The terms get used interchangeably, but executive search and contingency recruitment are fundamentally different engagements. The distinction matters — choosing the wrong approach for a senior hire often means either paying too much for too little, or expecting something the model isn't designed to deliver.

Contingency recruitment is the traditional agency model: the recruiter is only paid if they successfully place a candidate. There's no upfront fee, no retainer, and no exclusivity unless you specifically negotiate it. Multiple agencies can work the same role simultaneously.

Because the recruiter only earns on a successful placement, they focus on the candidates they can match and place quickly. This makes the model well-suited for roles where there's a reasonably available talent pool — mid-market professional roles, functional specialists, managers. For these hires, contingency is often the right choice: it's fast, competitive, and efficient.

The limitation is that contingency recruiters are less incentivised to invest significant time in hard-to-find candidates, approach people who aren't actively looking, or manage a drawn-out search process for a highly specific brief. The economics don't support it.

Executive search — sometimes called "headhunting" — is a retained engagement. The client pays a fee (typically structured as an upfront retainer, a milestone payment at shortlist, and a final payment on placement) in exchange for an exclusive, committed search.

The recruiter or search firm works exclusively for you, dedicates significant research time to mapping the market, and approaches senior candidates directly and confidentially — including those who are not actively looking for a new role. This is the defining characteristic of executive search: it reaches the passive market, not just those who have responded to a job advert.

The process is also more rigorous. Executive search engagements typically include a formal market mapping report, candidate longlists and shortlists with detailed assessments, structured interviews, and reference checking. The search firm is accountable to a process and a timeline, not just a successful placement.

The passive market matters at senior level. The best candidates for a Director or C-suite role are rarely actively looking. They're already employed, not browsing job boards, and would only move for the right opportunity presented by someone they trust. Executive search exists to reach these people.

Contingency works well when the talent pool is reasonably broad, the role is well-defined, and speed is a priority. For roles up to Head of or senior manager level in most functions, a good contingency recruiter with deep sector knowledge will produce a strong shortlist quickly and at lower overall cost.

It also works when you're hiring multiple people into similar roles — the agency is incentivised to fill volume. And for permanent roles where your internal team can handle assessment and process management, contingency gives you the sourcing reach without the overhead of a retained engagement.

Executive search makes sense when the candidate profile is narrow, the role is at Director level or above, or when the hire is genuinely business-critical — a CEO, a CFO, a new divisional leader. The investment in a rigorous, market-wide search is justified by the cost of a wrong hire at that level.

It's also the right approach when confidentiality matters — when you're replacing someone who doesn't yet know they're being replaced, or when public advertising would send an unhelpful signal to competitors or clients. Executive search can be conducted entirely without any public-facing job posting.

Finally, if previous contingency attempts have failed to find the right candidates, that's often a signal that the brief requires a deeper search than the contingency model is set up to deliver.

We run both executive search and contingency engagements depending on the role. If you're not sure which approach is right for a hire you're planning, book a free call — we'll give you an honest view based on the brief.