Use contingency when the role has a real candidate pool and you can run more than one path at once — most project manager, estimator, and service manager hires. Use retained when the search is confidential, executive, or the pool is small enough to require named-target mapping. Gulfstream runs most PM searches on contingency and reserves retained fees for those situations.
By Eric Dickerson, Founder, Gulfstream Strategic Placements. Last updated: September 6, 2026.
Contingency, in plain terms. The recruiter gets paid only if you hire their candidate. No money changes hands until a start date. The trade-off is priority: a contingency recruiter is working several searches and will spend the most time where a placement looks likeliest. If your role is easy to fill and your process is fast, that is fine.
Retained, in plain terms. You pay part of the fee up front to buy dedicated, exclusive work and a reporting rhythm. The recruiter builds a written target list, maps the market, and reports on who was contacted and what they said, whether or not anyone accepts. You are buying the search, not just the result.
A third option: exclusive contingency. You still pay on hire, but the recruiter gets the role exclusively for a set window — often 30 to 45 days. It buys you focus without the up-front cost. It works when both sides trust each other and the timeline is honest.
The first is giving one hard, confidential search to four contingency firms at once. Every firm calls the same short list, candidates hear from four recruiters about one job, and the search burns the market in a week. Hard searches need one firm working carefully.
The second is paying a retainer for a role that gets 40 real applicants. That is spending money on a problem you do not have.
Ask for the target list. Ask how many people were contacted, how many replied, and what they said about your pay and your projects. That feedback is worth as much as the shortlist, because it tells you whether the market is saying no to the role or to the price.
Guarantees. Both models should carry a replacement guarantee. Gulfstream places a 90-day guarantee on placements. Get the terms in writing either way.
We do not publish fill-rate or success-rate percentages by model. We have not built a public dataset we would stand behind, and unverified success rates are the easiest number in this industry to make up.
No. Confidential replacements and very small candidate pools also justify it at any level.
You can, but on hard or confidential searches it usually damages the search.
Pay-on-hire pricing with a limited exclusivity window, often 30 to 45 days.
Contingency for most PM-level searches; retained for confidential, executive, or thin-market roles.
Talk to a recruiter about your search