Retained search is paid upfront for exclusive, thorough work; contingency is no-placement, no-fee but incentivises speed over quality.
Definition
Retained search means the client pays an upfront fee (typically one-third of the annual salary) before work begins, with further instalments at shortlist and placement. Contingency means the recruiter only gets paid if they place someone. These aren't just payment models; they're entirely different relationships, incentive structures, and quality of work.
What this means when you're hiring
For senior MES and digital manufacturing roles, retained is the only model that makes sense. I've placed Plant Directors and MES Programme Managers on retention; you simply can't do that work on contingency because you can't justify the market mapping, passive candidate outreach, and three-round assessment process without the economics backing it. Contingency works for high-volume, lower-seniority hiring where speed matters more than precision. If a recruiter offers to find you a £150K MES Director on contingency, ask yourself why they'd invest real time with no guarantee of income.
Where candidates get this wrong
The biggest misconception is that retained search is just contingency with money upfront. It isn't. Retained gives you exclusivity, accountability, and a recruiter who will actually map the whole market rather than just reactivate whoever they placed two years ago. The second misconception is that contingency is free. It's not free; it's deferred and often more expensive because you end up with whoever responded to a job advert rather than the best person in the market.
How expectations change by level
At Director level and above, retained is the standard. At Manager level, it depends on specialism; a scarce PAS-X Programme Manager warrants retained treatment even at £90K. Below that, a well-run contingency process can be efficient. The mistake companies make is using contingency for roles that need retained depth, then wondering why they're seeing the same CVs from three agencies.
Related Roles
Ready to hire in MES or Industry 4.0?
We specialise exclusively in manufacturing software and digital transformation leadership. 250+ critical hires delivered.