Contingency Recruiters for Consumer Goods & Retail
Permanent placements for managers and specialists across sales, marketing, operations and corporate functions, with the fee due only on a successful placement.
A vacant commercial leadership role in a consumer goods business costs more than the salary you have not paid. Category plans stall, retailer relationships drift, promotional calendars slip, and the rest of the team absorbs the gap while still carrying their own targets. SundryHall works as contingency recruiters for consumer goods and retail companies that need senior and specialist permanent hires made quickly, without lowering the bar on quality.
We are a contingency recruitment agency focused exclusively on consumer-facing businesses, including brands, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers across the United States. On a contingency engagement, you pay nothing until we place the right person, so our incentive is a hire who succeeds in the role, not a fee collected at any cost. You keep full control of the process, you can run us alongside your own sourcing, and you only ever see candidates we would be comfortable putting our name to.
What contingency recruitment means in practice
Contingency search is a success-fee model. We scope the role, source and screen candidates, and present a shortlist. Our fee becomes payable only when your chosen candidate accepts and starts. If we do not deliver, you owe nothing for the work. That structure makes the model low-risk to trial and keeps us accountable from the first conversation, because our commercial interest and your hiring outcome are the same thing.
This model suits permanent hiring where speed and market coverage matter, and where you may already be running an internal search or working another agency in parallel. There is no exclusivity requirement and no upfront retainer, so you can open a brief with us without pausing anything else you have in motion. It also suits companies that want to test a contingency search firm's capability before committing to a retained or exclusive relationship. A strong first placement is usually how a longer partnership begins.
At SundryHall, contingency recruiting is not a numbers game. Because our fee depends entirely on a successful placement, some agencies flood clients with lightly screened résumés and hope one lands. We take the opposite approach. Every contingent brief gets the same disciplined scoping, sourcing, and assessment we apply to executive search, because a wrong permanent hire costs your business far more than the fee at stake.
The practical trade-off is worth stating plainly. Because payment depends on a placement, contingency work is best suited to roles with a genuine candidate market and a decision-making process that can move at pace. For highly confidential appointments, very narrow niches, or senior leadership mandates where depth of search matters more than speed, a retained or exclusive arrangement is usually the better fit, and we will tell you that upfront rather than take a brief we cannot serve well.
Roles we fill on a contingency basis
Our contingency search firm recruits for permanent positions across commercial, operational, and corporate functions in the consumer goods and retail industry. Typical mandates include sales and account management, marketing and brand, and supply chain and logistics. We also handle category management, buying, and merchandising appointments. At the management and executive level, our work extends to corporate functions such as finance, HR, and information technology.
The sectors we serve reflect where our candidate networks are deepest: FMCG, food and beverage, beauty and personal care, and grocery and specialty retail. This is a selection, not an exhaustive list. If your brief sits outside these areas, contact us and we will tell you straight whether we can help.
Contingency search works best for roles where the candidate pool is active and reachable, and where speed matters as much as fit: specialists, team leads, and mid-level managers. For roles that are highly confidential, newly created, or sit at the top of the organization, a retained approach is usually the better fit, and we will say so rather than take a brief we cannot serve properly.
How our contingency search process works
Contingency search only works when the process behind it is disciplined. Every engagement we run follows the same structured six-step process, so you know exactly what to expect from the first scoping conversation through to the new hire's first day and beyond. You pay nothing until the right person is in place, but the work starts the moment you brief us.
Role scoping
We take a full brief covering the role itself, the reporting line, the commercial context, the team the hire will join, and what success looks like in the first twelve months. We also agree on salary range, seniority level, and any non-negotiables before we go to market, because a vague brief produces a vague shortlist and wastes everybody's time.
Market mapping and sourcing
Our recruiters map the relevant talent pool, search our established sector network, and headhunt directly into target organizations. That combination reaches active candidates who are openly looking and, just as importantly, the passive talent who are performing well in their current roles and never appear on job boards or applicant databases.
Screening and assessment
We interview every credible candidate against your brief rather than forwarding résumés. We test sector knowledge, leadership track record, cultural fit, and genuine motivation for the move, including whether their salary expectations and notice period actually work for you. Anyone who does not stand up to that scrutiny does not reach your inbox.
Shortlist presentation
You receive a focused shortlist of properly qualified candidates, each with clear notes on background, strengths, motivation, and any points worth probing at interview. The aim is a shortlist you can act on immediately, so every interview you run is worth the time you give it.
Offer management
We manage expectations on salary, benefits, notice periods, and counteroffer risk on both sides throughout the final stages. Candidates are prepared for the conversations they will have with their current employer, and you get honest feedback on where an offer is likely to land, which materially reduces the chance of a late-stage collapse.
Placement aftercare
We stay in contact with both you and the new hire through onboarding and the early months in the role, flagging any issues while they are still easy to fix. A successful search is measured by retention and performance a year in, not by the start date on the contract.
Why consumer goods companies choose SundryHall
Generalist agencies can fill a spreadsheet with names. What they usually cannot do is tell you which candidate has actually managed a national grocery account, launched a D2C channel, or run a seasonal supply chain through peak. We can, because the consumer goods and retail industry is the only market we work in.
That sector focus shapes the service in practical ways. Our recruiters understand the pressures that define the category (retailer margin negotiations, promotional cycles, private label competition, and brand portfolio management), so screening conversations test real commercial experience instead of surface-level keyword matches. We can tell the difference between someone who has sat in a joint business planning meeting and someone who has only read about one.
Our talent networks have been built inside the sector over time, through repeat placements and long-running relationships with commercial, marketing, supply chain, and operations professionals. That depth is what allows us to move quickly without cutting corners on assessment: the first conversation with a strong candidate is often a continuation of one we started months or years ago, not a cold approach.
We keep shortlists short. Three to five well-qualified candidates, each with a real reason to move, will outperform a dozen loosely matched résumés every time. Every shortlist comes with context (why the person is open, what they have actually owned, and where the risks are), so your interview time is spent deciding rather than filtering.
On a contingent basis, that discipline counts for even more. You see the quality of our work, and the relevance of the people we put forward, before you have paid anything. If the shortlist is not right, we go back and get it right; the commercial risk sits with us, not with you.
Contingency, retained, or exclusive: choosing the right terms
Contingency recruitment works best for management and senior permanent roles where a broad, fast search is the priority. You only pay on a successful placement, which keeps the risk with us and makes it a sensible default for roles with an active candidate market. For the most senior executive appointments, or for confidential searches where discretion is critical, we may recommend a retained or exclusive structure instead. A retained search commits dedicated research time to a defined shortlist, while an exclusive contingency agreement, where we hold the brief solely for a defined period, often delivers the strongest results on hard-to-fill roles, because it lets us commit full sourcing resources and approach the market with a single consistent message rather than competing with other agencies on speed alone.
We will give you a straight view on which model fits your situation, backed by the market insight to support it, including salary benchmarking, talent mapping, and a clear-eyed read of how competitive your brief is. If the role is mis-scoped or the package is off-market, we would rather tell you before the search begins than after it fails. Terms are agreed in writing up front, so you know exactly what the fee structure, any guarantee terms, and the search timeline look like before any work starts.
Frequently asked questions about contingency and permanent recruitment
Below are the questions hiring managers and HR leaders ask us most often about how contingency recruitment works, what it costs, and how SundryHall approaches permanent and executive search in consumer goods and retail.
What does a contingency recruitment agency charge?
Our fee is agreed in writing before the search begins. The exact terms depend on the seniority and complexity of the role, and they are confirmed upfront so there are no surprises later. Because the engagement is contingency-based, nothing is payable unless we fill the position, so you carry no cost for a search that does not result in a hire.
How quickly can you deliver a shortlist?
Timelines depend on the seniority of the role and the scarcity of the skill set. A well-defined management position in a strong talent market moves faster than a niche executive brief where the candidate pool is small. We set realistic expectations at briefing, then keep you informed as the search develops, so you always know where things stand and can plan your interview process around it.
Do you recruit temporary or junior staff?
No. SundryHall focuses on permanent, management-level, and executive recruitment within consumer goods and retail; contract and interim appointments at manager level and above run through our interim practice. That focus is intentional, since it is where our networks and market knowledge add the most value. If your requirement sits outside that remit, we will say so at the first conversation rather than take on a brief we are not best placed to deliver.
Where do you operate?
We work with clients across the United States, with offices in Atlanta, Marlborough, Parsippany, and Cheyenne. Most of our search work is delivered nationally, so the location of our offices does not limit where we can source candidates or who we can place for you.
Start your search
If you have a permanent vacancy in your commercial, operational, or corporate team, brief us. You will get a straight-talking assessment of the market, a structured search, and a shortlist built for your business, with no fee until the right person starts.
Call us at +1 888-202-9809 or email [email protected] to discuss your hire with a consultant who knows your sector.
Brief us on the role you need to fill
Tell us about the position, the location and the timeline. A consultant who works your sector will follow up to talk through how we would run the search.