Cartodraft Group, a holding firm that owns four recruitment businesses, has launched a new executive search business known as Abatec Exec.

According to Graham Jackson, who manages the new division, Abatec Exec will operate a very different fee system from most firms.

“Most search companies don’t deliver as often as they should do as they already have two-thirds of the fee before they’ve placed the candidate. We’ll ask for a third upfront and only expect the final two-thirds on delivery,” he said.

Abatec Exec will recruit for salaries above £45,000 in the technical and engineering sectors. It will be based at Cartodraft’s offices in Weston-Super-Mare.

Cartodraft, which has an annual turnover of around £6m, already operates Abatec Staff Consultants, a generalist recruitment agency; R4, a rail recruitment specialist; and technical firm Better Engineers.