It's one of the most common questions we get from founders and talent leaders: should we bring in an embedded recruiter or run a retained search? There's no universal right answer. It depends on what you're trying to solve.
The mistake most companies make is choosing a model based on familiarity rather than fit. Some default to a single search for every role because that's what they've always done. Others hear about embedded recruitment and assume it's always better. Neither is true. The right model is the one that matches your situation right now.
Here's how to work out which one that is.
Start with the question that matters most: is this a one-off hire?
If you need to fill a single role, one Account Executive, one VP of Sales, one Head of Marketing, a retained search is almost always the right model. You're not looking for an ongoing recruitment function. You need one specific person, found and placed properly.
Retained search is exclusive. One recruiter is fully committed to your role, the fee is staged across three milestones, and you receive a fully assessed shortlist in 10 to 15 working days. Most strong candidates aren't on job boards. They need to be identified, approached and persuaded, and a retained search gives us the time and commitment to do that.
Executive search is for VP and C-level hires. It goes a step further, with a deeper market map, a tailored approach to each candidate and advisory support through to offer.
If it's one hire, stop reading here. Retained or executive search is your answer.
Why not contingent?
Contingent agencies are paid only if their CV wins. That pushes them to spread effort across many clients and send volume, often the same candidates other agencies are sending. You end up triaging CVs instead of meeting people who can do the job. That's why we don't work on contingency. A retained search aligns our incentives with yours from day one.
If you have multiple roles, the question changes
Multiple concurrent hires is where the model decision gets more interesting. Running three separate searches across sales, marketing and RevOps means three briefing processes, three relationships to manage and three separate fees.
Embedded Recruitment solves this differently. One dedicated recruiter, fully integrated into your team, running concurrent searches across all your open GTM roles. They know your business, your culture and your hiring bar from day one, so the brief doesn't need to be re-explained for every new role.
For Series A and B companies building out a GTM function across several roles at once, embedded is significantly more efficient, both operationally and commercially.
Are you supporting an existing TA function or replacing one?
This is a distinction most agencies don't ask about, but it matters.
Some companies have an internal talent acquisition team that's stretched. They handle volume hiring across the business but don't have the specialist GTM network or SaaS market knowledge to fill commercial roles. In that case, you don't need embedded recruitment. You need a specialist partner to run specific GTM searches alongside your team, typically on a retained basis, with clear handoff points.
Embedded Recruitment is designed for companies that don't have an internal TA function yet. A dedicated recruiter operates as your talent team, running the full hiring process, representing your employer brand and owning the pipeline end to end. It works best when there's no TA infrastructure to plug into, because the embedded recruiter builds it alongside you.
If you have an internal TA team, the question isn't embedded vs retained. It's finding a specialist who can operate as a genuine extension of what you already have.
Are you covering a gap or a leave?
A fourth scenario comes up more than you'd think: your internal recruiter or TA lead is out, on maternity leave, sick leave or after a sudden departure, and there are live roles that need to keep moving.
This is where embedded recruitment fits well. A dedicated recruiter can step into the existing process, pick up active roles, keep candidate relationships warm and keep hiring moving without a gap. The engagement is scoped around the duration of the leave, which is exactly how embedded models are structured.
Running separate searches in a gap situation tends to create friction. You're briefing an external partner on several live roles at once, without the continuity of someone working inside your team and tools.
A simple decision framework
If you're still unsure, these four questions will get you to an answer:
How many roles do you need to fill? One → Retained search. Several → Embedded.
How senior is the hire? VP level or above → Executive search. Senior or niche individual contributor → Retained search.
Do you have an internal TA team? Yes → Specialist partner on a retained basis. No → Embedded.
Is this a short-term gap or an ongoing need? Short-term gap → Embedded for the duration. Ongoing → Embedded or RaaS, depending on commercial preference.
What about Recruitment as a Service?
RaaS is defined mainly by its commercial structure rather than its operating model. The fee is spread across 12 monthly instalments rather than paid as a lump sum per hire. If you're making several hires over a sustained period and want predictable monthly costs, RaaS may be the right commercial wrapper around an ongoing relationship.
The operating model is similar to embedded recruitment, a dedicated recruiter working as part of your team, but the fee is structured differently and includes 12 months of payment protection if a hire leaves.
You can read more about how RaaS works here.
The bottom line
There's no universally correct answer between embedded and retained recruitment. The right model depends on how many roles you're hiring for, how senior they are, whether you have internal TA support, and whether you're covering a gap or building an ongoing function.
If you're not sure which applies, that's exactly what a discovery call is for. Thirty minutes is enough to work through it and give you a clear recommendation, with no obligation either way.
Related reading:
