Suspense and drama play as big a part in the executive appointments process as they do in the average thriller, with every chapter ending on a cliffhanger, right up to the denouement.
For some, the experience will end in tragedy, for one a triumph, but for most, it will be a roller-coaster ride full of mystery, action – and long silences.
Those silences create the tension, a phenomenon that headhunter Simon Bartholomew, board practice partner at The Miles Partnership, recognises in his work: “It can be a series of cliffhangers, if that’s the right word – because people get to a certain stage in the process and then they are left hanging.