The decision to run a senior appointment as a retained search or as a contingent one is the first commercial choice a hiring principal makes — and the one most likely to shape whether the appointment succeeds. Below is the decision framework we now share with every principal, Chair or CEO who asks us the same question at brief stage: “Which model should we use for this?”
The three questions that decide it
1. Is the mandate confidential?
If the mandate cannot be advertised — because the incumbent is still in seat, because the role is a Chair search that must not be reported in the trade press until announced, or because the principal is UHNW and does not permit their name to appear anywhere — the search must be retained. Contingent recruiters do not run mandates they cannot post.
2. How proactive does the market map need to be?
The best candidates for senior appointments are almost never active job-seekers. Reaching them requires proactive outreach, one candidate at a time, with the mandate briefed to them personally. That work takes weeks and is impossible to fund on a contingent economics. If the answer to “how many of the strong candidates for this seat are actively looking?” is “few or none”, the search must be retained.
3. How deep does assessment need to run before shortlist?
Senior appointments require depth of assessment: multiple meetings, structured competency-based interviews, portfolio and case review, psychometric assessment, reference triangulation. A contingent recruiter earning only on the placement cannot economically justify that depth. If the client expects a defensible shortlist rather than a volume of CVs, the search must be retained.
If two of the three answers point at retained, the search is retained. If all three do, contingent is a false economy dressed up as a saving.
When contingent is genuinely the right choice
Contingent recruitment works well for high-volume, active-market roles where speed matters and the candidate pool is large enough that surfacing the right person via multiple channels is faster than a proactive market map. It works less well as seniority increases, as confidentiality tightens, and as the cost of a wrong hire grows.
The economics
The UK retained executive search benchmark is 25–33% of first-year total compensation, paid across the search in three stages (kickoff, shortlist, offer acceptance). Contingent recruitment is typically 15–25% of first-year base salary, paid only on hire.
On a £250k package, the difference is meaningful — perhaps £40k more paid to a retained firm than to a contingent one. On the same package, the cost of a mis-hire is typically 6–24x annual compensation once you factor in productivity loss, team disruption, replacement cost and (in senior roles) the cost of the strategic decisions the wrong person made in seat.
The retained fee is insurance against the cost of a mis-hire, funded by paying for the assessment depth the mis-hire risk requires.
Related reading
For the full fee mechanics and process, see the retained executive search fees and process explainer. For the vocabulary — retained, contingent, on/off-limits, sponsor coverage — see the glossary.