Construction Executive Online |
Construction Career Managements
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| Can you explain the difference between a retained search construction employer and contingent search construction employer? A search firm is often referred to as a construction recruitment firm, construction recruiter or construction headhunter. There are only two types of search firms, which define the construction recruitment construction industry: retained and contingency. The terms "retainer" and "contingency" are used to define how an construction executive recruiting construction employer is paid for its services. Contingency construction employers are paid only if they present a construction executive that is ultimately hired by an construction employer. They are strictly performance based but are limited in how deep they can go sourcing the marketplace given their lack of financial commitment from the employer. Retainer firms get paid an upfront retainer fee to engage a search process, which is a definable and exacting process. Retainer search firms are paid regardless of whether or not they find a suitable construction executive for the construction employer’s hiring needs, however rarely does this ever happen since they are highly likely to produce the largest and most relevant results possible given their in-depth research efforts. Retainer firms are usually used when there is a construction executive or key management hire requiring maximum confidentiality and a full-service, partner relationship with the construction employer. The construction industry standard fee for a contingency or retainer construction employers is a third of the hired construction executive’s estimated gross cash compensation for the first year of employment. This has been the standard for decades. However there are new services out there that are offering combinations of retained and contingency services, flat-fees, and reduced fees such as those that are more electronic based or those that do not perform an entire search. |