The category is three businesses wearing one name
Volume and transactional desks fill accountants, payroll and transactional finance at pace, usually contingent, often several agencies on the same role. Generalist mid-market firms cover a broad span of finance titles across every industry. Specialist search firms work a narrow segment on retained or exclusive terms, one role at a time. All three call themselves financial recruitment agencies and only one of them is right for any given hire.
The test is simple. If the role has a deep, active candidate market and you mostly need throughput, use a volume desk and pay on placement. If the people you want are settled, invisible and would not respond to an advert, you need a mapped search and you will not get one contingently, because nobody maps a market they might not be paid for.
| A contingent, multi-agency brief | A retained, exclusive search | |
|---|---|---|
| What gets done | Nobody maps the market. Several agencies skim the same active pool, because only the first to submit gets paid. | The relevant segment is mapped and approached, including people who are settled and would never answer an advert. |
| Who you see | Whoever replied fastest. You never learn what you missed. | A met and assessed shortlist in about five working days, with roughly 75% of it going through to interview. |
| What you pay for | A placement. If it fails you run the search again and pay for it again. | A process with numbers attached, a six-month replacement guarantee and an 85% two-year retention record behind it. |
What to ask before you engage anyone
Ask for numbers, in writing, before terms. Time to shortlist, interview conversion off the shortlist, and two-year retention. Those three tell you whether a firm measures its own work. For reference on what good looks like in Australian senior finance: a shortlist in about five working days from the brief, an average of around fifteen working days from brief to signed contract,[1] an average of 75% of shortlisted candidates proceeding to interview,[2] and an 85% two-year retention rate on placements.[3]
Then ask about reach in your specific segment, because that is what you are actually buying. In finance, a network of 28,000-plus accounting and finance professionals across Australia generating over two million views a year is what turns a brief into a warm, mapped shortlist rather than a cold outreach campaign.[4] A firm without segment reach is building your market map from a blank page and charging you for the learning.
Finally, ask how they brief. The good answer involves the agency pushing back on you. My earlier approach as a recruiter offered no real challenge to the brief and no insight on timelines, expectations or market conditions, which was a hit-and-miss strategy.[5] An agency that accepts your job description without argument is planning to send you CVs, not solve your hiring problem.
Fees, guarantees and what should be negotiable
Get the commercials on the table on the first call. My terms, as a reference point rather than a market standard: retained search at 18% of total remuneration, a minimum fee of 15%, and a six-month replacement guarantee on every retained placement.[6] For senior finance roles at the stage I work in, fees land in the region of $40,000 to $50,000.[7]
The replacement guarantee is where agencies quietly differ, so read it rather than accept the headline. Ask what triggers it, whether it is a replacement or a refund, and what happens if you decide not to refill. For a VC-backed business, also ask what flexes: deferred payments in line with a raise, staggered fees against onboarding milestones, or fixed pricing for budget certainty are all reasonable.[8] The structure should match your cash position rather than force you onto someone else's schedule.
The stage-by-stage mechanics of a retained search, and what each stage should produce, are set out in full here.
The signals that a firm is worth your time
Look for a stated niche rather than a coverage map. A firm that claims every finance title in every industry has told you nothing. I work almost entirely on retained and exclusive assignments,[9] on two hiring moments at Australian VC-backed startups and scale-ups: the first finance hire at roughly 10 to 20 headcount and $5-10M ARR or less, and the first CFO at 50-plus heads and $10M-plus ARR.[10] That is narrow on purpose. It is also the thing that makes it possible to say honestly when a mandate is not mine.
Look at how they treat candidates too, because it is a leading indicator of how they will treat you. Not every candidate will be successful in a process, and it is about treating them with respect, providing clarity and offering honest feedback whether they get the job or not.[11] The Australian senior finance market is small enough that a firm with a poor reputation among candidates will quietly struggle to reach the people you want, and you will never be told that is why.
If the role you are filling is a first CFO specifically, the search differs enough to be worth reading separately here.
Common questions
What should a financial recruitment agency charge in Australia?
It varies by model, so compare like for like. As a reference point, our retained search fee is 18% of total remuneration with a minimum fee of 15%, and for senior finance roles at the stage we work in that lands in the region of $40,000 to $50,000. Every retained placement carries a six-month replacement guarantee. Read the guarantee terms rather than the headline: ask what triggers it, whether it is a replacement or a refund, and what happens if you decide not to refill the role.
Should I brief several agencies on the same role?
For high-volume transactional finance roles with deep active markets, that can work. For senior finance it usually destroys the search. When several agencies are competing on a contingent basis, nobody maps the market, because nobody wants to invest in work they might not be paid for. Everyone skims the same active pool at speed and the settled, strong candidates are never approached. One accountable firm on retained or exclusive terms produces a materially different result.
How do I tell a specialist from a generalist?
Ask for their reach in your specific segment, not their coverage map. A firm claiming every finance title across every industry has told you nothing. Then ask for three numbers in writing: time to shortlist, interview conversion off the shortlist, and two-year retention. For Australian senior finance, good looks like a shortlist in about five working days, roughly 75% of shortlisted candidates proceeding to interview, and 85% two-year retention. A firm that cannot produce those figures is not measuring its own work.
What does a good agency do differently at the brief stage?
It argues with you. A brief accepted without challenge means the agency plans to send CVs rather than solve the hiring problem. My own earlier approach offered no real challenge to the brief and no insight on timelines, expectations or market conditions, and it was hit and miss for exactly that reason. A good firm will test your salary against the market, question the title, and describe the real environment a candidate is walking into, before anything gets written down.
References
- 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 network: 28,000+ accounting and finance professionals across Australia, generating 2 million+ views per year.
- Tom Hunter on his earlier recruitment approach: it offered no real challenge to the brief and no insight on timelines, expectations or market conditions, which he considers a hit-and-miss strategy.
- 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: works primarily on retained and exclusive assignments to ensure quality and alignment for clients.
- 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).
- Tom Hunter on candidate experience: not every candidate will be successful, and it is about treating them with respect, providing clarity and offering honest feedback whether they get the job or not.