I've never been completely convinced by percentage-of-salary executive search fees.

A client pays somebody £150,000, so the search costs one amount. They agree £170,000 with exactly the same candidate and suddenly the search has become more valuable.

What changed?

Not the research. Not the assessment. Not the number of conversations. Not the time spent with the client.

Just the salary.

I understand where the model came from

More senior roles generally carry more risk, require more experienced consultants and can involve smaller talent pools. A £300,000 CEO search should not necessarily cost the same as a relatively straightforward functional appointment.

But that doesn't mean percentage pricing is the best way to reflect complexity.

I'd rather price the actual assignment.

Some lower-paid searches are much harder

Anybody who has done executive search for long enough knows this.

A highly attractive senior role at a recognised company can generate excellent conversations quickly. A lower-paid role with a difficult location, unusual experience requirement or weak employer proposition can consume far more research time.

Salary is a poor proxy for difficulty.

Fixed fees create clarity

Agree the requirement, scope and outcome. Then agree the fee.

The client knows the total cost. The search firm knows what it has committed to deliver. And negotiations between client and candidate don't alter the recruiter's economics.

For us, that is cleaner.

Our core executive search proposition is built around a defined outcome: five fully assessed candidates within six weeks for a fixed fee.

The price should reflect the work and the commitment we're making, not move around because a candidate negotiates another £10,000.

The bigger question is what clients are buying

The search industry can get overly focused on fee percentages.

Clients aren't buying CVs. They are buying access to a market, judgement about people, independent evidence and confidence that a critical appointment has been properly tested.

That's what should be priced.

And increasingly, I think clients should also have the option to buy that market intelligence before committing to a search at all.

A pricing model should support better decisions, not dictate which service gets sold.