Retained versus contingent: what the fee structure actually buys
The difference is not price. It is who owns the outcome.
Clients often treat retained and contingent search as two price points for the same service. They are different products. Contingent search is a transaction: a firm is paid only on placement, so it optimizes for speed and volume. Retained search is an engagement: paid in stages, the firm owns the outcome and optimizes for quality and completion.
What the retainer buys
- Exclusive attention: your search is the firm's obligation, not one of fifteen lottery tickets
- Market mapping: the whole pool identified, not just the available candidates
- Access: senior candidates take retained calls; they ignore contingent spam
- Assessment depth and completion accountability - the firm stays until the person starts
When contingent is right
Mid-level roles with active, abundant candidate pools; multiple similar hires where volume matters; markets you can reach yourself. The error is using contingent firms for senior, scarce, or confidential work - the incentives guarantee a shallow process.
The mixed-market trap
Engaging one firm retained while quietly running contingent firms on the same role poisons both: the retained firm's map leaks into a race, candidates get approached twice, and the market concludes the role is distressed. Choose the model per role, cleanly, and honor it.