Clients · Retained Recruitment
Retained Recruitment & Embedded Campaigns
Retained recruitment is a campaign-based engagement where you pay a monthly fee for dedicated, embedded hiring support, rather than a per-hire success fee. At Hurren & Hope it works as a tailored statement of work (SOW): we agree a monthly retainer to manage all — or part — of your talent needs, acting as an extension of your business by running searches, installing the right tooling and building durable talent flows. It is the alternative to carrying the fixed cost of a full internal talent function before you are ready for one.
What is retained recruitment
What is retained (embedded) recruitment?
In a retained campaign you commit to working with us over a period, and we commit dedicated focus to your hiring in return. Instead of competing for our attention against other contingency roles, your mandates sit at the front of the queue, and we work them as if we were your in-house team.
“Embedded” captures the way we operate: we get inside your business, learn how you make decisions, plug into your process, and represent you in the market consistently. For a company hiring one role occasionally, our permanent recruitment service is the right fit. Retained is for when hiring becomes a programme, not an event.
When to use it
When should you use a retained campaign?
Retained tends to be the right model in a few specific situations:
You are building a team
Multiple hires of the same type, for example standing up an engineering pod or a sales org.
Hiring across several roles at once
You want one coordinated campaign rather than scattered briefs.
You are scaling fast
You need predictable hiring capacity without rushing to build an internal talent team.
The roles are hard
Senior, scarce or strategically critical hires that reward dedicated, committed search.
You want to invest in infrastructure
The systems and pipelines that make future hiring faster, not just fill today’s vacancies.
What’s included
What’s included in a retained campaign?
A retained engagement goes beyond filling the immediate roles. Alongside running the searches, we help you build the foundations of a hiring function:
Dedicated, prioritised search
Across your live roles.
ATS support
Helping you select and stand up an applicant tracking system so your pipeline is organised and your data lives in one place.
Talent flow building
Proactive pipelines so future hires start warm rather than from a cold open.
Market intelligence
Calibrating roles and offers using our salary benchmarks for London, New York and San Francisco.
Regular reporting
On pipeline, progress and the state of the market.
Every retainer is set up as a tailored statement of work (SOW): we agree up front exactly which roles and responsibilities we are managing — all of your hiring, or a defined part of it — and a fixed monthly fee to match. The list above is what a campaign typically covers; the precise scope, term and reporting cadence are agreed with you per engagement.
Retained vs in-house
How is retained different from an internal talent team?
Building an internal talent function is a significant fixed cost: salaries, tooling, headcount and ramp time, committed before you know whether the hiring volume will sustain it. A retained campaign gives you much of the same dedicated focus and embedded knowledge, but as a flexible engagement you can scale with your needs.
You get specialists who already know the AI and SaaS market, a network built over 25 years and 6,900+ placements, and the systems and pipelines to hand, without the overhead of building a team you may not need year-round. When you do reach the scale to bring talent in-house, the infrastructure we have helped install — the ATS, the pipelines, the benchmarks — goes with you. For shorter-term project capacity rather than team building, contract recruitment is the model to look at instead.
Testimonials
Trusted by the people who hire
Why founders choose us
Consultants, not CV-senders
We take time to understand your business before we send anyone, leverage a network built over 25 years and 6,900+ placements, and optimise for hires still thriving a year later — not a quick fee.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What does a retained recruitment campaign include?
It is a tailored statement of work (SOW): dedicated prioritised search across your roles, support installing an ATS, proactive talent-pipeline building, market intelligence and regular reporting — scoped to manage all or part of your talent needs, and agreed with you up front.
Is a retainer priced per role or as an ongoing monthly fee?
It is a fixed monthly fee, set as a tailored statement of work (SOW) covering all or part of your talent needs — not a per-hire success fee. The exact figure is agreed per engagement based on scope. If you would rather pay per hire, our permanent recruitment service uses a success fee or Pay While They Stay™ instead.
How is retained different from contingency recruitment?
Contingency is paid on success per hire and competes for attention against other roles. Retained commits dedicated, prioritised focus over a period and includes infrastructure work such as ATS setup and pipeline building, making it suited to multi-role hiring and team builds. For one-off project capacity instead, see contract recruitment.
Who is retained recruitment best for?
AI and SaaS companies, typically under 200 employees, that are building a team, hiring across several roles at once, or scaling fast and want embedded hiring support without the fixed cost of an internal talent function. VC-backed and pre-revenue? Aligned™ can help you offset fees until your next round.
Building a team this year? Talk to us about a retained campaign.
Building a team this year?
Tell us what you’re scaling and we’ll come back to you fast.
