Recruitment Fees & Terms – Financial Services Recruitment UK
If you are hiring mortgage advisers, IFAs, paraplanners or financial services support staff, understanding recruitment fees and structures is important. This page outlines how recruitment typically works, the different fee models used and how we approach placements.
Types of recruitment fee structures
Percentage-based recruitment
- Fee based on salary or package
- Common for employed adviser roles
- Paid on successful placement
- Widely used across financial services
Retained search
- Part of the fee paid upfront
- Used for harder or confidential hires
- More structured search process
- Higher commitment from both sides
Flat fee recruitment
- Fixed cost agreed in advance
- Suitable for repeat or defined hires
- Clear budgeting for firms
- Requires a clear hiring brief
Success-based recruitment
- No upfront fee
- Payment only on placement
- Common for standard roles
- Less structured search process
What affects recruitment cost?
- Type of role, including mortgage adviser, IFA, paraplanner or administrator
- Experience level required
- Location and flexibility
- Lead model and earnings structure
- Brand strength and market positioning
- Speed, urgency and difficulty of the hire
Roles we recruit
Mortgage advisers
Employed, self-employed, AR and network roles across the UK.
Financial advisers / IFAs
Wealth planners, IFAs and financial advisers across employed and self-employed models.
Paraplanners
Technical support roles supporting financial planners and wealth firms.
Support staff
Administrators, operations and office-based financial services roles.
Why recruitment terms vary
Recruitment terms can vary depending on the level of search required. A standard, success-based hire is different from a confidential adviser search, a hard-to-fill paraplanner role or a retained assignment for a key person in the business.
The right structure depends on the role, the market, the level of urgency and how much dedicated search work is needed.
Recruitment fees are only one part of the decision. The real value is in finding the right person, reducing wasted time and improving long-term retention.
Request our recruitment terms
If you are hiring and want to understand how we structure recruitment, complete the form below and we will send the relevant information based on your hiring needs.
We can provide terms for mortgage adviser recruitment, IFA and wealth adviser recruitment, paraplanner recruitment and financial services support hires.