This employee will have to be replaced and the overall downtime for having the position unproductive can be staggering. Employers often engage executive recruiters to ensure that such trauma and expense are kept to a minimum. Both retained and contingency fee recruiters perform the same essential service. However, their working relationship with their clients is different, and so is the way these recruiters charge for their service. Retained and contingency fee recruiters each bring certain advantages and disadvantages to particular kinds of executive searches.
Employers pay for their services up front and throughout the recruitment process.
Retained recruiters are typically paid for the search process regardless of the outcome of the search, however most retained recruiters allow employers to cancel the search at any time for prorated rates. Retained recruiters provide a thorough and complete recruitment effort, often involving multiple researchers and recruiters on a single assignment. They usually create detailed reports on the employer, the position, their research and recruitment efforts, candidate resumes, interviews, reference checks and other tangible services that add value to the search process. They tend to work in partnership with the employer, offering expert counsel throughout the search, and requiring exclusivity and control over the hiring process. The retained recruiter may participate in all client interviews with candidates, all related discussions within the client employer, all negotiations, offers, and settlements.