Roughly four in five of the people you'd most want to hire are not looking. They're employed, well paid, mid-way through something they care about, and they will never see your advert.
Reaching them is not a matter of trying harder. It's a matter of mapping the entire qualified market, working out which of those people is reachable right now and why, and having a conversation credible enough that they take it. That work has to be funded before it produces anything, which is what a retainer is for.
What you're actually buying
The whole market, not the available part
Every company that could plausibly employ your next hire, every person in the relevant seat, and an honest read on who is genuinely movable. Contingency reaches the people who are looking. Retained reaches everyone.
Confidentiality that holds
Replacing someone still in post. Building a capability you'd rather competitors didn't hear about. A restructure not yet announced internally. None of these survive a role being advertised or three agencies calling the same market, and exclusivity is the only structure where discretion is in the recruiter's interest as well as yours.
A named sector specialist
Not an account manager coordinating researchers. The person who briefs you is the person who calls the market, and they already know it, because chemicals and plastics is the only market we work.
What it costs
| Retained search | |
|---|---|
| Fee | 25–30% of the successful candidate's first-year total package |
| Structure | A fixed engagement fee up front, the balance payable on placement |
| Exclusivity | Yes, for the duration of the search |
| Replacement guarantee | 12 months. If it doesn't work out, we run the search again at no fee |
| Best suited to | Director, VP and C-suite. Confidential replacements. Small, specialised talent pools. |
We publish this because almost nobody else does, and because a firm unwilling to tell you what it charges before a call is telling you something.
On the twelve months
The common market standard is a rebate on a sliding scale that expires around twelve weeks. Twelve weeks is roughly how long it takes for a bad hire to stop looking like a settling-in period.
A twelve-month guarantee is only survivable if you reference into the market rather than the CV, assess against the job rather than the profile, and tell a client when a candidate they like is wrong. It commits us to the things that actually make a placement stick.
How the search runs
| Stage | What happens | When |
|---|---|---|
| Confidential briefing | A deep dive on the role, the team and what "exceptional" looks like here. Where the specification is unrealistic for the market, you hear it now rather than in month three. | Day 1 |
| Market mapping | The full competitor set and the qualified population within it: who's where, who's ready to move, and who you'd never find on a job board. | Days 2–5 |
| Qualified shortlist | Interviewed, referenced and genuinely interested, with our honest read on each, including the reservations. | Days 6–10 |
| Offer & onboard | Interviews, expectations and counter-offers managed through to a signed contract and a smooth start. | To completion |
When we'd tell you not to retain us
If the role sits in a large, active market (regional sales, technical service, a well-populated product management seat), retained search is an expensive way to reach people who are already reachable. Contingent gets you there faster and costs less.
If you're making a cluster of hires against a site or regional deadline, neither model fits well and RPO is the honest answer.
We'd rather tell you that on the first call than take a retainer for a search that didn't need one. Our full comparison of the two models is here.
Questions we get asked
How much does retained executive search cost in the chemical industry?
Ours is 25–30% of the successful candidate's first-year total package, split into a fixed engagement fee up front and the balance on placement. The percentage varies with the seniority and difficulty of the search.
What happens if the hire doesn't work out?
Within twelve months, we run the search again at no fee.
What do I get if the search doesn't produce a hire?
The market map, the full picture of who exists and what they earn, and the feedback we gathered, including why people declined. That intelligence is yours either way, and it usually explains what needs to change.
How long does a retained search take?
A qualified shortlist within ten working days of briefing. Total time to a signed offer depends on your interview process and the candidate's notice period more than on the search itself.
Do you work retained searches outside the UK?
Yes. We run one team across the US and Europe: coast-to-coast in the States, and across the UK, DACH, Benelux and the wider European chemical corridor from London.
Have a hire you can't get wrong?
Tell us about the role. A sector specialist will come back to you within one business day, and every conversation is confidential.
Book a Confidential Briefing →