The Forge Careers / Executive search and talent intelligence
Identify the talent your next stage of growth requires.
The Forge Careers helps organizations identify and engage specialist professionals and leaders through targeted search, market intelligence and structured candidate assessment.
Every search enquiry is reviewed by Toyeeb Issa-Qazim, Founder & Executive Search Partner. Based in Nigeria, with international search through research and direct engagement.
Executive search, specialist recruitment and talent intelligence.
Define the appointment, understand where the experience exists and evaluate candidates against the actual mandate. Scope and terms are agreed in writing before any search starts.
Discuss a SearchExecutive career strategy, positioning and targeted search support.
A paid advisory service for experienced professionals and executives. It is separate from employer search and does not promise interviews, offers or placement.
Explore Career Strategy
Services
Five things we do, and how each one works.
Executive and Leadership Search
Director · VP · C-suite · BoardDirector, VP, C-suite and board appointments, researched against a defined business mandate.
02Professional and Specialist Recruitment
Specialist, technical, commercial and functional rolesTargeted hiring for the specialist, technical, commercial and functional roles your business cannot afford to get wrong.
03Talent Intelligence and Market Mapping
Market mapping and target-company researchUnderstand the talent landscape before committing to a search or a hiring decision.
04International Search
Cross-border identification and engagementCross-border talent identification and engagement in the markets relevant to your mandate.
05Executive Career Strategy
For experienced professionals and executivesPositioning, target-role definition and a research-led search approach for experienced professionals and executives.
Why The Forge
We don’t start with the database.
We start with the decision.
An employer needs to know what the business is really hiring for. A professional needs to know how the market reads their experience. Understanding both makes the search sharper.
How we workSearch
Identify the people and organizations worth approaching, not just the profiles easiest to find.
Intelligence
Research the market before deciding where to look and what to ask for.
Evaluation
Compare evidence of capability, leadership and motivation against the actual mandate.
Positioning
Explain why someone’s experience matters to the opportunity in front of them.
The people behind the work
A founder-led firm.
A team you can name.
Toyeeb Issa-Qazim founded The Forge Careers around a simple observation: talent decisions are often made with incomplete information. His work sits between executive search and career strategy, using market research, candidate positioning and targeted sourcing to improve the decision on both sides of the market.
Our consultants & leadership
Oluwatomisin Odebiyi
Executive Search Partner
Abdul Quawiy Salaudeen
Talent Acquisition Partner
Mubarak Ibrahim
Chief Operations Officer
Jedidiah Solomon
Executive Career Consultant & Coach
Felicia Olarewaju
Talent Acquisition Officer
Before the shortlist
A deeper piece of work
before a recommendation.
These are the questions we use to scope a search. The brief determines the research and deliverables.
Search brief diagnostic
What must this appointment change?
Define the business problem, first-year priorities and the evidence needed to assess a candidate.
Talent market map
Where does the experience already exist?
Identify target organizations, comparable roles and adjacent sectors before approaching candidates.
Search feasibility
Can the brief work in the chosen market?
Examine geography, working model, qualifications and likely constraints early enough to adjust the search.
International search
The mandate
determines the market.
International search is conducted through digital sourcing, professional networks and targeted market research. We select geographies for the experience they offer, then examine the practical requirements of hiring across borders. The firm is based in Nigeria and does not operate local offices elsewhere.
- Africa
- Europe
- Middle East
- North America
- Latin America & Caribbean
- Asia-Pacific
Selected thinking
Questions worth asking.
Why strong candidates can lose a search they look qualified to win
The gap between a familiar title and the evidence a particular mandate needs.
Read articleWhy a 20-year career can still produce a weak executive narrative
Seniority is not a proposition. The next employer needs to understand what your experience makes possible.
Read articleWhen expanding the search geography makes the search worse
More countries can mean more noise. Start with the capability and the practical conditions of the appointment.
Read articleLet’s discuss
the mandate.
Tell us what the role needs to accomplish, where it sits in the business and what makes the search difficult. That is where the work starts.
Discuss a Search For career strategy, start here