Retained vs Exclusive vs Confidential Searches in Treasury Recruitment

I can't tell you the client is, but I've been retained. I promise, but it's confidential. Shh, it's confidential. Is it really? Let me explain the difference between retained and confidential searches. I keep seeing this on LinkedIn from various recruiters. We're delighted to be retained on another confidential search. I sit there looking at my screen thinking. Do you know actually what retained means? Do you know what confidential means? Or is it just LinkedIn BS? What I'm going to do is try to explain to you what they mean, because I get asked this by clients, by candidates. How does it work? So let me explain. Retained means that a client has formally engaged you to run a search. That normally means you agree The estimated fee for the assignment. You'll see up here, you pay a third at the beginning, one-third upon instruction, that is. You then pay one-third of the estimated fee upon an agreed shortlist, an acceptable shortlist to the client, so they like it. And a third, the final third, up or down, upon completion, upon the person accepting the role or starting the position. The first third is paying for my time, if you like, and the process of interviewing all these candidates, the search work that is involved, and for our advice. That's why we do it. That's retained. That's what retained means. Give you a couple of retained examples. We were retained to recruit the treasurer previously for Menzies Aviation. Retained campaign, instructed, went out and found the person. She's fabulous. We've done the same for a life insurance company in the US. We go out, we present Find the best people, present a really good shortlist, retained, properly engaged to run the search. That's what it is. Exclusive, on the other hand, is different. That means you're the only recruiter working on a role. I've got a couple of exclusive roles I'm working on. There's not a financial commitment from the client. It means that we as recruiters get the first chance to go and fill that role. Now, confidential is something totally different. That means there's a reason that the information has to be protected. Maybe there's someone in the role and they're looking to change or something's happening. Maybe someone is leaving, but it hasn't been announced yet. Maybe there's internal structuring. Let's give you an example. I did a confidential search for Shanks Waste Management a number of years ago. It was a confidential retained search. Their treasurer was retiring, so that was a planned transition. But they were concerned. They wanted to hand this over to Adam, who took the role. They wanted to pass him on the responsibility, but also introduce him to the banks at the right time. So look, Bob is retiring. Oh, hang on. No, but here's Adam. He's their replacement. So that search needed to be handled confidentially with sensitivity. And that's what retain can be. But confidential searches. Are about privacy, discretion. They're not there for recruiters just to shout about, oh, aren't we great? It's not that. Confidentiality is to protect you as a client, protect you as a candidate. It's not just for recruiters to say, aren't we clever? It's about our clients. It's about you guys. And in order to do a confidential search the way that we do them, Is we will do an NDA, non-disclosure agreement, because it protects the client, so protects the individuals involved, and it protects the process. So you can do it in a measured way, in the way that you want to. Well, what I think it was is a recruiter disingenuously not being genuine, and it winds me up because I don't think what you're doing is acting in your client's best interest. If it's a confidential search. You're going to keep it quiet. The last thing you're going to do, as we have with some of our competitors, you're not going to put on LinkedIn. You're not going to shout about it. That's the wrong way. I'm sorry if I'm giving lessons to that recruiter, but you should listen to yourself. In simple terms, if a post is designed to just get you to send through a CV or resume, it probably just is. If your recruiter can't tell you The role, where it is, what it is. If someone is willing to retain, as you said earlier, means one thing; exclusive, another; confidential, something entirely different. And a good recruiter knows the difference. So don't be impressed by the bluster that's out there. Be impressed by the quality of the conversation, the network that person has, and that's what you should be focusing on for you as treasury professionals. If you want more advice, I'll be in Barcelona next week. Happy to have a coffee or something stronger and chat Treasury careers. Reach out to me. Many thanks.