Retained Search or Contingency?

Retained Search or Contingency?

When engaging a recruiter, the importance of choosing the right tool for the job can often be overlooked due to time and existing approaches and relationships. Selection processes are unique to jobs, companies and even teams within them. When a hire is proving a challenge and you need to engage recruiters to get it done, you have options and a choice between contingency, the success only model, and retained search, a more robust partnership.

Ostensibly, the differences are simple.

If you choose the retained search option, the recruiter is paid an agreed proportion of the fee on instruction and works with you on a truly exclusive basis.

Contingency recruitment can be open to multiple, competing recruiters and the fee is paid to the recruiter who ultimately puts the right candidate in front of you. Exclusive contingency is also an option; your chosen recruiter will work on the role exclusively but the whole fee is paid on completion. They will then be competing with your internal resources.

The skills needed will be a factor when making this decision. Engaging a specialist with a mix of expertise, relationships and insights relevant to your requirements makes closer partnerships more effective. For example, when a language is one such skill, Euro London fit that brief.

Making the Choice – Pros and Cons

You’ll find pros and cons in both and often the choice will come down to which is the right tool for the job. Retained search has an immediate and definite cost but can represent better value, especially when engaging a skilled, specialist recruiter. The client pays part (often a third or half but can vary) of the fee on instructing the recruiter, giving the recruiter what they need to do their best work. The partnership should be close enough to resemble hiring an interim internal recruiter, who will go to greater lengths to market not only the vacancy itself but also your employer brand. For our retained partners, Euro London extend our guarantee to cover the first 12 months after the candidate starts too. Working on a contingency basis may be a little cheaper but the guarantee is shorter; any risk averted by opting for a success only model is then taken back on.

Engaging multiple recruiters seems good in theory; you expect to get different ideas and a wider pool. The reality is often that you get different approaches, different conversations, and either a duplication of work (they’re likely to have the same sources) or a drift when no individual recruiter must take responsibility. You’re asking recruiters to do their fastest work rather than their best. If it’s a tough brief you may even find that you’ve fallen down the list when another client gives greater commitment. You may also get inconsistency around how the role and your employer brand is marketed and how candidates are managed through the process.

Communicating feedback to one committed, engaged recruiter is simply less time consuming than being chased by several. This can be done via the exclusive contingency option of course but we can naturally divert greater resources to retained clients thanks to their commitment.

The more robust, structured processes applied to retained assignments are often connected with senior positions. We’ve found no reasons not to apply the same quality driven, joined up approach to recruitment at all levels as the benefits and results are the same.

However you choose to engage us, we’re happy to help. We understand retained search may not fit your business need now and that partnerships can come in different shapes and sizes; we have clients who retain us on some roles and work on a contingency basis for others.

Talk to us about what you want to achieve – 0207 029 3799, [email protected]

Euro London Appointments is Europe’s largest independent, language oriented recruitment consultancy. We have offices in London, Paris, Frankfurt & Munich and have over 30 years of bilingual and multilingual recruitment expertise. This has enabled us to naturally develop the right insight, experience and knowledge to source only the right fit for your positions, with fluency in more than one language. 

Ben Brogden is an Associate Director at Euro London Appointments