A recruiter explains why client commitment matters: without mutual investment, hiring falls apart. His firm keeps 65-70% of clients and has expanded retained searches down to €40K roles, adjusting fees so everyone gets fair value.
Chapters
I think a good client has to be mutually invested in the relationship, and I talk about this as like shared equity in the process. So if they aren't showing the signs of commitment they need to, to recruit the right person, typically those things fall down at the end of the process. So, you know, if I look at our work at the moment, we're probably somewhere in the region of 65-70% retained at the moment as a business. I know what people will say because typically our work is £60K plus, and people will say that that's an easy market to retain. We've also started doing €50K 40K roles retained as well, because if someone wants to recruit someone— and I just think of this from my own perspective, I retain a business in Manchester that does all of our recruitment for us, and no problem, if I'm gonna hire someone, then it's the same fee, it's just structured in a slightly different way that gives everyone equitable value in the process.