At Beijing Talent Consulting, our retained consultant typically works exclusively on the search and is expected to evaluate all candidates being considered for the position. As a result, a retained consultant will never present a candidate to more than one client at a time. On the other hand, our contingency recruiter usually does not have an exclusive assignment, but instead is in a race against other sources to present a winning candidate, and often present attractive candidates to as many clients as possible.

Our Contingency recruiters tend to be more specialized by industry and function. Retained search consultants also specialize but, because they are driven by original research for each engagement, are willing and able to apply that process across industries and functions—especially when circumstances indicate the possibility of recruiting from outside the client’s industry.