Most senior life sciences searches are run one of two ways, and neither works well for a role that is genuinely hard.
Contingency is free until it works, which sounds like it removes your risk. What it actually does is guarantee shallow work. A contingency recruiter carrying fifteen roles cannot afford to spend three weeks mapping the market for any one of them, so they send the candidates who surface fastest and move on. On an easy role that is fine. On a role that has been open five months, it produces the same near-miss shortlist you have already seen.
Retained buys the depth. A real map of who could do the job, direct approach to people who are not looking, honest assessment, and one recruiter who stays with it. The problem is the invoice that arrives before anyone has been introduced, which is a hard thing to justify on a search another firm has already failed.
What we do instead
We do the retained work and take the retained risk. There is no money up front and no fee until someone starts. What we ask for is exclusivity while the search runs.
The trade in one line: you do not pay us before we deliver, and we are the only firm on the role while we do.
That is not a formality. When four firms work the same VP role, the strongest candidates get four calls in a week about one job and conclude the company is disorganized or desperate. The role gets harder to fill the more firms are chasing it. Exclusivity is not us protecting a fee, it is the condition under which the search can be run properly at all.
What the exclusive period looks like
Typically 60 days, agreed in writing, with a shortlist date inside it. Anyone already in your pipeline is carved out. If we miss the shortlist date, the exclusivity has not earned itself and you are free to do whatever you want with the role.
What actually happens in those weeks
Week one: re-read the role
We do not start sourcing. We start by working out what this job actually is. Who does this person report to and what does that person expect. What did the last search produce and where exactly did it break. Which requirements are real and which have been copied forward from a job description written for a different company three years ago. On a stalled search this step is usually where the answer is, and it is the step almost nobody does.
Weeks one to three: map and approach
We build the list of people who could do this job. Not who applied, not who is on a job board, not who is in a database. The companies that run comparable programs, the people in and one level below the target title, the ones who have done the specific hard thing this role requires. Then we approach them directly, with a version of the role that is honest about both the opportunity and the mess.
Weeks two to three: assess
Every candidate gets a real interview against the real requirements. For a clinical operations leader that means asking what happened when a site went dark, or how they handled a CRO that missed three consecutive milestones, and listening for whether they owned it or watched it. You receive a short list with a written assessment on each person, including what we are unsure about.
Through offer: close
Compensation benchmarking before the offer, not after it is rejected. Counteroffer risk raised with the candidate early, because at this level the counteroffer is nearly always coming. Then onboarding coordination and a check-in at 30, 60, and 90 days.
What you get every week
A written update: who was approached, who responded, who declined and the reason they gave. The declines are the useful part. When four strong people pass on the same role for the same reason, that is not a sourcing problem, that is the market telling you something about the comp band, the reporting line, or the location requirement. You will hear it from us plainly, even when it means the answer is that something about the role has to change.
Questions about the model
Is exclusivity the same as a retainer?
No. A retainer is money paid up front, usually a third of the fee, before a single candidate has been introduced. Exclusivity is an agreement that one firm runs the search while it is live. We ask for the second and not the first. If we do not fill the role, you have paid nothing.
How long is the exclusive period?
Typically 60 days, agreed in writing at the start, with a defined shortlist date inside it. It is a working window, not a lock-in. If we miss the shortlist date, the exclusivity has not earned itself and you are free.
Why does exclusivity actually matter?
Two reasons. First, senior candidates are approached by several firms about the same role and it reads as a company that cannot get organized, which quietly kills interest. Second, depth costs time, and no firm invests three weeks of market mapping into a role it might lose on a coin flip. Exclusivity is what makes the work economically possible.
What if we already have candidates in process?
Those stay yours. Anyone already in your pipeline before we start is carved out in writing. We are not looking to be paid for someone you already found.
When is the fee due?
When the person starts. Nothing before that.
What does the 90-day guarantee cover?
If the placement leaves or is let go inside 90 days, we run the search again at no additional fee. It has been used rarely, which is the point.
Ready to run this properly?
Send us the role and what has already been tried. We will tell you honestly whether exclusivity is worth it here.
Let us look at the search
Tell us the role, the level, and how long it has been open. If it is one we can fill, you will know quickly. If it is not, you will hear that too.