From CA Healthline
US – When companies seek to hire management and professional talent from outside their organization, they have options. They can decide to manage the process themselves, using advertising, the internet, an in-house recruiter OR they can engage contingency recruiters OR dedicated search consultants.
Contingency Search or Dedicated Search
On the surface, it appears to be simply an issue of how the Fee gets paid. A contingency search agreement earns a fee only when the client organization hires someone, the fee is paid when that hire starts working. A Dedicated search fee, on the other hand, is paid upfront. That difference dictates two completely different methods of searching for the person you need — and usually ends in two quite different result scenarios.
The CONTINGENCY SEARCH is paid only when someone gets hired. This fee will be higher and the guarantee shorter. This is a vendor relationship in which our firm is working on commission (as does the contingency recruiter). This means that there is no one dedicated to, and directly responsible for your need (it is in a large pool of needs available to all the commissioned contingency recruiters). The resources cut out for contingency searches are limited due to the high volume of positions contingency firms have at any given time. . The average contingency firm has 200 open requisitions at any given time and fills less than 5% of them each month.
The DEDICATED SEARCH is paid for upfront with a smaller fee and a significantly longer guarantee period. This partnership includes a dedicated search consultant. This dedicated search consultant intimately understands your industry and is working full time for you,100% focused on your need. We undertake a much more exhaustive recruiting process with the dedicated search. We are a technology-based firm and a large portion of that retainer is immediately invested into digital marketing for your need. Tools utilized include Facebook/Instagram Advertisements, Google ad words and display ads, Sponsored job advertising, Email Blasting, Text blasting, exhaustive databases mining, and more. We cultivate contact in sectors in which we work frequently so we know who might be restless. We pre-select the best candidates carefully conducting multiple telephone and face to face interviews. You only see the finalists.
The Dedicated Search Consultant vs. The Contingency Recruiter
The Dedicated search consultant is measured and managed on one thing, filling your need, there are no other priorities. Because the fee has been paid upfront, there is no incentive to spend the clients time on candidates that are not 100% qualified, interested, and available to start working. The dedicated search consultant is 100% transparent with the client, ensuring the client makes the best possible hire, and only needs to fill the position once.
The contingency recruiter is compensated on commission and measured by the volume of revenue he generates each month. Contingency searches are more of a surface level search. Contingency recruiters will typically work with a large number of job openings, and focus on the openings with the largest pool of candidates or the largest fees. The contingency recruiter will simply move on to another vacancy or client where they believe they can get a straightforward win. With contingency it is not uncommon to get great communication early, and a couple of candidates quickly. However, if the initial candidates do not pan out, it is not uncommon for the recruiter to go unresponsive, as they have moved on to positions that are easier to fill.