What a search firm is actually being paid to do
The value is not a shortlist. Any firm can produce a shortlist. The value is that the market was mapped, so you know you chose from the field rather than settling for whoever replied. When I go to market for a senior finance role, I am not posting and waiting for applications, I am reaching into a network built on real relationships.[1] That is the entire difference in the product you are buying.
The reach behind that matters more than any process diagram. A personal network of 28,000-plus accounting and finance professionals across Australia, generating over two million views a year, is what turns a role brief into a warm, mapped shortlist rather than a cold outreach campaign.[2] A firm without that reach is starting your search from a blank page and charging you for the learning curve.
I work primarily on retained and exclusive assignments, because that is what produces alignment, quality and a long-term outcome rather than a race to submit a CV first.[3] If three firms are working the same role contingently, none of them is mapping anything. They are all skimming the same active pool at speed.
The brief is where the hire is decided
Most searches fail before anyone is contacted, because the brief was a job description rather than a description of the job. The way I work is to sit with founders before the job description is written, crafting a brief that tells the real story of the business, including the actual environment and problems the person will walk into on day one, focused on what they need to build.[4] A candidate at this level can tell the difference immediately, and the good ones opt out of vague briefs rather than gamble.
Getting the brief right is also the cheapest lever you have. I once saved a client over $25,000 in recruitment costs with a single call, by helping them adjust a Finance Manager job ad's value proposition, title and salary alignment to market conditions. Interviews were booked in four days and a candidate signed soon after.[5] Nothing about the market changed. The framing did.
The mechanics of a mapped, retained search and what each stage should produce are set out in full here.
The benchmarks to hold a firm to
Ask for numbers before you sign, and ask for them in writing. On the finance searches I run, the shortlist lands in about five working days from the brief meeting, and the average from brief to signed contract is around fifteen working days.[6] An average of 75% of the candidates on my shortlists proceed to an interview, which is the number that tells you whether a shortlist is a genuine filter or a pile of CVs.[7]
Speed is only half of it. The number that says a search worked is retention: my placements hold at an 85% two-year retention rate.[8] A fast hire that leaves inside a year means running the search twice and paying for it twice. If a firm cannot give you time-to-shortlist, interview conversion and two-year retention, it is not measuring its own work, and you are the experiment.
What it costs, and what the guarantee should be
Be direct about the commercial terms early. My retained search fee is 18% of total remuneration, with a minimum fee of 15%, and every retained placement carries a six-month replacement guarantee.[9] For a finance director in Australia that typically puts the fee in the region of $40,000 to $50,000.[10] That is a real number and worth testing against the cost of getting it wrong, which is the fee again plus six to twelve months of drift.
A good partner will also flex the timing to your cash position rather than force you onto a fixed schedule. Deferred payments in line with a raise, staggered fees against onboarding milestones and fixed pricing for budget certainty are all reasonable asks for a VC-backed business managing runway.[11]
| Contingent, three firms on the role | Retained, one firm, mapped | |
|---|---|---|
| What gets mapped | Nothing. Three firms skim the same active pool at speed, because only the first to submit gets paid. | The relevant market, reached through an existing network rather than cold outreach built from scratch. |
| The shortlist | Whoever replied fastest. You never see what you did not see. | Met and assessed, in about five working days, with roughly 75% of them going through to interview. |
| What you carry if it fails | The search again, paid again, plus six to twelve months of drift in the finance function. | A six-month replacement guarantee, and an 85% two-year retention track record behind it. |
Where I fit, and where I do not
I should be plain about my lane, because finance director is a title used across very different businesses. I work with Australian VC-backed startups and scale-ups on two hiring moments: the first finance hire, usually a Head of Finance or Financial Controller at roughly 10 to 20 headcount, and the first CFO at 50-plus heads and $10M-plus ARR.[12] Where a finance director role is that first senior finance leader or that first CFO in all but name, it is squarely my work.
If you are an ASX-listed business replacing an outgoing finance director in a mature function, a large generalist executive search firm will serve you better than I will, and I will say so on the first call. Being the wrong firm for a mandate is not a problem. Discovering it at week six is.
If you are still deciding between a finance director and a first CFO, the stage-by-stage test for that call is here here.
Common questions
What does finance director recruitment cost in Australia?
My retained search fee is 18% of total remuneration, with a minimum fee of 15%. For a finance director at the stage I work with, that typically lands in the region of $40,000 to $50,000. Every retained placement carries a six-month replacement guarantee. Fee timing can be structured around your cash position, with deferred payments in line with a raise, staggered fees tied to onboarding milestones, or fixed pricing where you need budget certainty.
Retained or contingent for a finance director role?
Retained, in almost every case at this level. Contingent means several firms racing to submit the same active candidates, so nobody maps the market and the strongest people, who are settled and not applying, are never approached. Retained buys you a mapped market and a single accountable partner. I work primarily on retained and exclusive assignments for exactly that reason: it produces alignment and a long-term outcome rather than a submission race.
How long should a finance director search take?
On a properly run search the shortlist lands in about five working days from the brief meeting, and the average from brief to a signed contract is around fifteen working days. Ask for those two numbers plus two-year retention in writing before you engage. My placements hold at an 85% two-year retention rate, and an average of 75% of shortlisted candidates proceed to interview, which tells you the shortlist is a genuine filter rather than a stack of CVs.
What should I have ready before briefing a search firm?
Less than you think, and different from what you expect. The useful preparation is not a polished job description, it is clarity on the real environment and the actual problems the person walks into on day one. I sit with founders before the job description is written for that reason. Bring the messy truth about the state of the finance function, the salary you can genuinely pay, and who this person reports to and works with. The advert can be written afterwards.
References
- Tom Hunter on senior finance search: not posting and waiting for applications, but reaching into a network built on real relationships.
- Story Recruitment network: 28,000+ accounting and finance professionals across Australia, generating 2 million+ views per year.
- Story Recruitment: works primarily on retained and exclusive assignments to ensure alignment, quality and long-term outcomes for clients.
- Tom Hunter on briefing: sits with founders before the job description is written, crafting a brief that tells the real story of the business and the problems the person walks into on day one.
- Tom Hunter: saved a client over $25,000 in recruitment costs with a single call by adjusting a Finance Manager job ad's value proposition, title and salary alignment, leading to interviews in four days and a signed candidate soon after.
- Story Recruitment benchmarks: shortlist in about 5 working days from brief, brief-to-signed average around 15 working days.
- Story Recruitment: an average of 75% of shortlisted candidates proceed to an interview.
- Story Recruitment: 85% two-year candidate retention rate across placements.
- Story Recruitment commercial terms: retained search fee of 18% of total remuneration, minimum fee 15%, six-month replacement guarantee on retained placements.
- Story Recruitment: recruitment fees average $40,000 to $50,000 AUD.
- Story Recruitment fee options: deferred payments matched to funding timelines, staggered fees against onboarding milestones, or fixed pricing for budget certainty.
- Story Recruitment focus: the first finance hire in a startup (Head of Finance or Financial Controller, 10 to 20 headcount, $5 to $10M ARR or less) and the first CFO hire (50+ heads, $10M+ ARR).