Many times retained search occurs (up-front payments) for C level recruiting, E.G. ~33% up-front, ~33% for candidate identification / interviews, ~33% on hire. Or 50% retained fee up-front, and 50% on-hire. C-level recruiting (from my chats with a few "executive recruiters" in the past, no personal experience) tend to be highly network / old-boy based (of course), and is a completely different industry then "recruiting" as most know it.
Retained search does occur for specialized firms, typically >$100,000 salaries in roles such as hedge fund analysts / developers, Sr Director's of large scale companies (MS for example) and the like.
Hopefully an actual Exec recruiter at the C level (so different then Sr VP / Director) will chime in, but they are probably out doing dinners and golfing with potential candidates and clientele in megacorps.
Retained search does occur for specialized firms, typically >$100,000 salaries in roles such as hedge fund analysts / developers, Sr Director's of large scale companies (MS for example) and the like.
Hopefully an actual Exec recruiter at the C level (so different then Sr VP / Director) will chime in, but they are probably out doing dinners and golfing with potential candidates and clientele in megacorps.