Executive Search
Proactive, often confidential search for leadership and hard-to-fill specialist roles — for the people who aren’t applying to job postings.
The People You Want Aren’t Applying to Job Postings
Senior leaders and specialists who are genuinely good at their jobs are usually already employed, not browsing job boards. Filling a leadership or hard-to-fill specialist role through a standard posting mostly reaches people actively looking to leave — which is a narrower, often weaker pool than the market as a whole. Executive search works differently: proactive, targeted outreach to people who fit the role, whether or not they’re currently looking, often handled confidentially. For general and mid-level roles where a standard posting works fine, see our Hiring Employees page instead.
Albania For Business Sh.p.k. runs retained executive search for leadership and specialist roles — market mapping, confidential outreach, structured assessment, and support through offer, negotiation and onboarding.
EXECUTIVE SEARCH — RETAINED SEARCH
starting fee
PACKAGE OF EXECUTIVE SEARCH INCLUDES:
- In-depth role and organisational consultation
- Confidential search strategy and target candidate mapping
- Proactive outreach to passive candidates
- Structured interviews and competency assessment
- Reference and background verification
- Compensation negotiation support
- Compliant executive employment contract drafting
- Onboarding and first-90-days support
Retained Search vs. Contingency Recruitment
| Retained Search (Executive) | Contingency (Standard Hiring) | |
|---|---|---|
| Approach | Proactive, targeted outreach to a mapped market | Posting-based sourcing from active candidates |
| Commitment | Dedicated search with upfront engagement | Pay on successful placement only |
| Best suited to | Leadership, hard-to-fill or confidential roles | General and mid-level roles with a healthy active candidate pool |
| Typical timeline | Longer, given the depth of the search | Often faster, given the more accessible candidate pool |
Neither is universally better — a retained search is worth its cost specifically for roles where the right person is unlikely to be actively job-hunting.
When You Need Executive Search
- Replacing a departing leader, particularly where continuity and quality of hire matter more than speed.
- Building a leadership team for a new market entry into Albania.
- Hard-to-fill specialist or technical leadership roles where the candidate pool is genuinely small.
- Roles requiring discretion — for example, sourcing a replacement before an existing employee’s departure is public.
- Bringing in an experienced executive, Albanian or international, to run or scale a local operation.
Confidentiality Considerations
Many executive searches need to stay confidential — because you’re replacing someone who doesn’t yet know, because a public search would signal something to competitors or staff, or simply because senior candidates themselves generally expect discretion. We run searches under whatever confidentiality level the situation calls for, including limiting who at your organisation is informed at each stage, and how candidates are approached and described before terms are agreed.
Executive Search, Step by Step
- In-depth consultation — the role, organisational context and search brief, including confidentiality requirements.
- Market mapping — identifying the realistic pool of suitable candidates, active and passive.
- Confidential outreach — approaching target candidates directly.
- Structured assessment — competency-based interviews, reference and background verification.
- Shortlist presentation — a curated shortlist with our assessment, not just CVs.
- Offer & negotiation — compensation negotiation support and compliant contract drafting.
- Onboarding — support through the critical first 90 days.
What We Need From You
- The role, seniority, and why it needs a retained search rather than standard hiring.
- Organisational context — who the role reports to, team size, key objectives for the first year.
- Compensation range, or whether you need this benchmarked first.
- Confidentiality requirements — who should and shouldn’t know about the search.
- Your timeline and any hard deadlines driving the search.
Fee Schedule — Additional & Ongoing Services
Beyond the fixed package above, the following services are priced individually. Your adviser confirms an exact quotation once your structure, nationality and banking preference are known.
| Service | Indicative Fee |
|---|---|
| Executive search — senior manager/director level (as above) | from €2,000 |
| C-suite or board-level search | from €5,000 |
| Confidential replacement search (premium for discretion) | quoted individually |
| Relocation/expat placement support | quoted individually |
| Compensation benchmarking for the role (see Salary Benchmarking page) | from €250 |
| Standalone contract negotiation support | from €300 |
| Ongoing payroll & HR administration (see Payroll & HR page) | from €150 / month |
Posting a senior role publicly and hoping the right person applies is the single most common way an executive search fails before it starts — it mainly reaches people already job-hunting, which is a real but incomplete pool. If discretion matters, decide the confidentiality approach before any outreach begins, not once a candidate asks who else knows about the search.