Close it
Retained work does not fail on volume. It fails on the second tranche nobody invoiced.
The schedule
Sequence, trigger, amount — held on the placement.
On engagement, on shortlist delivered, on start date, or whatever the engagement letter actually said. A tranche fires on its trigger, or is released by hand when the client agrees the stage is done, and the invoice follows from there.
- 1₹4,50,000Invoiced
On engagement
Tranche 1 of 3
- 2₹4,50,000Released
On shortlist delivered
Tranche 2 of 3
- 3₹4,50,000Pending
On start date
Tranche 3 of 3
Guarantee active
90 days from the start date, counted by the product rather than remembered by the account manager.
If it breaks
The breach is recorded against the placement, the replacement search is linked to it, and the credit note follows.
- A submit-by deadline, counted down —
A date on the assignment, with the days remaining on the working recruiter's dashboard and a this-week list — which is a different and more useful thing than a note about exclusivity.
- Exclusivity is a mode, not a date —
Exclusive, non-exclusive, or retained first look. Set on the assignment, so a firm brought in later knows what it is walking into.
- A tranche is a percentage or a flat amount —
So a 30/30/40 engagement letter survives a fee renegotiation without anybody recalculating three rows.
- A milestone fires the moment it happens —
A stage being reached drafts the matching tranche's invoice inside the same action — not on a nightly job that runs after you have gone home.
- An invoiced tranche locks —
You cannot edit or delete a tranche that has already drafted, sent or been paid, and forcing one twice does not double-invoice.
- Nothing is published unless you publish it —
A search exists without a posting, so confidential assignments stay off any careers page.
- Guarantees tracked, not remembered —
Counted by the product, with the breach flow behind it.
Being straight about fit
What we do not do, and one thing to ask about.
›Can we bill the first tranche at engagement, before anyone is placed?
Ask us to show you this one specifically. A tranche schedule currently hangs off a placement record, which expects a client, a close date and an agreed fee — so holding an engagement-stage tranche today is a conversation about how the record is set up, not a checkbox. It is the most important question on this page for a pure retained firm.
›Do you do market mapping or off-limits tracking?
No. Neither ships. We are strong once you are talking to people — the evidence from those conversations, the client-facing side of the search and the commercial layer underneath. If mapping is central to how your firm works, say so on the call and we will tell you plainly where we fit and where we do not.
›We run contingency work as well.
Both fit in the same list. Terms are set per assignment — a retained schedule on one, fee terms and a submission cap on another.
Book a demo
Model a real engagement letter.
Bring the tranche structure you actually use and we will set it up live.