The most valuable asset within your business is the people. This is true of any industry and any business. However, finding new team members can be a costly, time-consuming, and often frustrating process. In this blog we will talk about why we only work on a retained search basis and the circumstances where it might be suitable for your business.

What is retained search recruitment? With retained search, you will pay the consultant a retainer to work exclusively on your role (usually a portion of the overall fee). The alternative to retained search is contingency recruitment. Contingency recruitment works on a no-win no fee basis (you pay the recruiter a lump sum if they source an individual to join your business).

Here are 10 reasons why our clients prefer retained search to contingency for their hires:

1. Opportunity to find more diverse talent – Contingency recruitment works on a no-win no fee basis and this generally means that they will only put forward or work with the candidates that are the easiest to place. Unfortunately, this can reinforce industry stereotypes and see some great talent get missed.
2. Higher priority level – We limit the number of roles we are working on to make sure you get the best results
3. The best people, not the first available – Top talent is rarely immediately available. Retained recruiters will headhunt the best talent and find the angles to attract them to your business. Further to that, candidates are more likely to apply for a role that is being sourced on a retainer as they trust it is a live role.
4. Finding rare skill sets – Contingency recruiters will typically steer away from working the more obscure roles that are business critical for you but might be harder for them to fill.
5. First refusal on candidates – The people we source for your role will not be marketed to multiple companies limiting the chance of your competitors stealing your potential hire.
6. Lower risk of bad hires, greater chances of staff retention – Our focus is on finding the best talent for your role and will pull candidates out of the running if we spot any red flags or have any concerns after referencing. We will also introduce further steps for vetting candidates including psychometric testing, values and behavioural matching and 360-degree referencing.
7. Stronger relationships – We see this as a partnership so we will take the time to understand your business, work with you to build a job description/advert for the position and advise you on your interview process. This means you can have greater trust in us and more importantly candidates trust the process.
8. Support during onboarding – our job doesn’t stop on the candidate’s first day. We will maintain a relationship with candidates and hiring managers long after the job is done.
9. Work to your timeline – We work together to set a timeline so that the candidate starts with your business at the optimal time.
10. 1 year rebate period – Put simply we back ourselves and if on the off chance, something goes wrong we will find a replacement or return some of the costs.

If you have a role that you think would be better suited for retained search then get in contact with our team and arrange a meeting – jack@thecondorcollective.com