A retained search firm is engaged exclusively and paid in stages to map the whole market and approach the people who are not looking; a recruitment agency is paid only if someone it submits is hired, so it puts forward the people it already knows and who are available now.
What is the difference between retained search and a recruitment agency?
How each is paid, and who each one reaches.
Last updated 1 November 2026. By Scott Lechley, founder of Lechley Associates. Quantity Surveyor from 1990 to 2002, construction executive search since 2002.
The numbers
| Retained search | Recruitment agency | |
|---|---|---|
| Fee | 25 to 35 per cent of the first-year total package across the UK market; mine is 22.5% | 15 to 25 per cent of starting salary |
| When it is paid | In three stages: to begin, on the shortlist, on appointment | Only if the person submitted is hired |
| Who it reaches | Everyone who holds the equivalent role, approached personally | The people on its database who are available now |
| What you receive | A shortlist of four to six, each interviewed and written up | CVs |
| Typical time | Six to eight weeks from brief to accepted offer | Fast, for an active market |
In more detail
The difference is in the incentive. An agency paid only on a placement has every reason to send the people who are available now and likely to accept, and no reason to spend three weeks pursuing a divisional director who is in post, performing well and being looked after. It will also be working your role alongside twenty others. The four CVs that arrive on Friday are the four people the agency already knew, and the same four have gone to your competitor.
A retained firm's staged fee is what funds the mapping, the direct approaches and the written assessment of each person before they reach you, and it puts one name on the outcome. The honest comparison is not one percentage against another. It is a mapped, assessed shortlist of people who were not looking, against a screen of people who were.
Read more
- Construction headhunters: what a headhunter does, and when one is worth the fee.
- Executive search fees: the two fee models side by side.
- How to choose an executive search firm: what a real search includes, and the warning signs.
Common questions
When is a recruitment agency the right choice?
Where the market is large, the people are active and the cost of a miss is modest. For a Quantity Surveyor or a Site Manager a good agency will often fill the seat quickly, and the fee is fair.
When does a seat need retained search?
When the wrong appointment would show in the accounts within a year: a Managing Director, an Operations Director, a Commercial Director, a Project Director on a major scheme, a Pre-Construction Director or a board seat. Also when the search has to be confidential, or an advert has already run and produced nothing usable.
Is an in-house team an option?
For internal moves and mid-level roles it is often the best one. For a confidential search, a seat the business has not filled before, or a market the team does not know, it lacks the map and the reach.
Start a conversation
If you are not sure which model the seat needs, ask me. I will tell you plainly, including when the answer is an agency or your own team. No hard sell, no obligation.
