How to Attract Passive Candidates Who Aren’t Looking for Jobs

The Challenge of Finding Leadership Talent

For founders and CEOs of Series A to C startups, finding top leadership talent is never easy. The best candidates—C-suite executives, VPs, and senior managers—are often already leading high-performing teams. They’re not on job boards. They’re not browsing LinkedIn actively. Yet they could be exactly the leader your company needs to scale.

The problem? If you rely on transactional recruiting or contingent models, you may never reach these passive candidates. The wrong hire can cost millions, not only in salary but also lost time, stalled growth, and team disruption.

Why Common Recruiting Approaches Fail

Contingency recruiting seems low-risk because you only pay if a hire is made. But this model focuses on volume, not precision. Recruiters often recycle active job seekers and push resumes quickly, leaving founders with limited options and higher risk of mis-hires.

Large retained search firms bring credibility and networks, but they often charge a percentage of first-year salary and prioritize Fortune 500 clients over startups. For early-stage companies, this can mean slow processes and unpredictable costs.

Both approaches fall short when you need to engage executives who aren’t actively looking.

How Retained Search Unlocks Passive Talent

The key to accessing passive candidates is a committed, retained partnership. Retained recruiters invest time to understand your business, culture, and growth goals. They proactively identify, engage, and assess executives who aren’t applying online.

This approach ensures:

• Targeted outreach to the right leaders

• Deeper assessment for skills and cultural fit

• Higher retention rates and reduced risk of mis-hires

Passive candidates respond to tailored outreach, compelling company stories, and clear alignment with their career goals—something a transactional recruiter rarely has the bandwidth to deliver.

The High Altitude Advantage

At High Altitude Recruiting, we make retained search simple and startup-friendly.

We offer retained executive search for a flat $10k per search.Fixed, predictable, and never a surprise. No hidden fees.

This flat-fee model combines the dedication of a traditional retained search with complete cost transparency. We’ve placed over 75 C-Suite executives, 150 Directors and VPs, and more than 1,000 senior managers, with a 97% fill rate and 99% one-year retention.