What a headhunter costs in Austria — and how retained search actually works

Two models, two different services

The Austrian market knows two ways of paying a personnel consultant. Contingency recruiting is paid only on placement; the consultant works on several similar mandates in parallel and forwards the CVs that happen to be available. Retained executive search is commissioned exclusively, paid in instalments, and the consultant searches the market systematically for that one position — including people who are not looking.

Both have their place. For a specialist or a team lead with many suitable candidates on the market, contingency is fine. For managing directors, board members, CFOs and heads of function — positions where the right person is probably employed and content — only retained search reaches the people you actually want.

What the market charges

Retained search in Austria and Germany is typically priced at 25 to 35 percent of the target annual gross remuneration of the position, including variable components. For a managing director of a mid-sized industrial company that means a fee in the range of a mid to high five-figure euro amount; for a CFO or head of function somewhat less. Some firms quote a fixed fee agreed in advance instead of a percentage — which owners often prefer, because it removes any suspicion that the consultant benefits from a higher salary.

The fee is usually paid in three instalments: one third on commissioning, one third on presentation of the shortlist, one third on signing. Expenses — candidate travel, assessments, advertising if any — are billed separately and should be capped in the mandate agreement. A guarantee period, during which the search is repeated free of charge if the candidate leaves in the first months, is standard and should be in writing.

What you are paying for

Not for a database. You pay for a structured briefing that turns a vague wish into a searchable profile; for a target list of companies where the right people work today; for direct, discreet approach by a senior consultant rather than a researcher reading a script; for structured interviews and references; and for someone who manages the negotiation between a candidate who has a good job and an owner who has never hired at this level.

You also pay for what does not happen: no job advertisement that tells the market you are searching, no forwarded CVs of people who applied everywhere, no candidate who learns your company’s name before you have decided they should.

How we work at Ertler Executive Search

We take mandates exclusively on a retained basis and only from the level of head of division or function upwards. Every mandate has a written briefing, a defined timeline and a named partner who conducts the search personally. First qualified profiles are presented within 14 days of the confirmed briefing; a placement typically takes three to four months. Our fee is agreed before the search starts — you will find no price list on this website because no two positions are alike, but you will get a clear figure in the first conversation.

Frequently asked questions

Related pages

• Our search process step by step
• Headhunter in Vienna
• Headhunter in Graz