One percentage hides most of what you are paying for.
This guide lays out the real fee bands in the Indian market, what sits behind each one, and how a founder should judge whether a fee is worth it. Treat the figures as current market ranges and replace them with Talhive's published bands before you rely on them.
Search fees are quoted as a single percentage, which hides almost everything that determines whether you are overpaying.
If you have ten minutes before a hiring review, read only this.
How search fees are structured in India.
Almost all search work in India is priced as a percentage of the hire's first-year cost to company. The two structures differ in when you pay and what you are paying for.
a success-only fee, paid as a percentage of CTC once a candidate joins. Nothing is owed if the role goes unfilled.
a higher percentage paid in milestones across the search, in exchange for an exclusive, accountable process.
occasionally used for volume or junior roles, decoupled from salary.
Planning a hire like this? Tell us the role and we will map the right approach within a week.
Book a consultation →Contingent fee bands.
Contingent fees look cheaper because the cost is concentrated in one visible invoice. The hidden cost is candidate quality variance and the screening time you absorb.
Executive search fee bands.
An executive search fee buys exclusivity and a defined process. For a leadership hire where the best candidates are off-market, that process is the product, not the candidate database.
What the fee actually buys.
Two firms quoting the same percentage can deliver very different value. The fee should cover a real market map, direct outreach to passive candidates, structured assessment against the role, and a replacement guarantee. If a fee covers only a database search and a CV forward, the percentage is too high regardless of the number.
The right way to judge a fee is against the cost of getting the hire wrong. For a senior role, a mis-hire commonly costs 1.5 to 2 times salary once you count severance, lost momentum, and a re-run search. Seen against that, the gap between a contingent and an executive search fee is small. Our case studies show what that process delivers in practice.
Where a specialist partner changes the outcome.
Leadership hires are where a wrong decision costs the most. Executive search is built to reach the passive candidates these roles need and to test fit before anyone reaches you.
Brief → The mandate is pressure-tested with the founder before any outreach.
Market map → The real market is mapped, not just the active one, and shared before candidates.
Assessment → Motivation, closing variables and fit are tested before you invest time in a candidate.
Fees → Executive search with milestone-based fees: 20% Search Activation Fee, 10% on offer acceptance, 70% after the hire completes 30 days.
Discuss a mandate →Real mandates, real numbers.
Four earlier offer-stage declines. Motivation was treated as something to investigate rather than assume, and tested before the client invested time in any candidate.
A Head of Engineering, two AI Engineers and a Product Analyst. Each role sat in a different talent market and needed a different read on what strong looked like.
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