Candidates are assessed against those criteria throughout the search, not just at the final interview stage. This approach means that by the time a candidate is presented, they have already been evaluated against the full picture of what the role requires.
Where is Onboard Recruiting Partners located, and does the firm work with companies outside of the Chicago area?
Onboard Recruiting Partners is headquartered in Rochester Hills, Michigan, and serves a national client base across the United States. While Chicago C Suite Recruiters is one way growing companies find the firm, Onboard works with clients in a wide range of markets and geographies. Leadership search does not have a geographic boundary, and the firm’s process is designed to identify the best available talent regardless of where that search leads.