Job Placement · Executive · Search Alternative
Retained search charges 25 to 35 percent of first-year compensation upfront, often owed whether or not a hire is made. Contingency search charges a similar percentage, but only on success. BEG places CEOs, COOs, CHROs and CTOs on a flat milestone fee agreed before sourcing starts, paid in stages rather than upfront or as a lump sum. CFO search economics are covered on the finance page.
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Self-Select The Right Model
| Model | Who employs the executive | How you pay | Right when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retained executive search firm | You (the company) | 25 to 35 percent of first-year total compensation, often billed in thirds regardless of outcome | A confidential, board-sponsored search for one enterprise-critical seat, with one firm engaged exclusively |
| Contingency executive search firm | You | Percentage of first-year compensation, commonly 20 to 25 percent, due only if a candidate is hired | You want to run multiple search efforts and pay only on a successful placement |
| BEG direct-hire placement | You | Flat milestone fee by tier, $12,864 to $40,128, agreed before sourcing, paid in stages | You want senior-level sourcing with no upfront retainer and the fee fixed before the first approach |
| DIY or board-led search | You | Board and internal executive time, no placement fee | The board has the bandwidth and a network deep enough to reach passive candidates directly |
BEG does not charge a percentage of executive compensation and does not require an exclusive, non-contingent retainer. Where a truly enterprise-critical, multi-month confidential process is what the board actually wants, a retained firm or executive recruitment agency may be the better fit, and we will say so rather than compete for a mandate that does not suit the milestone model.
The C-Suite Seats We Search
BLS names CEOs, COOs, CFOs and chief human resources officers as the standard examples of chief executives who either run the whole organization or manage one specific part of it, per BLS occupational data on top executives. A CEO search is a board mandate: strategy, capital allocation and the executive team, sold to sitting candidates almost entirely on confidentiality. A COO search is defined by whichever half of the operating model the CEO keeps versus hands over, which has to be settled before the search opens, not during it. A CHRO search increasingly includes AI and workforce-technology fluency as a stated requirement, not an afterthought. A CTO search splits between technical architecture ownership and product delivery ownership, and pricing the wrong half of that split is the most common reason a CTO search restarts.
Why Confidentiality Is Not Optional At This Level
A strong CEO or CFO candidate is already employed, performing well, and unwilling to have a named-company conversation surface at their current job. That is true whether the search is retained, contingency, or milestone-billed. BEG runs the same confidential, direct outreach a retained firm runs, disclosing your company only when it serves the candidate conversation, without requiring the non-contingent retainer that funds it at a traditional firm.
Milestone Billing Against Retained And Contingency
At the $213,990 chief executive median, a 20 percent contingency fee is $42,798 and a 25 to 35 percent retained fee is $53,498 to $74,897. BEG's Tier VI fee of $33,440 to $40,128 is cheaper than either at that benchmark. At the 75th percentile of $356,200, closer to where a sitting CEO or COO candidate actually sits, a 25 percent retained fee is $89,050 and BEG is 38 to 45 percent of that figure. At the lower end of the executive range, senior manager and director seats, Tier III and Tier IV, BEG runs 45 to 81 percent of a 20 percent contingency fee depending on the specific benchmark, cheaper across the board rather than only at the top.
FAQ
A retained search firm is paid in stages, commonly a third at engagement, a third at slate presentation and a third at hire, on a fee of 25 to 35 percent of first-year total compensation, often owed even if the search does not produce a hire. A contingency search firm is paid a similar percentage, but only if a candidate is placed. Both differ from BEG, which charges a flat milestone fee rather than a percentage of compensation either way.
Neither. BEG runs executive searches on a milestone fee structure, a fixed amount by tier agreed before sourcing starts and paid in stages as the search progresses, not a percentage of the executive's compensation and not a retainer owed regardless of outcome.
Yes, and the CFO-specific economics, including how BEG compares to a CFO headhunter's contingency fee at realistic CFO pay, are covered in depth on the finance staffing agency alternative page rather than repeated here. This page covers the general C-suite conversation: CEO, COO, CHRO and CTO.
Yes. CTO and CIO searches run on the same Tier VI milestone structure as other C-suite seats, $33,440 to $40,128, scoped around whichever half of the role, technical architecture or product delivery, actually dominates day to day, which is the detail most CTO searches get wrong before they get pay wrong.
VP and director-level supply chain searches are covered in depth on the supply chain staffing agency alternative page, including certification and network-design detail specific to that function. This page stays focused on the enterprise C-suite rather than duplicating that content.
Fully. Sitting executives will not engage with a named-company posting or an unbranded mass email, so outreach is confidential from the first approach, and your identity as the hiring company is disclosed to a candidate only when it serves the search.
If a placed executive does not work out within 45 days of the start date for a performance-related reason, BEG runs a replacement search at no additional charge. At this level, 45 days is a backstop against an obviously wrong hire, not a substitute for a clearly scoped first-quarter mandate, which is the stronger protection.
The terms overlap but are not identical. Executive recruitment agency and executive employment agency are commonly used for both retained and contingency search firms, the model this page compares against BEG. They are different from a staffing agency, which employs a worker directly and bills hourly, a model this page does not cover because executive placement almost never works that way. BEG runs on neither a retained fee nor a staffing markup model. It is a flat milestone fee agreed before sourcing starts.
CEO, COO, CFO, and CHRO are the four chief-executive seats BLS names as examples of top executives who manage a specific part of an organization, and BEG searches all of them, along with CTO, general manager and VP-level operating roles, on the same tiered milestone structure.
An average of 23 to 35 days from discovery call to signed offer, based on isolved placement data, with an 86 percent fill rate on active searches. A confidential, board-sponsored process can extend that timeline where the constraint is the board's calendar rather than candidate availability, and we will tell you upfront which one is driving your timeline.
By treating the offer as a package from the first conversation with a finalist, not a base salary with equity added later. Sitting executives are usually comparing an offer against unvested equity and a bonus plan already in motion where they are, and an offer written as base only, with a package to follow, is the single most common reason a strong finalist stalls at the term sheet.
Internal promotion is often the right call for a COO or a functional VP who already has the operating knowledge and the team's trust. External search earns its cost where the mandate genuinely requires outside perspective, such as a turnaround, a first institutional raise, or a capability the company has never had in-house. We will tell you plainly which situation yours is before quoting a tier.
CFO-specific search economics live on the finance staffing agency alternative page, supply chain executive search on the supply chain staffing agency alternative page. Role-specific detail lives on CEO placement and COO placement, or start from the executive placement hub.
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