Retained vs. Contingency Continued...

Retained and contingency recruitment represent two distinct models within the recruitment industry, each offering unique characteristics and advantages.

Retained Recruitment Explained:

Exclusive Partnership: In a retained search, the client engages the recruiting firm exclusively for a specific executive-level position. The recruitment firm is usually paid upfront or in instalments.

Upfront Investment: Clients invest a portion of the fee at the beginning of the search to secure the recruiter's exclusive commitment to the assignment. To kickstart the search, the client would make an upfront investment payment to the executive search firm, demonstrating a commitment to the process.

Comprehensive Service: Traditional services: Retained executive search is often used for executive and leadership placements. The executive search firm invests time in understanding your talent requirements, company culture, and industry.

Dedicated Resources: Traditional services: The executive search firm partners with the client, allocates dedicated resources to the search, including headhunting services, research, sourcing, and qualifying leadership level candidates.

The Retained Payment Structure Explained: Retained executive search typically involves a series of payments at predetermined milestones throughout the search process.

Contingency Recruitment Explained:

Non-Exclusive Engagement: Contingency recruitment involves non-exclusive engagements, meaning multiple recruiting firms can work on the same position simultaneously.

One Off Payment Upon Placement: Recruiters are compensated only when a candidate they refer is hired by the client. The fee is typically a percentage of the candidate's first-year salary.

Quick Turnaround: Contingency searches are often used for roles that need to be filled more quickly, such as mid-level or specialised positions.

Multiple Engagements: Since there's no exclusivity, clients may engage multiple contingency recruiters to increase the pool of candidates, however, be sure its quality vs quantity and best fit.

Ongoing Hiring: Contingency recruitment is suitable for organisations with ongoing hiring needs where speed and efficiency are critical.

Conclusion: Both models offer advantages depending on the specific needs and priorities of your business. Retained searches are generally suitable for critical and strategic roles, while contingency searches can provide more speed with some flexibility to use other recruitment firms.

We hope that this overview has provided you with a good insight in to retained and contingency recruitment.

Thank you!

Sade Farrow / Founder / Solaris Search

In the dynamic landscape of talent acquisition, adaptability is key. As businesses evolve and market demands shift, recruitment strategies must be equally flexible.

Solaris Search “Our Flexibility - Your Recruitment Needs - Your Choice”

At Solaris Search, we understand the diverse needs of our clients.

So whether you are in start-up mode, scale-up status, or a large corporate business, our executive search and headhunting services covers all your needs whether its C-suite talent, senior skilled tech & sales professionals, mid-senior management, heads of, director-level leaders, or critical leadership level, our recruitment solutions are flexi and affordable.

Solaris Search does not differentiate in terms of a quality personalised and tailored service, and our quality over quantity values for every project we work on. Whether your choice of partnering with us is retained or contingency based.

We understand: Not all organisations needs are the same, that's why we offer you, the client, a personalised tailored approach to our headhunting services and the choice between a retained or contingency recruitment partnership.

Retained search is commonly used for executive and leadership roles.

However: We believe in the power of choice! That’s why Solaris Search invite you ‘the client’ to benefit from our all-embracing executive search and headhunting services across all your senior level roles at an affordable cost. 

We won't: Steer you towards a specific model for our own benefit - the choice is entirely yours! Aligning with what best suits your organisation's recruitment requirements.

At Solaris Search: We empower you our client, with the freedom to decide whether you prefer a partnership on a retained or contingency basis our fees remain the same for both models. What best suits your business model and needs?

Dedicated Resources: With our retained or contingency based search services, Solaris Search allocates dedicated resources to your assignment, our executive and nonexecutive search incorporates our headhunting services, extensive research, professional sourcing, and a highly personalised strategy aimed at identifying, attracting, and hiring industry specific top-tier talent for your organisation.

Investment: We invest time in thoroughly understanding your organisation, business sectors and departments, critical business needs, culture, team structures, management ethos, and job specific requirements to tailor your personalised search accordingly based on each individual position and project.

We trust that this overview has illuminated how Solaris Search's commitment to partnering with our clients and has offered valuable insights into the retained and contingency recruitment landscape to enable you to make an informed decision.

Thank you!

Sade Farrow / Founder / Solaris Search