How search fees are calculated
Across the market, executive search and headhunting fees in Vietnam are calculated as a percentage of the appointed candidate's first-year total cash compensation. That normally means base salary plus guaranteed allowances and any contractually guaranteed bonus. It does not normally include discretionary bonus, equity or benefits in kind, though definitions vary between firms and that variation is where quotes stop being comparable.
Before you compare two proposals, establish three things: what sits inside the compensation base, when the invoice is raised, and what the replacement guarantee actually covers. Two firms quoting the same percentage can differ substantially once those three are settled.
Our model
We will give you the exact percentage for your role in writing before any work starts. It varies with seniority and with how narrow the pool is, and quoting a single number here for every mandate would be misleading.
Why success-based rather than retained
Retained search is a legitimate model and for some mandates it is the better one. It funds genuine research depth, it gives the firm an incentive to stay with a difficult brief, and for board-level or highly confidential work it is often the right structure. We are not going to pretend otherwise.
We chose a success-based model because it suits the clients we work with - companies that want to see a shortlist before they commit money, and who would rather the firm carried the risk of a brief that turns out to be unrealistic. It also forces a discipline on us: if we take a mandate we cannot fill, we have worked for nothing, so we are honest at the briefing stage about whether a role is fillable as written.
A fuller comparison of the two models sets out when each one makes sense.
What the guarantee covers
Executive placements carry a 60-day replacement guarantee. High-volume recruitment runs on a different mechanism - replacement on a per-person basis within 30 days - and the two should not be confused when comparing proposals.
A replacement guarantee is not insurance against every outcome. Guarantees across the industry typically exclude redundancy, restructuring, a material change to the role after the start date, and non-payment of the original invoice. Ask any firm you are considering to show you the exclusions in writing. The exclusions tell you more about a firm than the headline percentage does.
What a search actually costs you
The fee is the visible number. The number that matters more is the cost of getting the hire wrong.
A director-level mis-hire in Vietnam typically costs the recruitment fee itself, several months of salary, the opportunity cost of a function running without a leader while the search restarts, and - the expensive one - the decisions made or not made during that period. For a commercial leadership role in a growth market, that last item can dwarf everything else on the list.
That is the comparison we would encourage you to make. Not fee against fee, but fee against the cost of a second search twelve months from now. It is also why we would rather turn down a mandate than fill it with a candidate we are not confident in.
If you are shopping on price
You will find firms in Vietnam quoting materially below the market. Sometimes that is a lean operation passing on a genuine cost advantage. More often it is a database search with a reformatted CV attached, and for a senior role that is not the same product.
The question to ask is not what the percentage is, but what the firm will actually do. Will they map the market and show you the map? Will they approach people who are not looking? Will they write an honest assessment, including the gaps? If the answer to those is no, the fee is irrelevant because you are buying something different.
Common questions
Is the fee calculated on monthly or annual salary?
Annual. Specifically, a percentage of the appointed candidate's first-year total cash compensation. Quotes expressed as a multiple of monthly salary are a different convention and need converting before you can compare them.
When do you invoice?
On the candidate's start date, with standard payment terms set out in the engagement letter. There is nothing payable before that.
What if we hire a candidate you introduced for a different role?
The fee applies to the role actually filled, calculated on that role's compensation. The engagement letter covers this.
Do you charge separately for talent mapping?
Not when it forms part of a live search mandate. A standalone mapping exercise with no search attached is scoped separately.
Do you work on high-volume hiring too?
Yes, as a separate practice with its own commercial terms and its own replacement mechanism. The figures and guarantees on this page apply to executive search only.