At YES Partners, we frequently receive questions about the difference between retained executive search firms, of which we are one, and contingency firms, the other main type of recruiter in our industry. The simplest answer is that as a retained executive search firm, we don't just inundate you with resumes of folks looking for a job, but work as your "private detective" to find and present you those rare candidates for your specific needs.
Contingency firms often represent individual job applicants, rather than the interests of an employer, and are more concerned with bringing in the greatest number of candidates possible. They are paid only when the candidates they provide are actually hired, and they are often in competition with other agencies to bring candidates to the same company. This leads to limits on the amount of time they can spend researching the company's policies, goals and vision because they have to devote most of their time to actively moving candidates forward in the process. This affects the quality of the candidates.
Retained firms, on the other hand, are more able to conduct extended research and familiarize themselves with the particular requirements of your business. All candidates are personally interviewed by the retained firm and presented as an option to the client company only once they have been thoroughly vetted. Apart from presenting only matching candidates, this means a company can often leapfrog to the second interview stage, having to decide only who of the presented candidates is the 'best fit'.
Usually, retained search firms are paid in installments as soon as they are selected to begin a search, but a unique feature of the YES Partners procedure is that clients aren't required to pay any fees upfront until a short list with qualified candidates, their full resumes and assessments has been provided. On average, it takes about four to eight weeks to complete this process, and typically five to seven highly qualified candidates are presented to the client company.
Finding people is easy, but finding the RIGHT people is not. YES Partners helps companies FIND the right people – for all company functions, across many industries and globally.
