A City HR headhunter is charging its clients an hourly rate rather than a bulk instalment up front.

The pre-arranged agreement allows clients to spread the cost of an assignment, Alison Hughes, director at Higher Talent, told Recruiter.
Hughes said the downturn has caused many clients to balk at a £10,000 retainer.

To counter this, Hughes adapted her fee structure to an hourly rate rather than charging clients £30,000 for a normal search assignment. This can mean that clients only spend between £2,000 and £3,000 a month during the course of that assignment, which can last up to
four months, Hughes said. A placement fee will then be charged on the assignment’s successful completion.

Applying exclusively to all senior level functions, including heads of functions such as head of talent, Hughes says the fee structure will apply to all clients on equal terms, whether they operate in hard-hit construction or the relatively buoyant public sector.

“You can retain and increase your client base. A number of clients have taken up this opportunity, and it is a fee structure that we will use going forward,” Hughes said.

“We can show we have spent X amount of hours interviewing these people and these are the hours we have spent doing that, which is what our clients want. I don’t think any client wants to pay a big up-front retainer fee at the moment.”