Direct Hire Recruiters for the Central Valley, Sacramento & the Bay Area
Three corridors, one firm. Clover Search Group is an owner-led direct hire recruiting firm in Lodi, California, placing professionals and leaders across the Valley, Sacramento and the Bay Area.
Book a Hiring ConsultationClover Search Group is an owner-led direct hire recruiting firm in Lodi, California. We place professionals and leaders for employers across the Central Valley, the Sacramento corridor, and the Bay Area — and we do it from inside the region, not from a branch office somebody opened here. Brooklyn and Aidan Kearney own the firm, run the searches themselves, and live about fifteen minutes off Highway 99.
Most people find this page typing headhunters, executive recruiters, an executive search firm or an employment agency near them. All four describe work we do, and the precise name for it is direct hire recruiting: we place permanent employees on your payroll, contingent or retained.
This page is the map of where we work. Pick your city and you will find the sectors, the employers, and the roles we actually see in it.
Three corridors, one firm.
Drawn the way we drive them. Not the way a territory map would draw them.
The Central Valley. Lodi, Stockton, Modesto, and south down 99 to Fresno. Ag and food processing, packaging, distribution and logistics, construction and the trades, and the family-held manufacturers that quietly carry a large share of the Valley’s payroll. This is home ground.
The Sacramento corridor. The capital itself, plus Elk Grove and the suburbs stacked along Highway 99 and US-50. Government and public affairs, technology and professional services, health care administration, and the architecture and engineering firms that live off public works.
The Bay Area. Mostly the inland side of it — companies headquartered over the hill running operations out here, and Bay Area professionals doing the math on what a Valley cost of living buys them. The I-580/205 corridor over the Altamont is the seam, and it runs both directions.
Recruiters by city.
Six pages, six real markets. Each one names the sectors that actually hire there and the roles we place in them.
Direct hire recruiting in Lodi
Winegrowing and wine production, food and beverage processing, diagnostics and precision manufacturing, and the finance seats behind them. Home base.
Direct hire recruiting in Stockton
Distribution and logistics, food processing, construction, port-adjacent industry, and locally headquartered banking. Twenty minutes south of us.
Direct hire recruiting in Sacramento
Government affairs and public policy, technology, health care administration, and the A&E firms that build the region. Thirty-five miles north on 99.
Direct hire recruiting in Modesto
Food and beverage processing at scale, ag manufacturing, construction, and the commercial leadership behind them. Forty-five minutes down the same highway.
Direct hire recruiting in Fresno
Agriculture and food processing, healthcare systems, distribution, construction, higher education and the public sector. The southern end of 99, and the longest drive we make.
Direct hire recruiting for the Bay Area
Not a city page — a corridor. Inland operations for Bay-headquartered companies, Bay-to-Valley relocations, and select East Bay roles. We have no office over the hill and do not pretend to.
If your site sits in that footprint, we come to you. If it sits just outside it — Manteca, Tracy, Galt, Turlock, Elk Grove, Visalia — call anyway and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right firm for the role.
Recruiters by practice area.
Six practices, six pages. Each one names the roles by level, the markets that carry the work, and how that particular search is usually structured.
Finance & accounting recruiters
CFO, controller, accounting manager and the senior professionals underneath them. The practice where a bad hire is quietest and most expensive.
Sales & business development recruiters
VP and director of sales, business development, regional and territory leadership. Relationship territories, filled by talking to the people already in them.
Operations & food manufacturing recruiters
Plant, production, quality and food safety, maintenance, supply chain. The largest of the six, and the one the Valley actually runs on.
Construction & engineering recruiters
Estimators, project managers, superintendents and preconstruction leadership, plus the A&E design seats alongside them. Timed to the project calendar.
Technology & IT recruiters
IT leadership, infrastructure, applications, security and plant systems. Corporate and operational technology rather than product engineering.
Government affairs recruiters
Legislative, regulatory and public affairs seats for employers and associations in the Capitol corridor. The smallest practice, and the most network-dependent.
What we do, and how it runs.
We are a direct hire recruiting firm. Permanent hires on your payroll, across six practice areas: Technology & IT, Construction & Infrastructure, Government Affairs, Operations / Ag & Industrial, Sales & Business Development, and Finance & Administration. We place individual contributors, managers, directors, and executives — any role a company will pay a fee to get right.
The full picture of how engagements are structured — contingent, retained, and the 90-day replacement guarantee behind both — lives on the employers page. If your need is shaped differently, ask on the first call and we will tell you straight whether we are the right firm rather than three weeks into it. What those seats pay is in the 2026 Central Valley Salary Guide.
A search runs like a road you know.
Same road, every time. Four stops between the first call and a signed offer — the long version our recruiters walk clients through, with the road art, is on the employers page.
Intake
We take on a handful of searches at a time, and we come to you before we start. Every search opens with a visit to your site: how the place works, who fits it, and how we will sell it to someone who isn’t looking. Recruiting starts when the engagement letter is signed. Not before.
Sourcing
Owner-led outreach across the corridors, not job-board scraping. Phone first — inboxes are noise, and a call gets a real conversation. The people worth hiring usually aren’t looking. They still pick up.
The shortlist
A handful of vetted, genuinely interested candidates — days, not weeks. A phone screen, then a video or in-person interview. Reference checks run by Aidan personally.
The placement
We stay in it through the offer, the move and the first 90 days. Every hire is guaranteed for 90 days, and we check in with both sides after the start date to make sure it is actually working.
Questions employers ask.
Where exactly do you recruit?
From Lodi, we work three corridors: the Central Valley including Stockton, Modesto and Fresno; the Sacramento region including Elk Grove; and the Bay Area, including inland operations for Bay-headquartered companies along the I-580/205 corridor. There is a page for each market we work — Lodi, Stockton, Sacramento, Modesto, Fresno and the Bay Area — written about that market rather than about us.
Do you place roles outside your six practice areas?
Sometimes. The six areas are where we have depth, not a fence. If a role sits next door to one of them, ask — we would rather tell you on the phone that it is outside our range than take the search and stall on it. That answer takes about five minutes and costs you nothing.
Are you a staffing agency?
People search that phrase, so it is worth answering plainly: what we run is direct hire recruiting. Permanent hires on your payroll, owner-led, one fee when the person starts, backed by a 90-day replacement guarantee.
Not looking? Let’s talk anyway.
There is no cost to candidates, ever. We work with experienced professionals across the Central Valley, Sacramento, and the Bay Area — people who aren’t necessarily looking but would consider the right move. The conversation is always confidential, and it stays that way whether or not anything comes of it. More for candidates →
We call. You hire.
Ready to make your next hire?
Fifteen minutes on the phone — no pitch deck, just the role, the market, and whether we’re the right fit.
Book a Hiring Consultation