​According to recent data, 76% of companies report that attracting well-qualified candidates is their biggest hiring challenge, making recruitment a serious concern for most businesses.

Hiring a recruiting firm is the best way to find top-notch candidates for your open positions. While some recruiting agencies use a retainer model, others use a contingency agreement. How do you decide which approach is best for your needs?

With contingent recruitment, the recruiting agency only gets paid when they find and place a qualified candidate into the role they are hiring for on behalf of their client. Contingency recruiting fees are typically structured as a percentage of the candidate’s first-year base salary and can vary widely from one recruiting company to another based on geography, industry, and position level.

Why Use Contingency Recruiting?
Unlike retained search, where recruiting fees are typically paid in installments at the beginning and throughout the process, contingent recruiting is based on the idea of only paying once results have been achieved. Many companies prefer to work with a recruiting agency that uses a contingency model because it is often much less expensive, and the fees are easier to understand. It is reassuring to hiring companies, especially smaller businesses, to know that they will not be paying a recruiting fee until after a qualified candidate has been hired. 

A guest post from our colleagues at CFO Selections:

When adversity hits, the knee jerk reaction is to swiftly cut spending across the entire organization, but that response is a mistake.

Strategic cost cutting can keep a business going through tough times, but it must be approached with long-term value in mind. Reducing costs should abide by three essential principals:

1. Do not cut anything that is required to sustain daily business operations
2. Do not cut costs anywhere where the long-term effects will outweigh the short-term benefits
3. Do not cut anything that will cost more to replace later

​Evaluate your spending and determine where you can cut costs to weather tough times while still protecting critical functions, minimizing long-term expenses, spending where it could end up costing more not to do so, and looking for opportunities to reduce waste.