Retained Executive Search
Retained executive search for digital, marketing and creative leadership
A retained executive search is a committed engagement, funded in stages, in which the whole relevant market is mapped and worked systematically rather than opportunistically. It is the right structure when the role is leadership level, when the replacement is confidential, or when the profile is hard enough to define that the first available candidates will not answer the question. What you are buying is focus and a documented process, not speed for its own sake.
When is a retained search the right structure?
Four situations, mostly. A leadership hire where the cost of getting it wrong is a year. A confidential replacement, where the person currently in the seat does not know yet and cannot find out. A role where the profile is genuinely contested internally and needs to be settled against the market rather than in a meeting room. And a search that has already been run once without success, where what is needed is a systematic sweep rather than another round of the same candidates.
What does the process actually look like?
- 01The brief. Two outcomes this person owns in their first year, who they need to be better than to deliver them, and what happens to the rest of the work if they do not do it.
- 02The map. Who exists in this market, at which companies, at what level, and which of them are realistically movable.
- 03Outreach. Direct approaches to people who are not looking, which is where most of the real candidates for a senior role live.
- 04Assessment. Structured conversations against the brief, not against a gut feeling, with the reasoning written down so it can be argued with.
- 05The shortlist. A small number of people you can read in one sitting, each with a stated reason they are on the page and a stated reservation if there is one.
- 06Close and follow-through. Offer, references, resignation, and the weeks between signing and starting, which is where more hires are lost than anyone admits.
How is retained search different from contingent?
| Retained | Contingent | |
|---|---|---|
| What you pay for | A committed engagement, funded in stages | A fee on placement only |
| How the market is covered | Systematically, including people who are not looking | Opportunistically, weighted to who is available now |
| Confidentiality | Suited to it, because the search is controlled | Harder, because more parties are involved |
| What you get if nobody is hired | The map, the market intelligence and the reasoning | Nothing, and no cost |
| Best fit | Leadership, confidential and hard-to-define roles | Well-defined roles where optionality matters more than depth |
Neither is virtuous. They buy different things, and the wrong one is usually chosen because of how it is billed rather than what the role needs.
What do you get at the end?
A hire, if the search works. You also get everything the search produced along the way, and that part has value whether or not the first search closes: a map of who exists in your market and what they are paid, a clear read on how your company and your role are perceived by people you would want to hire, and a written brief that is sharper than the one you started with.
What happens when a retained search runs into trouble?
You hear about it early. If the compensation band will not clear the market, if the brief describes a person who does not exist, or if the story about the company is not landing in outreach, that is visible within the first stretch of market work and it gets raised then rather than at the end. A search that is quietly failing while everyone stays polite is the most expensive version of this work.
Start a search
Start a retained search
Bring the role, not the job description. The first conversation is about what this person is accountable for.
kelly.yosten@kyosearchpartners.comCommon Questions
What kinds of roles do you run retained?
- Senior and leadership roles across digital, marketing and creative. CMO and VP-level search, heads of brand, demand generation and growth leadership, and creative and art direction leadership.
Can a retained search be confidential from our own team?
- Yes. That is one of the main reasons to run one this way. The search is controlled, and who knows what internally is agreed at the start.
What if we hire someone ourselves during the search?
- That gets agreed in the engagement terms up front rather than argued about later. Say at the outset which internal candidates and sources are in play.
Do you replace a hire that does not work out?
- Guarantee terms are part of the engagement agreement and are agreed in writing before the search starts. Ask about them in the first conversation.