How the search diagnostic is calculated.

Last updated 24 May 2026. A short page linked from every email of the sequence and from the privacy policy, so the reader who wants to verify the score has a place to do it.

What the diagnostic measures

The diagnostic returns a 0-100 search-health score across four sub-axes: channel mix, response density, named-recruiter density, and cadence. Each sub-axis is scored 0-10 from the answer to a single question; the four sub-scores are weighted, summed, and normalised.

A search older than 24 weeks receives a -10 penalty applied after normalisation (the search is unambiguously stalled at that point and the diagnosis must reflect it).

The verdict bands

• 0-29 — Stalled. The structural gap between the candidate and the channel mix is too wide for the current cadence to close.
• 30-54 — At-risk. The work is happening; most of it is being absorbed by channels that do not return signal for someone at this level.
• 55-79 — Fragile. The mechanics work. Two specific gaps are the difference between fragile and efficient.
• 80-100 — Healthy. The leverage is no longer in mechanics; it is in the specific people and the specific companies.

Where the numbers come from

The thresholds are calibrated against the search-outcome data I have observed across the senior operators I have worked with directly — pilots, Founding clients, the conversations I have had with executives in transition over the last twelve months. They are not derived from a single published study; the senior-search benchmark literature is thin and most of the published numbers are entry-level skewed. As Knock. ships more searches, the calibration updates. If the numbers move materially, this page changes and the change is dated at the top.

Specific calibrations worth surfacing:

• The 25 per cent conversion from application to first-round conversation is the median for senior-IC roles in 2025-26. Below 15 per cent the conversion is structurally broken; above 30 per cent the channel mix is already healthier than this diagnostic would suggest.
• The 8 per cent compound conversion on warm-intro applications is the high end. The number sits between two and twenty per cent in the cohort I have worked with; the projection rounds to ten weeks at the healthy end.
• The 6-week response window is the cadence-default. Searches running on a 12+ week window without responses have stalled, regardless of channel.

What the diagnostic does not claim

• It does not scrape your LinkedIn, your CV, or any third-party data. You self-report numbers; honesty in, useful out.
• It does not predict an offer date. The "time-to-offer estimate" is a projection at your current cadence, not a clock. The cadence changes the estimate.
• It does not log your answers against your email unless you explicitly submit the email at the gate. The score is computed server-side from the answers you submitted.
• It does not gate the methodology behind the email. This page is open. The verdict tier you received is described above and you can read your own tier.