What is a retained search activity?
Retained essentially means that the commercial model ensures you are retaining or owning a portion of the search agency consultants time and resource. You’ll pay a fee that is structured to incentivise the retained consultant to focus and succeed on your recruitment activity, whilst getting the high levels of service from a consultative approach.
By using an agency, they help you identify and highlight the key parts of the role they can sell to the candidates and help you develop any areas that are missing. As consultancy is part of the retained brief, you can expect to have detailed conversations about the role, the ideal candidate and the remuneration or benefits that are on offer. Your contact will have a strong understanding of the market and your competitors and can advise on how you can become a leader in the race to recruit the best talent.
The service is normally used to recruit senior staff members, like Heads Of, or Director level candidates where a specific search and selection approach is needed. Using various techniques, software, databases and even referral sources, the net is cast as far and wide as possible to cover any interested candidates who are in the marketplace. It is always a confidential approach between all parties and at times, depending on the requirement, a non-disclosure agreement might be adopted, giving an extra layer of confidentiality.
What is the process of executive search and headhunting?
The process begins with a detailed conversation to ensure the brief is full developed and ready to go live into the market. A consultative period is covered under the ‘Engagement Stage’ of the process, and this usually attracts one third of the estimated final fee. The total estimated fee is normally an agreed percentage of the target candidate’s annual salary, normally around 20% in the UK. During the fee negotiation, it is agreed what the definition of the second stage of Shortlist is, which is now many candidates are identified and need to progress to interview. The final stage of the process is the offer to a successful candidate, and once accepted the third and final part of the fee is due. As with normal recruitment activity, there are rebates included in case of any issues with the chosen candidate.