I sat down with Peggy Reimann, Senior Executive Recruiter at The Batten Group, recently, to talk about something we keep hearing from hiring committees. They thought the offer stage was the easy part.

It is not.

The last stretch of an executive search is where placements quietly fall apart. Not because the candidate cooled off. Not because the board got cold feet. Because nobody answered the questions the candidate was actually asking.

Peggy has spent years guiding senior leaders through nonprofit executive searches. She has seen what kills a placement in week ten that nobody saw coming in week one. So I asked her to walk me through what candidates are really asking right before they say yes, and what hiring committees can do about it.

Here is what she told me.

When I asked Peggy what is coming up most often, she did not hesitate.

“In senior leadership roles, people want to know if the organization is actually open to change, or if they just say that. They want to know if they will have a seat at the table and be heard on strategy.”

That is the question underneath the question. Candidates are not asking whether the org has a strategic plan. They are asking whether their voice will count when the plan needs to flex.

The second thing she hears constantly is about the board.

“They want to know how engaged the board is, and whether the board is willing to open its network.”

A passive board is a deal-breaker for many strong candidates, particularly in development-adjacent roles. Top finalists want partners. They want connectors. They want a board chair who picks up the phone when the new CEO calls.

The third is flexibility. Work-life balance. Remote and hybrid options. Realistic goals. Honest expectations.

I asked her if the mix had shifted in the last year or two. Her answer was the one that stuck with me most.

“Many top candidates are really looking for a long-term home. They want to stay with an organization for the long term.”

That changes how a hiring committee should think about the entire process. The candidate sitting across from your board chair is not shopping. They are deciding whether to put down roots. The questions they ask in those final conversations reflect that.

I asked Peggy if she could share a story where a late-stage question completely changed how a search played out. She gave me one I have heard her tell before, and it is one every hiring committee should sit with.

“It is often around PTO,” she said. “Many of our candidates have been in the workforce for a number of years and do not want to go back to three weeks of vacation when they start at a new organization. We have to be creative and start them at a higher level.”

Then she said the part most candidates need to hear.

“A lot of candidates are taught not to talk about benefits until the end. I disagree. I address benefits and PTO at the beginning, so there are no surprises later. That is often where things fall apart.”

She is right. Late-stage surprises blow up placements that should have closed cleanly. The candidate feels blindsided. The hiring committee feels like the goalposts moved. Nobody is happy, and a three-month search gets dragged into a renegotiation that did not need to happen.

Address it up front. Get creative on starting vacation levels for senior candidates. An extra week of PTO is a small price to keep the leader you spent a few months recruiting.

It is the mistake she sees 40-50% of organizations make most often at the offer stage, and it is entirely avoidable.

“Lowball initial offers,” she said. “Come in with the best offer you can. A low opener sends a message you don’t want to send.”

Here is what she means. Say the salary range for a senior role is $150,000 to $175,000. The organization decides to open at the bottom of the band. Let’s offer this and see what they say.

“The candidate feels devalued and deflated,” Peggy said. “It is not a good feeling to start out with. Then we are back and forth in negotiations, and the candidate does not start with the greatest impression.”

Here is the part most hiring committees miss. The final offer almost always lands at the upper part of the range anyway. All that negotiating did was sour the relationship before day one.

“If you had started at the mid-to-upper part of the range, there would not be all this back and forth, and the candidate feels valued from the beginning.”

This is the kind of unforced error that costs organizations strong leaders. Save the negotiation energy for the things that actually need negotiating. On base compensation, come in close to what you actually intend to pay. The candidate will know the difference, and they will remember how you made them feel in week one for the next five years.

I asked Peggy which question candidates miss most often. The one she wishes they would ask every time.

“Tenure of the team,” she said.

Then she explained why it cuts both ways.

“If they are managing a team, are there weak links? Are there changes that need to happen when they join? Or on the flip side, if everyone has been there for years, how will new ideas and processes be received?”

This is the question that separates a candidate who has accepted a job from a candidate who has accepted reality.

If you are walking into a team with weak links, you need to know before you accept. Is the board expecting you to make personnel changes on day one? Is the outgoing leader leaving behind a problem dressed up as a succession plan?

If every member of the team has been there for twelve years, you need to ask the opposite question. How will new ideas land? How will updated processes be received? Long tenure can be a sign of culture and stability, or a sign of entrenchment. There is a real difference between the two, and you do not want to learn which one it is in your first quarter.

I asked Peggy how she reads the specific questions candidates ask late in a process. Compensation philosophy. Board dynamics. Remote flexibility. What are they really asking underneath?

“If it is a development role, the question is often, ‘Will the CEO be open to meeting with donors?’ That is really a question about whether executive leadership values collaboration. Whether they understand the importance of fundraising. Whether the CEO’s door is open.”

The same pattern shows up around compensation.

“If salaries seem low, management is going to have a hard time building a solid team. Organizations need to do compensation studies and adjust on a regular basis.”

Listen for what is underneath. A candidate asking about runway is asking whether they will spend their first year doing the job or managing dysfunction. A candidate asking about board dynamics is doing risk assessment in real time. That is where the real interview happens.

I asked her what advice she would give a hiring committee or board chair so they do not lose a great finalist at the eleventh hour.

She kept it short.

“Transparency. Move in a timely manner. Be realistic about salaries, bonuses, and sign-ons. And streamline the interview process. If too many people are on a Zoom, it gets overwhelming, and there is no room to actually build rapport.”

I would add this. The eleventh hour is not the time to discover that your candidate wanted four weeks of vacation. It is not the time to find out they wanted to understand the board. By then, you are not negotiating. You are damage controlling.

After sitting with Peggy, I came away with one clear takeaway. The questions candidates ask in the final stretch are not obstacles. They are gifts. They tell you exactly what matters most to the person you are about to invite onto your team.

At The Batten Group, 16 years and 650+ placements have taught us that the placements that stick come from one place. Both sides asked the real questions. Both sides answered them honestly.

The hiring committees who listen are the ones whose new leaders are still there five years later.

The Batten Group’s commitment to finding mission-driven leaders is not just a recruitment strategy—it’s a dedication to the long-term success of nonprofit organizations and their missions. The true art of executive search lies in identifying authentic passion, aligning it with the right expertise, and matching it to the unique purpose of each organization. By doing so, The Batten Group helps nonprofits thrive and drive meaningful, lasting change.

In the nonprofit world, values-driven leadership isn’t a luxury—it’s essential. And The Batten Group is at the forefront of making that essential leadership a reality.

We are a premier national executive search and consultancy firm with more than 75 years of collective experience in nonprofit, philanthropy, and executive recruitment. We specialize in placing transformational leaders in nonprofit, healthcare, higher education, and mission-based organizations across the country.

As experts in recruiting and talent acquisition, our mission is to connect exceptional individuals with purpose-driven organizations—helping our partners achieve their boldest strategic goals.

We believe the most impactful teams are built by welcoming varied perspectives, lived experiences, and leadership styles. That belief is at the core of every search we conduct. By fostering environments where people feel seen, supported, and empowered, we help build stronger, more resilient leadership for the future.

We’d love to learn more about your organization’s goals and how we can support your search for the next transformational leader. Visit thebattengroup.com to learn more, or click here to explore our proven hiring methodology.

Follow us on LinkedIn and X to stay updated on our latest searches. And don’t forget to sign up for our monthly newsletter for expert tips, leadership insights, and new career opportunities across the nonprofit sector. [Click here to subscribe].