Executive Recruiter

Executive recruiters (headhunters or retained search consultants) specialize in identifying, approaching, and securing senior leadership candidates — typically VP level and above — for organizations that either lack internal recruiting capability for leadership roles or require the confidentiality and market access that external specialists provide. Retained search firms charge a fee (typically 25 to 35 percent of first-year compensation) paid in installments throughout the search regardless of outcome, while contingency search firms charge only on successful placement. The primary value of executive recruiters is access: their maintained networks of senior executives who are not actively looking and their ability to approach candidates confidentially on behalf of clients who cannot make their leadership vacancy public without signaling strategic instability.