i-intro

Lowry Hill (Don Lowry)

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 07:14:51 GMT

From Undifferentiated Recruiter to a Clear, Performance-Led Retained Proposition

Snapshot

Client: Don Lowry, Founder, Lowry Hill
Sector: Marketing, digital, and private equity leadership roles
Start Date with i-intro ® : April 2022
Focus: Differentiation and retained positioning

The Problem

Don came from a contingent recruitment background and faced a familiar challenge.

He sounded like everyone else.

Same pitch as competitors
Same claims about process and database
No clear differentiation
Constant pressure on fees

As a former marketer, he knew this was a positioning problem.

Saying “we’re better” was not enough.

Clients did not see a meaningful difference.

What Changed

With i-intro ® , Don implemented a structured retained recruitment approach that changed how his service was presented and delivered.

This included:

A clear, differentiated methodology clients could see and understand
A more structured way to assess and compare candidates
A client-facing process that demonstrated value, not just promised it
A shift from subjective hiring to evidence-led decision making

This moved his service from opinion-based to performance-based.

The Result

Clear differentiation in a competitive market
Stronger client engagement and trust
Ability to position retained work with confidence
Reduced reliance on price-based competition

The Commercial Impact

1. Differentiation that clients can see
Not just a better pitch. A visibly different service.

2. Stronger client confidence
Structured process reduces uncertainty in hiring decisions.

3. Shift away from fee pressure
Value is demonstrated, not defended.

Key Insight

You cannot charge retained fees if your service looks the same as everyone else.

Differentiation must be visible in how the process works.

Client Perspective

“For years, I sounded like every other recruiter. The difference now is that clients can actually see how our approach works.”

i-intro ® helps recruiters build a retained recruitment model that clients understand, trust, and commit to.

Mercury Hampton (Chris Hickey)

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 07:10:18 GMT

From “Another Agency” to a Scalable, Differentiated Retained Recruitment Business

Snapshot

Client: Chris Hickey, Mercury Hampton
Business Type: Growing international recruitment firm
Start Date with i-intro ® : July 2019
Key Results:
Grown to 30+ employees
Multi-million turnover
Expansion into US and Middle East

The Problem

Mercury Hampton had strong growth ambitions but lacked clear differentiation.

Like many agencies, they were at risk of being seen as:

Another CV supplier
Competing on speed and access
Difficult to justify premium fees

They needed:

A way to stand out in a crowded market
A model that could scale across teams and geographies
A stronger, more consultative client proposition

What Changed

Partnering with i-intro ® , Mercury Hampton implemented a structured retained recruitment model across the business.

This included:

A defined approach to client engagement and positioning
A consistent methodology consultants could follow
A more consultative, value-led way of working with clients
A scalable framework that could be rolled out across the team

This became a core part of their differentiation strategy.

The Result

Scaled to over 30 employees
Reached multi-million turnover
Built foundations for international expansion
Established a clear, differentiated market position

The Commercial Impact

1. Stronger market positioning
Moved from competing with the market to standing apart from it.

2. Scalable business model
A consistent approach that works across consultants and locations.

3. Higher-value client relationships
Shift from transactional activity to consultative partnerships.

Key Insight

Growth does not come from doing more of the same.

It comes from changing how your service is structured, positioned, and experienced by clients.

Client Perspective

“Partnering with i-intro ® was the first major step in our company’s differentiator.”

“Once you’ve sold like that, you don’t want to go back to sending a CV.”

“It’s been one of the best investments we’ve made.”

i-intro ® helps recruitment agencies build a retained recruitment model that scales across teams, markets, and clients.

GrassGreener Europe (Eli Barenholz)

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 07:05:15 GMT

€1.2M Revenue with a 3-Person Team and 98% Retention

Snapshot

Client: Eli Barenholz, GrassGreener Europe
Team Size: 2 consultants and 1 assistant
Start Date: November 2014
Key Results:
€1.2M revenue in 2 years
98% placement retention

The Problem

Eli wanted to grow revenue without increasing headcount.

But the existing model created limits:

Heavy reliance on contingent work
Revenue tied to volume, not value
No structured framework to support retained conversations
Difficulty scaling performance with a small team

Working harder was not the solution.

The structure needed to change.

What Changed

With i-intro ® , Eli implemented a structured retained recruitment model supported by:

A clear methodology for client engagement
A more consultative positioning
A framework to support higher-value conversations
Ongoing training and support to strengthen execution

This allowed the business to increase output without increasing complexity.

The Result

€1.2 million in fees over two years
Achieved with just 3 people
98% placement retention after 12 months

The Commercial Impact

1. Revenue growth without headcount growth
More output per assignment, not more activity.

2. Stronger client outcomes
Retention became a measurable, valuable metric.

3. More resilient business model
Less dependency on low-commitment roles.

Key Insight

Scaling a recruitment business is not about adding people.

It is about increasing the value and structure of each assignment.

Client Perspective

“Over the last two years, we’ve written around €1.2 million… and we’re still just two people and one assistant.”

“You’re buying the tools to change your business… and move from contingency to retained search.”

i-intro ® helps recruitment agencies implement a retained recruitment model that improves revenue, retention, and control.

Clear Executive Search (Alex Barker)

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 06:58:59 GMT

From Uncertain Year to £150K+ in Retained Revenue in Under 6 Months

Snapshot

Client: Alex Barker, Founder, Clear Executive Search
Sector: Technical feed additives, global markets
Business Type: Solo specialist recruiter
Start Date with i-intro ® : September 2024
Key Result: ~£150,000 retained revenue in under 6 months

The Problem

Alex had over 20 years’ experience and knew retained recruitment was the right model.

But like most recruiters, she was stuck:

Selling contingent because it felt safer
Lacking structure to confidently position retained
Competing in a disrupted market driven by COVID, Ukraine, and industry shocks
No clear differentiation versus competitors

At the same time, she did not want to scale headcount.

She wanted a high-value, specialist, solo business, but needed a model that could support it.

What Changed

After engaging with i-intro ® , Alex implemented a structured retained recruitment approach, supported by:

Clear messaging and commercial positioning
A defined retained recruitment process, not contingent with higher fees
A client portal to improve engagement and decision-making
Ongoing support to embed the model into her business

This was not about learning retained.

It was about changing how her service was positioned and experienced by clients.

The Result

Within 6 months:

~£150,000 in retained revenue generated
First two retainers worth ~£50,000 combined
~£75,000 from one new client relationship
Additional ~£25,000 mandate from another client
On track for ~£170,000 total revenue

The Commercial Impact

1. Clear differentiation in a crowded market
Clients recognised her approach as fundamentally different, not just another recruiter.

2. Higher-value client relationships
Retained mandates replaced low-commitment contingent work.

3. Full control of business model
Alex is now fully retained and has no intention of returning to contingent recruitment.

Key Insight

Retained did not come from selling harder.

It came from changing the structure of the service. How clients engage, commit, and make decisions.

Client Perspective

“In six months, I’ve amassed around £150,000… It was at that moment I thought, thank God I went with i-intro ® and invested.”

“Would I ever go back to working contingently? No. I’d shut up shop before that.”

We help recruiters move from contingent to retained recruitment with a structured, proven approach.

Why Most Recruiters Still Feel Like They’re Guessing

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 10:59:17 GMT

Recruitment looks structured on the surface. It often isn’t.

Most recruitment processes appear well defined. There is a job brief, a shortlist of candidates, a series of interviews, and a final decision. From the outside, it looks structured and controlled.

However, when you look more closely at the outcomes, a different picture starts to emerge.

Many recruitment businesses experience a level of inconsistency that is difficult to ignore. Some placements perform exceptionally well and go on to become long-term successes. Others fall short, despite looking strong throughout the hiring process.

This raises a more important question.

How predictable are your hiring outcomes?

For most recruiters, the honest answer is that it varies. And when a hire does not work out, the explanation is often the same.

“There was no way to know.”

This is where recruitment begins to feel less like a defined process and more like a series of educated guesses.

The problem is not effort. It is visibility.

Recruiters are not short on effort.

They are speaking to candidates, qualifying roles, managing clients, and moving quickly to stay competitive. The issue is not activity. It is what that activity is based on.

Most hiring decisions rely on a limited set of inputs:

CVs
Interviews
Personal judgement

Each of these has value. None of them provide a complete picture.

A CV is a summary of past experience, designed to highlight strengths. It rarely shows how a candidate performs under pressure or in unfamiliar situations.

Interviews offer a controlled environment. Candidates prepare carefully and present themselves in a way that reflects their best version, not necessarily their day to day behaviour in the role.

Even experience can be misleading. Success in one company does not always translate to success in another with different expectations, culture, or leadership.

This creates a visibility problem.

Decisions are being made without a clear, consistent view of how a candidate is likely to perform once they are hired.

Why hiring outcomes are often inconsistent

When visibility is limited, inconsistency becomes inevitable.

Most hiring issues are not caused by a lack of technical ability. They come from factors that are harder to assess through traditional methods, such as:

How someone handles pressure and uncertainty
How they make decisions in real situations
How they respond to feedback or change
How they interact with different teams and personalities

These are the elements that define long term success.

They are also the least visible parts of a standard recruitment process.

This is why a candidate can perform well in interviews, tick every box on paper, and still struggle in the role. The process has not necessarily been wrong. It has simply not captured the full picture.

Why instinct is no longer enough

Experienced recruiters often rely on instinct to bridge this gap.

Over time, they develop a sense of what works and what does not. That instinct is built on pattern recognition and real experience.

However, instinct has limits.

It is difficult to explain to clients. It is difficult to apply consistently across a team. And it does not always stand up in more commercially focused hiring environments.

Clients are asking more informed questions than they used to.

They want to understand:

Why a candidate is being recommended
What evidence supports that decision
How confident they can be in the outcome

A response based on instinct alone does not provide that clarity.

This is where recruitment starts to feel uncertain, not just for the recruiter, but for the client as well.

Why this problem exists in contingency recruitment

This uncertainty is not just about how candidates are assessed. It is also shaped by the structure most recruiters operate within.

In a contingency model, speed and competition play a central role.

Multiple agencies may be working on the same role. The pressure is to submit candidates quickly in order to stay relevant in the process. That limits the time available to fully define the role, align expectations with the client, and apply a consistent approach to assessment.

As a result, recruitment becomes reactive.

The focus shifts towards presenting candidates rather than building a structured and evidence-based hiring process.

Decisions are made with incomplete information because the model does not create the conditions for anything more.

This is not a reflection of recruiter capability. It is a reflection of the environment they are working in.

Why retained recruitment changes the equation

The difference between guesswork and confidence in recruitment often comes down to structure.

This is where retained recruitment becomes relevant.

A retained recruitment model changes the starting point of the process. Because the client commits upfront, the recruiter is not competing on speed. Instead, they are able to take control of how the assignment is managed.

This creates space to:

Clearly define what success looks like in the role
Align expectations with the client from the outset
Apply a consistent and structured approach to assessing candidates
Guide decision-making based on evidence rather than opinion

The process becomes deliberate rather than reactive.

Instead of relying on instinct to fill gaps, recruiters can build a clearer, more complete picture of each candidate and how they are likely to perform.

This reduces uncertainty and leads to more consistent outcomes.

From candidate presentation to decision support

When the process becomes more structured, the role of the recruiter changes.

In a contingency environment, the focus is often on presenting candidates and hoping the client agrees with the recommendation.

In a retained recruitment model, the focus shifts to supporting the decision itself.

The recruiter is not just introducing candidates. They are helping the client understand:

Why a candidate is suitable
How they compare to alternatives
What risks exist and how they are mitigated

This creates a different type of conversation.

The recruiter is positioned as a partner in the hiring process, not a supplier of CVs. That shift builds trust and strengthens the relationship over time.

Where i-intro® fits

For many recruitment agencies, the challenge is not recognising the limitations of their current approach. It is knowing how to change it in a practical and consistent way.

i-intro® exists to support that transition.

It helps recruitment agencies move from contingency-based recruitment, where guesswork is common, to a structured retained recruitment model built on clarity, consistency, and evidence.

This includes:

A defined methodology for running retained recruitment processes
Structured role benchmarking and candidate assessment
Clear reporting that shows clients how decisions are made
Training and coaching to embed this approach across the team
Supporting technology that reinforces visibility and consistency

The focus is not on adding complexity. It is on creating a process that is easier to follow, easier to explain, and more reliable in its outcomes.

The commercial impact of removing guesswork

When recruitment becomes more structured, the results become more predictable.

Clients have greater confidence in hiring decisions. Recruiters have more control over the process. Conversations shift from speed and activity to outcomes and value.

One of the most important impacts is on retention.

When candidates are properly assessed against both the role and the environment, they are far more likely to succeed long term. This reduces the cost and disruption of failed hires and strengthens client relationships.

Recruitment agencies using the i-intro® approach achieve a 96 percent first year retention rate, compared to an industry average of around 70 percent.

That difference is driven by better decision-making, not increased activity.

Conclusion: recruitment should be more predictable

Recruitment will always involve judgement. No process can remove uncertainty entirely.

However, there is a clear difference between informed decisions and guesswork.

As client expectations continue to evolve, the agencies that stand out will be those that bring structure, clarity, and evidence into their process.

Retained recruitment provides the framework for that shift.

i-intro® helps recruitment agencies implement it in a way that is practical, repeatable, and aligned with how modern hiring decisions are made.

Why Clients Are Moving Away from Contingency Recruitment

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 10:23:42 GMT

Clients have not become difficult. They have become more informed.

Across the recruitment industry, there is a common frustration.

Clients are slower to commit. They challenge fees more often. They ask more questions before engaging and expect greater clarity throughout the process.

For many recruiters, this can feel like resistance.

In reality, something else is happening.

Clients are not becoming more difficult. They are becoming more informed about what good recruitment should look like and what it should deliver.

That shift is changing how they evaluate recruitment partners, and it is one of the key reasons contingency recruitment is coming under increasing pressure.

What clients have experienced over the last decade

To understand why expectations have changed, it is important to look at what many clients have experienced when working with recruitment agencies.

In a typical contingency environment, clients are often exposed to:

Multiple recruiters working on the same role with little coordination
Repeated hiring processes after unsuccessful placements
Candidates who look strong on paper but do not perform in the role
Limited accountability when outcomes fall short

Individually, these issues may be manageable. Collectively, they create a pattern.

Over time, clients begin to associate recruitment with inconsistency. Outcomes vary, processes lack clarity, and the responsibility for success is often unclear.

This shapes perception.

“Clients are not rejecting recruiters. They are rejecting uncertainty.”

Why expectations have changed

As hiring becomes more commercially important, clients are taking a more structured approach to how decisions are made.

A poor hire is not just an inconvenience. It affects productivity, team performance, and long-term business results. In many cases, the cost of getting it wrong far outweighs the recruitment fee itself.

Because of this, clients are no longer satisfied with a process that relies heavily on speed and volume.

They want:

Transparency around how candidates are assessed
A clear structure to the hiring process
Measurable outcomes that demonstrate value

These expectations are not unreasonable. They reflect a more mature view of recruitment as a business-critical function rather than a transactional service.

Why contingency recruitment struggles to deliver this consistently

The challenge is that contingency recruitment is not designed to meet these expectations.

By its nature, the model encourages:

Speed, in order to stay competitive across multiple agencies
Volume, to increase the chances of securing a placement
Independent working, rather than a coordinated process

This creates a misalignment between what clients now expect and what the model is built to deliver.

When multiple recruiters are involved, accountability becomes diluted. When speed is prioritised, depth of assessment is often reduced. When the process is not clearly defined, outcomes become less predictable.

This does not mean contingency recruitment never works. It means it struggles to deliver consistency at a level that matches modern client expectations.

How retained recruitment changes the conversation

Retained recruitment addresses this gap by changing how the process is structured from the outset.

Rather than competing to submit candidates, the recruiter and client agree on a defined approach to the assignment.

This includes:

Establishing what success looks like in the role before the search begins
Applying a consistent and structured method of assessing candidates
Maintaining clear communication and visibility throughout the process

This shift moves recruitment away from reactive activity and towards a more deliberate, outcome-focused approach.

It also reduces risk.

When expectations are aligned early and assessment is more thorough, the likelihood of making the right hire increases.

This is what clients are ultimately looking for.

The role of i-intro® in supporting this shift

While the concept of retained recruitment is not new, implementing it effectively requires structure.

i-intro ® helps recruitment agencies move from contingency-based recruitment to a structured retained recruitment model that aligns with what clients now expect.

This includes:

Creating clearly defined hiring journeys that clients can follow and understand
Introducing behavioural and competency-based insight into candidate assessment
Providing reporting that demonstrates how decisions are made and where value is created
Supporting recruiters with training and guidance to apply this consistently

The focus is on making the recruitment process more transparent, more structured, and easier for clients to engage with.

Why structure builds confidence

One of the key differences between contingency and retained recruitment is the level of confidence it creates for the client.

When a process is clearly defined and consistently applied, clients understand what is happening at each stage. They can see how decisions are being made and why certain candidates are recommended.

This reduces uncertainty.

“Confidence is what drives commitment. Structure is what creates confidence.”

When clients feel confident in the process, they are more willing to commit to it.

The business impact of this shift

When trust in the process increases, behaviour changes.

Clients:

Commit earlier in the hiring journey
Engage more actively in the process
Build longer-term relationships with recruitment partners

For recruitment agencies, this leads to:

More predictable workflows
Stronger client relationships
Reduced reliance on low-commitment roles

Most importantly, it creates a more stable and commercially sustainable business model.

Conclusion: aligning with how clients now think

The shift away from contingency recruitment is not being driven by trends or preferences.

It is being driven by client expectations.

As clients become more informed, they are looking for recruitment partners who can provide structure, clarity, and measurable outcomes. Models that cannot consistently deliver this will continue to come under pressure.

Retained recruitment aligns more closely with how clients now think about hiring.

i-intro ® exists to help recruitment agencies make that transition in a structured and practical way, so they can meet those expectations and build stronger, more sustainable client relationships.

Get in Touch

If you want to align your recruitment approach with what clients now expect, the next step is understanding how a structured retained recruitment model works in practice.

i-intro ® provides the methodology, training, and support to help you make that shift with confidence.

From Chaos to Control: Why Structure Is the Competitive Edge in Recruitment

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 10:15:20 GMT

Being busy is not the same as being productive

Most recruitment businesses are busy.

Consultants are working multiple roles, speaking to candidates, chasing feedback, and managing client expectations.

Activity levels are high, and on the surface, it can feel like progress is being made.

However, when you look more closely at the outcomes, a different picture often emerges.

Despite the effort being applied, many agencies experience inconsistent results. Some roles are filled quickly, others stall.

Revenue fluctuates month to month. Clients engage when they need support, then disappear once the hire is made.

This creates a frustrating reality where hard work does not always translate into predictable growth.

The issue is not effort. It is how that effort is structured.

The reality behind recruitment performance

Across the industry, many recruitment businesses face similar challenges.

Low fill rates remain common, particularly in contingency environments where multiple agencies compete on the same role.

A significant proportion of work generates no revenue, despite the time invested.

Revenue can also be inconsistent. Strong months are often followed by quieter periods, making it difficult to plan, invest, or scale with confidence.

Client relationships can feel transactional. Engagement tends to be driven by immediate hiring needs rather than long-term partnership, which limits repeat business and reduces overall stability.

These are not isolated issues. They are patterns that point to a deeper problem.

“This is not an effort problem. It is a structure problem.”

The pressure on recruitment is increasing

At the same time, the environment recruitment businesses operate in is becoming more demanding.

Clients expect greater clarity, better communication, and more reliable outcomes. They are more selective about who they work with and how they engage.

Candidates are behaving differently. They are more informed, more selective, and less responsive to traditional outreach methods.

Technology is also changing the pace of recruitment. Screening, shortlisting, and communication are all becoming faster, which reduces the value of speed as a differentiator.

Despite these changes, many recruitment processes have remained largely the same.

This creates a gap between what the market expects and how many agencies operate.

Why structure is the real competitive edge

In a market where speed and access are becoming commoditised, structure becomes the differentiator.

Structure is what allows recruitment businesses to move from reactive activity to controlled, consistent performance.

When a recruitment process is clearly defined and consistently applied, several things change.

Effort becomes more focused. Instead of working a high volume of low-commitment roles, recruiters can prioritise opportunities where there is a realistic chance of success.

Client confidence improves. A structured process is easier to understand, easier to engage with, and easier to trust.

Revenue becomes more predictable. When the process is consistent, outcomes become more consistent, which reduces volatility and improves planning.

“Structure turns recruitment from reactive to predictable.”

What this looks like in practice

Structure in recruitment is not about adding complexity. It is about creating clarity.

It starts with how client relationships are built. Instead of reacting to live roles, recruiters engage earlier, building credibility and alignment before the hiring need arises.

It continues through how assignments are managed. The hiring process is clearly defined, with agreed stages, expectations, and timelines.

It also applies to how candidates are assessed. Decisions are based on consistent criteria rather than subjective judgement alone, creating a more reliable basis for selection.

Finally, structure is reflected in how outcomes are communicated. Clients are given visibility into the process, so they understand not just what is happening, but why.

This combination creates a process that is easier to follow, easier to manage, and more effective in delivering results.

How retained recruitment supports this shift

Structure is difficult to maintain in a contingency environment.

When multiple agencies are competing on the same role, the pressure to move quickly often overrides the need for a consistent process. This leads to reactive behaviour, duplicated effort, and reduced control.

A retained recruitment model changes this dynamic.

Because the client commits to the process upfront, the recruiter is able to take ownership of how the assignment is managed. This creates the conditions for structure to be applied properly.

The focus shifts from competing on activity to delivering outcomes through a defined and controlled process.

This is what allows recruitment to become more predictable.

How i-intro® RecTech reinforces that structure

For many recruitment agencies, the challenge is not understanding the value of a more structured approach. It is applying it consistently across every assignment.

This is where i-intro ® RecTech plays a role.

It supports a retained recruitment model by providing the visibility and consistency needed to manage the process effectively. Recruiters are able to structure hiring journeys more clearly, assess candidates in a more objective way, and present information to clients with greater clarity.

This makes the process easier for clients to understand and engage with.

i-intro ® RecTech is not a CRM or ATS. It is designed specifically to support a consultative, retained recruitment approach by making the methodology visible throughout the hiring process.

When combined with the i-intro ® methodology, training, and ongoing guidance, it helps recruitment agencies move from reactive activity to a more controlled and predictable way of operating.

The commercial impact of moving from chaos to control

When structure is applied consistently, the commercial impact is clear.

Recruitment businesses begin to focus on fewer roles, but with higher levels of commitment. This reduces wasted effort and increases the likelihood of successful outcomes.

Client quality improves. Relationships become more strategic and longer-term, rather than purely transactional.

Fees become easier to justify, as the service is clearly differentiated and aligned with outcomes rather than activity.

Most importantly, the business gains control. Revenue becomes more predictable, performance becomes more consistent, and growth becomes easier to plan.

Conclusion: structure is no longer optional

The recruitment industry is evolving.

Clients expect more. Candidates behave differently. Technology continues to accelerate the pace of change.

In this environment, relying on activity alone is not enough.

The agencies that will succeed are those that introduce structure into how they operate. Not as an add-on, but as the foundation of their business model.

i-intro ® exists to support that shift, helping recruitment agencies move from chaos to control through a structured retained recruitment approach that delivers consistency, confidence, and commercial clarity.

Are you operating with structure, or just activity?

If your business still relies on high volume, reactive roles, and inconsistent outcomes, the issue is unlikely to be effort.

It is more likely to be how your recruitment model is structured.

i-intro ® helps recruitment agencies move from contingency-based activity to a structured retained recruitment model, supported by methodology, training, and RecTech that creates control, consistency, and more predictable results.

2026: The Year of the Retainer

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 07:53:27 GMT

Introduction: Why recruitment is being forced to change

As recruitment businesses move into 2026, many agency owners are experiencing the same frustration: despite high levels of activity, results remain inconsistent.

Teams are busy. Roles are live. Candidates are being submitted. Yet outcomes often feel unpredictable, with pressure on fees, low client commitment, and limited control over the hiring process.

For years, recruitment has been built around volume. More CVs, faster responses, and broader reach were seen as the key drivers of success. However, that model is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain in a market where clients are more informed and expectations are higher.

This is why 2026 is being recognised as a turning point. Not because retained recruitment is new, but because the limitations of the traditional contingency model are becoming harder to ignore.

The shift in client expectations

One of the most important changes in the market is how employers now evaluate recruitment partners.

Where speed and access once dominated decision-making, clients are now asking more commercially focused questions:

How will this hire perform once in the role?
What is the cost of getting this wrong?
How reliable is the process behind the recommendation?

These questions reflect a shift away from activity and towards outcomes.

Hiring is no longer viewed as a transactional task. It is a business-critical decision with long-term consequences. As a result, clients are placing greater emphasis on structure, accountability, and certainty in the recruitment process.

This change in mindset is a key reason why retained recruitment is gaining more attention.

Why the contingency model is under pressure

The traditional contingency model creates a fast-moving, competitive environment. Multiple agencies are often engaged on the same role, each working independently and racing to deliver candidates.

While this can create speed, it also introduces several structural challenges:

Limited client commitment at the outset
No clear ownership of the hiring process
Inconsistent approaches to candidate assessment
Reduced control over timelines and decision-making

Even strong recruiters can struggle to deliver consistently within this structure.

As highlighted in your broader positioning, this is not an effort problem. It is a model problem .

The structure itself makes it difficult to control outcomes, protect fees, or build long-term client relationships.

Retained recruitment as a response to uncertainty

Retained recruitment addresses these challenges by introducing a more structured and collaborative approach to hiring.

Rather than operating in competition, the recruiter and client work together within a defined process. This typically includes:

Agreement on how the assignment will be managed
Clear stages for assessment and decision-making
Shared accountability for outcomes
Greater visibility throughout the process

This shift moves recruitment away from reactive activity and towards a more controlled, outcome-focused approach.

Importantly, retained recruitment is not simply about charging an upfront fee. It is about providing a level of structure and clarity that justifies that commitment.

The mistake most recruiters make

Despite the benefits, many recruiters find retained recruitment difficult to implement.

A common mistake is treating retained as a pricing change rather than a structural one. Recruiters attempt to introduce upfront fees while keeping the same process, communication style, and client experience.

From the client’s perspective, this creates uncertainty. If the service looks the same, the additional commitment can feel difficult to justify.

This is why retained recruitment often feels harder to sell than it should.

In reality, retained is not about charging more for the same service. It requires a different approach to client engagement, process design, and candidate assessment.

What needs to change

For retained recruitment to work effectively, several elements need to evolve within the business:

Client engagement
Relationships need to be built earlier and more deliberately, rather than only at the point a role goes live.

Process structure
The hiring journey should be clearly defined, with agreed stages and expectations from the outset.

Candidate assessment
Decisions should be based on more than CVs and interviews, incorporating structured evaluation of suitability and fit.

Commercial positioning
Recruiters need to be positioned as partners in the hiring outcome, not simply suppliers of candidates.

These changes create the foundation for a retained recruitment model that is both credible and sustainable.

Where i-intro® fits

This is where many recruitment agencies encounter difficulty. Understanding retained recruitment is one thing; implementing it consistently is another.

i-intro® supports this transition by providing a structured, end-to-end approach that helps recruitment agencies move from transactional recruitment to a consultative retained model.

This includes:

A proven methodology that defines how retained recruitment should operate
Training and coaching to support real-world implementation
Supporting technology that enhances visibility and credibility with clients
Ongoing guidance to embed the model into the business

This combination ensures that retained recruitment is not just understood, but applied in a way that delivers consistent results.

The commercial impact

When retained recruitment is implemented with the right structure, the impact is significant.

Recruitment agencies typically experience:

Higher average fees, often 25% or more
Improved client commitment
More consistent fill rates
Greater predictability in revenue
Stronger, longer-term relationships

One of the most important outcomes is improved retention. Recruiters using the i-intro® approach achieve a 96% first-year retention rate, compared to an industry average of around 70%.

This has a direct effect on client satisfaction, repeat business, and overall profitability.

Conclusion: From activity to control

The recruitment industry is evolving.

Technology is making transactional recruitment faster and more accessible, reducing the value of speed as a differentiator. At the same time, clients are demanding greater certainty, structure, and accountability.

This is why 2026 is shaping up to be the year of the retainer.

For recruitment agencies, the opportunity is clear. Moving towards a retained model is not about increasing activity, but about improving structure, control, and commercial positioning.

i-intro ® exists to support that shift, helping agencies implement a retained recruitment approach that is practical, repeatable, and aligned with how the market is changing.

Get in Touch

If you want to understand what retained recruitment actually requires, and how to implement it in a way that clients commit to - i-intro ® provides the methodology, training, and support to make that transition possible.

How to Increase Your Recruitment Fees to 25% and Beyond

Sat, 08 Mar 2025 13:11:42 GMT

Do you ever feel like you could solve a huge chunk of your problems by just doubling the fees you charge?

Improved cash flow, increased profits, better client quality, the ability to attract A-grade recruiters… all in one fell swoop, just by massively increasing your rates.

But you can’t do that, can you?

If you increased your fees from the 14-18% range, to the 25-30% range, you’d lose all of your clients overnight and have no chance of attracting new business.

Right?

Well, believe it or not, some recruiters ARE ramping up their fees in short order and the effect is transformative.

This is how they’re doing it…

First a story. Maybe true, maybe apocryphal, but here goes…

Once upon a time there were two petrol station owners who had forecourts on opposite sides of a busy road. There was more than enough business for both of them, but to be amiable, they always discussed increases or decreases in prices. By keeping their rates the same, they co-existed peacefully.

Then they had a falling out.

And a few days later, the first petrol station owner (let’s call him “Bob) noticed that his neighbour (let’s call him “Jeff) seemed to be getting more traffic. It didn’t take long for Bob to figure out that Jeff was charging five pence less per litre of fuel than he was.

Bob was irritated that Jeff had done this without their customary conversation and so, when he changed his own rates to match, he decided to go a step further and reduce his rates by another five pence.

The volume of business quickly swung back in Bob’s favour.

Bob found that he quite liked this situation. The profit he gained from each customer had decreased, but since his business had nearly doubled in volume, his overall profits were sky-high.

But this only lasted a few days. Jeff was soon beating Bob on price again.

The price war continued for a few weeks until they both hit the break-even point. Bob and Jeff’s prices were the same again but they didn’t dare go any lower because it would mean operating at a loss.

This stalemate lasted for some time. Bob and Jeff were living month to month and no longer had any long-term profits to stash away. They tried various initiatives to attract more customers – such as free windscreen washes and loyalty cards – but in the end it seemed all anyone cared about was the price of the fuel.

Eventually Bob hatched a plan. He had some savings squared away so, he could afford to sell fuel at a loss. For a while at least. The idea was to hold out until Jeff went under and then he would be free to put prices back up without any competition to worry about.

It worked. To begin with.

But it turned out Jeff had savings as well.

And so, the price war sparked up again.

Word about crazy-low fuel prices got out and before long customers were coming from miles around to fill their tanks.

Bob and Jeff were burning through their savings, but there was no turning back now.

For a brief period, Bob and Jeff started giving their fuel away for free. Then Bob cracked and starting offering customers £1.50 and a bar of Dairy Milk to fill their tanks.

The queue stretched for miles.

Jeff caved first. He took the remnants of his savings and retired to St. Ives.

Bob revelled in his victory for a while, but he’d over-extended himself. His savings were gone and his overdraft was stretched to the limit. Six months later he closed the business, sold his house, and moved into a bedsit in Swansea.

***

This is one of those stories that keeps rearing its head because it contains so many lessons. But the one we’re focusing on today is the problems with competing on price.

The recruitment industry has always this element to its competition because it’s hard to differentiate between one firm and another. Most recruitment firms focus on speed, experience, market expertise and, yes, price.

So, it’s inevitable that price becomes a key differentiator. For an employer, who struggles to tell whether recruitment firm A is any better than recruitment firm B, it’s easier just to go with the cheapest.

Or hire both firms on a contingency basis and see who comes out on top.

We’re not going to see a race to the bottom like the one in our petrol station story, but this competition in price keeps most firms locked within a certain range. A couple of percentage points doesn’t make a huge difference, but charging too much more can soon make a firm look like the expensive option.

Recruitment firms that operate in this fashion don’t have to match the cheapest firms, but they have to stay close enough that they don’t look outrageous.

Whether you’re the highest in your range, the lowest or somewhere in the middle, you still have to keep considering the same question…

Do you compete on price or stick to your guns?

But there’s another way.

And that’s to stop competing altogether.

Raise your prices so high that it no longer appears as if you’re even offering the same product.

If you’re charging 25% when everyone else in your industry is charging 15%, they start looking like the budget option, and you start looking like the professional that the big firms in your space should be reaching out too.

This isn’t hypothetical. This is happening.

Recruiters who up their fees to 25-30%, and even beyond, are attracting more sophisticated clients who better understand the need for an in-depth recruitment campaign that prefers quality to speed.

And they can do this because a recruitment business is more complex than a petrol station forecourt.

Jeff and Bob only had price to compete on because fuel bought here works just as well as fuel bought there. Petrol station prices, in a competitive sense, are mainly guided by proximity to other petrol stations. This is why motorway fuel costs more than fuel bought in the city.

But recruitment methods vary wildly and the results from one firm to the next can be substantially different.

Recruiters – those of the smart, switched-on, experienced variety – have so much to offer, that the level of the fees should barely enter into the conversation.

Think about it. A 15% fee firm looking for a director on 100K is going to cost the employer £15k. But what if the new hire leaves and the employer has to go again. Now it’s costing the employer £30k.

And this doesn’t take into account wasted salary and business disruption.

Through this lens, the recruiter who charges 25% but gets it right first time is, in the long-run, far less expensive.

Recruiters shouldn’t be competing on price. They should be competing on results.

So, let’s go back to our original question…

How do you increase your prices to 25% and beyond without wrecking your pipeline?

The key is to think of your recruitment offering as a different product to the middle-of-the-road, contingency-based recruitment firms.

Simply having a much higher fee will, in itself, get you part of the way there.

No one questions why a Michelin-starred chef charges five times more for a cheeseburger than McDonalds. It’s a different product.

Think of yourself in the same way.

Other recruitment firms are fast food. You’re a fine-dining establishment, using ethically-sourced ingredients, served on elegant china plates.

What would that mean in recruitment terms?

How can you refine your recruitment practices to make it superior to that offered by the average recruiter?

Often it simply means doing what you do now, but at a higher level.

If you currently spend one week searching for candidates using social media and networking, increase the time spent to four weeks.
If you currently assess candidates over the telephone, add in psychometric testing, video interviewing and key competency questionnaires.
If you currently send your client CVs attached to an email, use an online platform instead that presents the candidates shortlist in a more easily-digestible format.
If your role as a recruiter tends to end once the shortlist has been presented, find ways to go the extra mile by offering your clients interview assistance and post-placement development guidance.
And if you really want to set yourself apart, then guarantee your results by offering money-back and/or free replacement warranties.

This kind of change to your product will take some time to implement, but the trick is to offer it alongside your existing recruitment service.

Having a boutique product will give you a hook to reach out to larger businesses that might previously have seemed out of your league.

And you can offer it to your existing clients by describing it as an alternative recruitment service that you’re developing that provides a higher quality service and a better class of candidate shortlist.

Not every client will go for your new, more expensive product. But some will. And as you add new clients to your list, you can gradually phase out your former recruitment service and put all your focus into your higher-priced product that produces better results for your clients and candidates.

***

As I said earlier, this idea isn’t hypothetical. It’s how my recruitment firm moved into the 25%+ bracket, and it’s how many more have followed in our footsteps.

Just one word of caution with regards to offering guarantees. You must only do this is you’re confident in the success of your placements. How do you get there? That will be the subject of the next article in this series .

Do Recruiters Who Use Recruitment Tech Win More Business?

Sat, 08 Mar 2025 12:21:45 GMT

Recruitment tech doesn’t necessarily result in more clients… but if your recruitment business uses recruitment tech you almost certainly make more money.

It’s a simple formula. When your recruitment firm looks more sophisticated and technologically advanced, you stand a better chance of hooking in the most lucrative clients.

You also get to charge more.

When your recruitment business firm is using technology that can offer improved outcomes, it’s reasonable to quote prices that are higher than a recruitment firm that provides a simpler, less in-depth service.

But the real difference comes in the form of the contract…

Less Retained Business = More Profits

When you can offer a more technologically-advanced recruitment service, it becomes that much easier to convince prospects to hire you on a retained basis.

This is a crucial step in understanding why technology is the key to improving your overall profits.

When you’re working on a contingency basis, you might be able to engage with more clients overall, but this is offset by the fact that you don’t get paid for all of your work.

Most contingency-based recruiters only successfully fill 10-30% of the roles they work on. But even if you’re the outlier and can push that up to 40%, or even 50%, you’re still only getting paid half a day for a full day’s work.

By contrast, when your recruitment firm works with a client on a retained basis your typical fill rate is going to be closer to 100%.

This means that retained recruiters can work on half as many roles as the average contingency recruiter, but earn more fees overall .

Fees that are also higher than the industry average.

There is a caveat to all of this though: You need to be able to show your prospects that the recruitment tech your firm is using is going to produce a MEASURABLE improvement in the eventual outcome.

Use of recruitment tech is becoming increasingly common and you can no longer impress employers simply by showing them the bare minimum.

You need to show them the tech you’re using, and then convince them that it’s essential to getting the result they need.

Let’s take a look at some of the most useful recruitment tech that’s currently available, and how best to use it to close more retained business on higher than average terms.

What Recruitment Tech are Recruitment Business Owners Using?

Video Introductions/Interviews: These are almost ubiquitous for senior roles. They can take the form of a freestyle introduction recorded by the candidate, or a series of videos responses to pre-arranged questions ( CLICK HERE to learn more about recruitment video tech ).

Behavioural Assessments: Usually completed via an online questionnaire, these assessments provide invaluable information on a person’s temperament, their preferred working style and their attitude towards things like training, management and co-operation ( CLICK HERE to learn more about the use of behavioural assessments in recruitment ).

Candidate Delivery Platforms: All the information compiled on the shortlisted candidates can be easily uploaded, organised and presented to the client in an easily-digestible, easily-accessible online format. Emailing a collection of disparate CVs to the employer is massively inconvenient in comparison, so this should be a minimum level of tech for every recruitment business ( CLICK HERE to learn more about candidate delivery platforms ).

Application Automation: The candidate is taken through an automated series of steps involving video, quizzes and questionnaires. Because of their impersonal nature they are well-suited to filling entry-level roles with large numbers of applicants, but less helpful for recruiting senior positions.

Cutting Edge: There are numerous technologies available or in development that claim to make use of concepts such as artificial intelligences, big data, blockchain and machine learning. There are some exciting possibilities on the horizon, but right now much of it is overhyped or unproven. It’s worth paying attention to this area, but is unlikely to offer a good return on investment at this stage.

Why Should Recruiters Use Recruitment Tech?

Firstly, there is no recruitment pitch that can’t be improved by demonstrating to the prospect the technology that you use. The more transparent you are about your recruitment processes, the more your prospect will come to trust you.

Secondly, and more importantly, if you’re using the right recruitment tech in the right way, it can measurably improve your outcomes and your clients’ experience.

Recruitment tech can be shown to…

Improve retention rates for new hires (to 96%).
Reduce the amount of time clients spend on the process (by speeding up decision-making and reducing the number of people that need to be called to a face-to-face interview).
Improve onboarding and training of new hires.
Reduce the costs associated with bad hires .

These two elements go hand in hand. Being able to show a prospect that the recruitment tech you’re using can improve the overall outcomes increases the likelihood of the pitch being successful.

Is There a Wrong Way to Use Recruitment Tech?

There’s certainly no point in using recruitment tech simply so you have something new to add to your website. Any recruitment tech you use should increase your profits by MORE than the cost of using the tech, otherwise it’s just a drain on your recruitment business.

When you’re using new recruitment tech, track your numbers carefully to see if you’re winning more business as a result.

A second trap to avoid is to sign up to lots of different technology services from different providers. This can leave you with the unenviable task of trying to cobble together numerous applications that don’t always want to talk to each other properly.

Either add technology slowly, one step at a time, or use a unified platform. i-intro®, for example, offers the most useful recruitment tech applications within a single online platform.

Finally, don’t invest in recruitment tech and just assume that the recruiters in your business will immediately embrace it. Take the time to train them (or use a recruitment tech provider that includes training) on how to use the tech.

You’ll have more success in this area if you can show the recruiters how using the tech will ultimately improve their outcomes and their fees. Otherwise, they’ll eventually stop using the tech and go back to the old way of doing things.

How do You Pitch Recruitment Tech to a Prospect?

As mentioned earlier, it’s important to show your prospect how your recruitment tech is going to improve their lives.

Ultimately, this boils down to how you can save them time and money.

For example, when recruiters use i-intro® as part of their pitch, they can literally perform a calculation with the Bad Hire Calculator that proves the employer will save hundreds of thousands of pounds by using their service.

This is a powerful hook that is responsible for many retained recruitment wins.

Additionally, everyone loves to hear that you can make their lives easier. Demonstrate how your recruitment tech will reduce their downtime, reduce time spent on decision-making and reduce the number of interviews they’ll need to conduct before making a hire.

The Window is Closing…

We’ve been in this game long enough to remember when using email instead of a fax machine was a big deal.

The recruitment industry has come a long way since then.

Recruitment tech is no longer in the testing phase. It’s here, it’s widely available and it’s proven to improve outcomes for the recruiter, the candidates and the employers.

In short, if you don’t already have at least one piece of recruitment tech operating in your business, you’re going to look like you’re out of touch. We’re almost at the point where employers EXPECT you to be using some kind of technology, especially if you’re recruiting mid-level or senior roles.

The most effective way you can use recruitment tech, right now, is to choose something that makes it easier to win RETAINED contracts, and that is proven to generate more profits for the recruiters that use it.

i-intro® has helped hundreds of recruitment business owners develop or expand their retained recruitment solution by providing proven recruitment tech and training support for their recruiters.

If you’d like more information or you’d like to arrange a free demonstration, just CLICK HERE .

5 Things We Learned About the Recruitment Industry by Rejecting Transactional Work

Thu, 19 May 2022 13:29:42 GMT

Recruiters may present themselves as consultants, but in many cases their work is mostly transactional.

A recruiter presents a shortlist of candidates, and the employer either makes a purchase or they don’t.

But what happens when you reject this method and insist on a purely consultative approach?

The recruitment industry takes on a whole new look and previously-held assumptions start to evaporate.

Here are five key truths we learned by rejecting transactional recruitment…

1. Clients don’t actually care that much about the fee.

When you create a recruitment methodology that requires many consultative steps, you inevitable need to charge more. You’re going to be spending more time on each recruitment campaign and more resources are going to be brought to bear.

25% fees are typical in this arena. 30%+ is not unheard of.

Initially we assumed that this was going to be our biggest hurdle in convincing new and existing clients to switch to this new approach. In some cases, we were asking for almost double our previous fees, not to mention that fact that we required a third of the payment upfront, before work even began.

There was pushback from some clients, but to our surprise most of them barely even blinked. They understood the value of a consultative approach and the results were more important to them than an increase in fee.

Many times we won new business even when our fees were HIGHER than the competition.

You see, most employers are smart. They understand the problems that occur when a bad hire takes place. Often, they hire a recruitment firm on a transactional basis because they don’t know that other, smarter, more effective options are available.

When you demonstrate the power of a consultative approach to a client and the level of work involved, most barely raise an eyebrow at the increased fee.

2. The best clients are never in a hurry.

Most transactional recruiters are used to employers asking them to find a candidate ASAP. But that isn’t necessarily because the need to fill a vacancy is critically urgent. It’s actually because speed is one of the few benefits offered by transactional recruitment.

Most employers KNOW that a slower, steadier approach to recruitment is more effective. And if they don’t already know, it’s rarely difficult to convince them of the long-term cost savings of spending a little more time to get the right person.

When an employer is in a hurry, it’s generally not difficult to convince them of the benefits of slowing down and completing a carefully-managed campaign.

And if you can’t convince them of the perils of rushing recruitment, they usually end up being the clients that are most troublesome to work with.

Working with clients who appreciate circumspection, who aren’t keen to cut corners, and who aren’t constantly breathing down your neck, are generally the most enjoyable clients to work with.

3. Quality candidates don’t mind in-depth assessments.

Candidates are used to being asked for a CV and sometimes to engage in a telephone or face-to-face interview with the recruiter before they can be placed on a shortlist.

Consultative recruitment, however, has many more steps, and we’ve lost count of the number of times employers and recruiters have expressed scepticism that we can convince candidates to jump through hoops before they even get to meet the employer.

We were initially worried about this as well. But now we barely give it a second thought.

High-quality candidates don’t mind in the least recording videos, completing questionnaires and taking behavioural assessments. They don’t mind because it gives them the opportunity to demonstrate why they are a cut above the rest.

At the CV level, it’s very hard to differentiate candidates. Everyone sounds great on paper. This is why so much weight is carried by the candidate/employer interviews. But if you’re a candidate that excels in your field, you’re more than willing to participate.

All the more so when you consider that, with transactional recruitment, the candidate has to rely on the recruiter to properly represent them, and harbours anxieties that the recruiter might not understand why they are so expert in their field.

When they’re given the opportunity to take some personal control of the process, they don’t complain… they JUMP at the opportunity.

But you know who DOES complain about being asked to take part in assessments? Below-average candidates who have been padding their CV and don’t have nearly as much as skill and experience as they would like people to believe.

These in-depth assessments wind up being a great way to differentiate between candidates that are genuinely interested in the role and willing to put in some effort, and the candidates who only agree to have their name put forward speculatively because it takes no effort to email over a CV.

Consultative recruitment isn’t just great for the employers and recruiters, it’s a powerful benefit for the candidates. And the smart ones recognise it as such.

4. Recruitment industry results are underwhelming.

Placement success varies from recruiter to recruiter, but a figure of 1 in 4 (or even 1 in 5) is typical.

Recruiters accept this because it’s an expected outcome of a strategy that is transactional in nature. Employers will often “hire” several recruiters to maximise the pile of CVs they receive and only the recruiter that supplies the winning candidate gets paid.

These poor results are also a symptom of employers starting the recruitment process in a hurry, sometimes before they’ve even fully decided whether or not to make a hire.

“Would it help to get in a new Business Development Manager?” the CEO asks.

“Maybe,” replies the HR director. “I’ll get a few recruitment firms to send us some candidates and see if anything worthwhile turns up.”

And why wouldn’t they do this?

It costs the employer nothing to engage in a little recruitment speculation. And then when no one turns their head they tell everyone that they’ve decided to hold off on making a decision for the time being.

Meanwhile, a bunch of recruiters have spent time on a campaign that was never going to pay them a penny.

Transactional recruitment is like a fruit machine that pays out 20% of the time, but never lets you do much more than break even. But you keep playing because you’re convinced that you can improve your results enough to beat the system.

It’s one of those things that you don’t always see when you’ve in the middle of it. It’s just how things are done.

But when you move to consultative recruitment, charge higher fees, and require a third of the expected fee before you do a lick of work, you start to realise how tough transactional recruitment was.

When you go from a success rate of 20-25% to almost 100%, just by changing recruitment strategy, you start to wonder why everyone isn’t doing it this way.

5. You don’t need 360 recruiters

The typical transactional recruiter is expected to handle almost every element of a recruitment campaign, including finding the clients, attracting the candidates, building the shortlist and collecting the fee.

Some larger recruitment firms have administrators to help out, but most recruiters are expected to learn and master every role.

That means becoming successful at marketing, sales, candidate assessment, contracts, paperwork and fee collection. All of which are very specific disciplines that require substantially different abilities.

Little wonder that true 360 recruiters (individuals who excel in every area) are hard to find.

Even less wonder that most trainee recruiters drop out after a year or two.

But transactional recruiters HAVE to work this way. The competition is so fierce, and so much emphasis is placed on speed and efficiency, that a team approach is almost impossible. It would introduce too many bottlenecks.

You know what I’m going to say next…

Consultative recruiters don’t have this problem.

When you’ve been hired exclusively by an employer who recognises the value of taking the time to produce a carefully-measured recruitment campaign, you have the freedom to create a team approach.

360 recruiters can still work every element of a consultative campaign if they so wish, but it’s no longer a requirement of the job.

And here’s the real key…

Transactional recruiters have to adjust to the demands of the employer. But a consultative recruiter can create a system that is easily adapted to the requirements of the specific job.

Employers are hiring you on a consultative basis because you have a system that works and is proven. So there’s little or no pressure to make substantial changes to a methodology that you’ve developed and that you know to be successful.

The other hidden benefit is that trainee recruiters sometimes reveal themselves, over time, to be particularly skilled at one element of recruitment work.

Maybe they’re great at researching an industry. Or perhaps they excel in forging strong relationships with clients and candidates.

Rather than losing skilled workers because they can’t master every element of recruitment, you can build your system around the talent that you have.

Consultative recruitment not only means that 360 recruiters aren’t required. It means you can get even better results without them.

***

Transactional recruitment appeals to some because the speed of business is exciting, and there’s the thrill when that 1 in 5 lands. You can soldier on for weeks with no success, but you quickly forget the frustration and disappointment when you place a candidate and see your numbers on the leader board go up.

But it’s still a slot machine mentality. The thrill of the win obscures the inefficiencies in the process and the poor results often experienced by the employers and candidates.

Consultative recruitment, on the other hand, exposes the recruitment industry for what it is. A transactional enterprise in which candidates are commodities and employers are consumers looking for a quick fix.

Consultative recruitment replaces the money-chasing buzz with the satisfaction that comes from being free to take the time to perform an in-depth, high-quality recruitment campaign that delights employers and candidates alike.

Oh, and don’t forget the higher fees. We’re still in business after all.

Like what you’re reading? i-intro® enables recruiters to achieve sustainable business development, by transitioning from a contingency to a retained recruitment model. To learn more, book a free consultation with me or one of my colleagues HERE .