Industries
The firm's own big calls, argued before anyone signs
A recruiting firm lives on decisions about its own shape: which fee model to sell, which sectors to work, which clients to lean on, and when to open another desk or office. Each is made with partial numbers and a strong opinion at the partners' table, and each sets the firm's cash for years.
Argumont is decision support for running a recruiting or search firm. It does not screen, select or decide on candidates, employees, or any individual person.
The fee model shapes everything after it
Contingent work is paid only when a search fills, at a share of first-year pay commonly quoted between 15 and 25 percent. Retained work is paid in installments, often a third of first-year cash compensation split into three payments, whether the search ends quickly or slowly. One model rewards volume and speed; the other rewards depth and a longer relationship with fewer clients.
Moving between them is not a pricing change. It changes the consultants a firm needs, how long cash takes to arrive, and how a client judges the work. A firm that adds a retained practice to win larger fees is also deciding to carry months of senior time before the first invoice.
What counts as evidence inside a firm
The firm's own ledger settles more than any market report: fill rate by desk, days from brief to placement, revenue per consultant, repeat business by client, and the share of revenue the three largest clients carry. Replacement guarantees and payment terms belong in the same picture, because a fee that can be clawed back in the first ninety days is not yet cash.
The common mistake is letting one large client's promise decide. An exclusive contract that fills the calendar can also leave a single buyer holding a third of the revenue, and its renewal becomes the most important date in the firm's year. The opposite mistake is chasing a new sector because a competitor did, without counting the network the team would need to build first.
A firm decision in the room
The Decision names the paths in front of the partners, such as opening a retained practice, adding a second sector, or signing a multi-year contract to run one client's recruiting. Criteria are weighted to 100 before anything is scored. Each path has a Champion, and the Challenger presses on the assumption the favorite leans on, often a ramp time nobody has broken into quarters.
Gray Wolf looks for the costs a forecast leaves out, such as guarantee refunds and sixty-day payment terms. Red Teamer runs the quarter in which the biggest client freezes its openings. Grandfather asks which commitment is hardest to undo, an exclusive contract or a lease on a second office. The Verdict states which path leads, what it rests on, and the figure that would change it.
Where the room stops
Decisions about individual people stay with your own people: the room does not screen, select or decide on candidates, and who to submit, interview, hire or place is never put to it. The room weighs the firm's choices about its markets, fees, clients, tools and headcount plans, with seats counted as numbers and never as named people.
The Human Decision belongs to the partners who will carry the result, and the Decision Passport keeps the paths they rejected and the evidence behind each claim. When the same question returns at next year's planning, the reasoning is still there to read.
A retained practice or a second sector
A 14-person firm places software engineers on contingency at an average fee of $26,000. The partners weigh three paths: open a retained executive search practice, add healthcare technology as a second sector, or sign a two-year exclusive contract with one large client. Weights come first: cash predictability 30, margin per consultant 25, client concentration 20, time to first revenue 15, fit with the team's network 10. A retained search at a third of a $240,000 first-year package bills $79,200 in three installments, about the same as three contingency fees, but a new practice can take two or three quarters to sign its first engagements. The Challenger presses on the exclusive contract, which would put about 45 percent of revenue with one client, and Grandfather asks what happens at its renewal. The Verdict favors the retained practice, started with two senior consultants, unless the first two quarters bring fewer than four signed engagements, in which case the second sector leads.
Questions
- Can a Decision Room compare contingency and retained work for our firm?
- Yes. Bring your own fill rates, fees and revenue by client. The room weighs the paths against criteria you set, marks any market figure by what it proves, and names the result that would reverse its Verdict.
- Can Argumont rank the people we put forward to a client?
- No. Choosing and ranking people stays with your own people and your clients: the room does not screen, select or decide on candidates or on any other individual person.
- Can it help decide how many consultants to add next year?
- Yes, as a headcount plan: how many seats, at what cost, against which revenue forecast and ramp time. It weighs the plan as numbers and never weighs named people.
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