Engaged Search.
A hybrid model. Deposit funds the advertising techniques that surface passive talent. Balance is owed only on placement.
“Two traditional firms told us a Chief Medical Officer search would take 120 days and 33% retained upfront. Engaged Headhunters mapped our vertical in five days, delivered a calibrated 4-finalist shortlist by week six, and closed our CMO in 60 days.”
Engaged Search Firm vs. Retained Search: Understanding the ROI
When choosing between an engaged search firm vs retained model, the main difference lies in risk sharing and capital deployment. Traditional retained search firms demand a full 33% of the target salary split into rigid, non-refundable retainers paid upfront, regardless of placement outcome.
Our hybrid engaged search model aligns incentives by requiring only a small deposit to launch the passive sourcing engine, with the rest contingent upon placement. For a typical VP or Director-level seat ($250k+ salary), an open position bleeds over $1,400+ per day in vacancy velocity loss. Use the vacancy loss calculator below to measure the cost of your open seat and see how engaged search protects your cash flow.
Executive Vacancy Loss & Search Fee Calculator
Calculate the true cost of an open executive or specialized clinical seat, and see how much you save with Engaged Search.
Transparent Fee & Milestone Math
What is engaged search?
Engaged search is a hybrid recruiting model. You pay an engagement fee upfront to start the search. The fee goes back into the search itself, into the advertising techniques that reach passive candidates already in seat at peer companies.
The balance is contingent: owed only on placement. If you fill the role through another channel during the engagement, the deposit covers the work and the rest stays in your pocket.
Pick engaged search when you need speed, dedicated focus, or passive-talent reach. The model scales… one role or many. The fee is quoted to the scope.
The mechanics, in five steps.
From kickoff to closed offer. The recruiter who pitches the search is the one who runs it end-to-end. The file stays with the senior headhunter the whole way.
Scoping & engagement
We define the role, the bar, the geography, and the urgency. Engagement fee is quoted to the scope. Replacement-guarantee window is selected, longer windows adjust the fee. Deposit kicks off the search.
Market mapping
We map the live universe of qualified candidates inside the niche before we make a single call. The deposit funds passive-talent advertising in parallel.
Outbound + inbound
Direct outreach to the mapped candidates. ProHireHQ-driven advertising surfaces passive talent already in seat somewhere else. Two channels, one funnel.
Calibrated shortlist
A small, deliberate shortlist with full diligence, references, comp validation, and cultural read. Calibrated against your bar after round one.
Close & guarantee
Offer support, counter-offer management, start-date logistics. Replacement guarantee runs for the agreed window. If they leave, we restart at the cost the guarantee was scoped to.
Compare
Same firm, two engagement models. Pick by candidate-pool passivity and how much dedicated headhunter time the search warrants.
Engaged Search by industry.
Industry pages are SEO/AEO entry points. The actual product is the headhunter, and headhunters work in niches we may not yet list.
Healthcare leadership
Clinical · health-tech · behavioral health
CMOs, Medical Directors, Clinical Ops, Healthcare CEOs
Technology
CTOs · VP Engineering · AI · Product
CTOs, VP Engineering, Heads of AI, CISO, VP Product
Finance
CFOs · Controllers · Asset management
CFOs, Controllers, VP Finance, Tax Directors
Manufacturing
Plant ops · supply chain · industrial
Plant Managers, VP Operations, Supply Chain Directors
Construction
Project leadership · field ops · estimation
VP Construction, Project Executives, Estimators, Superintendents
Aviation
Operations · maintenance · safety
Directors of Maintenance, Chief Pilots, Safety Officers
Engaged Search, specifically.
The questions hiring managers ask in the first call. Answered the way we answer them in the call.
What is engaged search?
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Engaged search is a hybrid recruiting model. You pay an engagement fee up front to fund advertising and passive-candidate sourcing. The balance is owed only when we place a candidate. The deposit funds the work; the balance is performance-based.
How is engaged search different from contingent search?
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Contingent search runs without a deposit; the firm starts active when a likely fit surfaces. Engaged search includes a deposit so the firm runs passive-candidate advertising and dedicated sourcing from day one.
What kinds of roles is engaged search appropriate for?
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Engaged search is available across ALL levels of hiring, from C-Suite and VP leadership to critical clinical roles (such as specialized RNs, Physical Therapists, and Nurse Practitioners) and technical specialists (such as Forward Deployed Engineers). Whenever a search requires dedicated focus, custom candidate mapping, and guaranteed delivery, engaged search delivers shared skin-in-the-game.
Is there a replacement guarantee?
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Yes. Replacement guarantees are scoped per engagement. Terms are agreed in writing at the start of the search.
What does the engagement fee actually pay for?
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Engaged search runs 25 to 35 percent of first-year compensation. The deposit is reinvested into the search itself: the bulk funds the advertising techniques required to surface passive candidates, plus the dedicated time of the headhunter running it. The balance is owed on successful placement. You see exactly where the deposit goes in the kickoff doc.
Can engaged search cover multiple roles in one engagement?
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Yes. The engagement fee is quoted to the scope of the engagement, single role or many. For multi-role engagements, the advertising spend and recruiter time are sized accordingly.
What if we fill the role ourselves during the engagement?
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The deposit is kept; the balance stays in your pocket. The deposit was already deployed into the advertising and search work, regardless of outcome.
How long is the replacement guarantee?
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The guarantee window is scoped per engagement. Longer windows adjust the fee. We walk through the trade-off at scoping; some clients want a tighter, lower-fee guarantee, others want a longer one. Both are honored to the letter.
Who actually runs my search?
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The senior headhunter you meet on the kickoff call runs the search end-to-end. The recruiter on the network is a niche headhunter with a decade in the vertical, supported by ProHireHQ for sourcing scale and the firm for the back-office.
Tell us the role, the niche, the urgency.
We come back inside one business day with a scoping call, a fee quote, and a candidate market read.