Some firms are flexible with the fees, dropping their rates to as low as 20 percent — particularly for highly prized customers. Still others require a stiff 40 percent of the candidate's first year compensation.

But the 33 percent rule remains an industry standard. What isn't an industry standard: a contract that does not stipulate that a candidate will stay on the job for a year once an offer is accepted. Mestepey notes that search firms usually guarantee that a prospective hire will stay in a position for a set period of time. Typically, the worker warranty ranges from a year to 18 months. So a three-to-six month warranty is a sign that a search firm is not willing to stand by its work — a bad sign.

If the executive leaves the position while the warranty is still in force, the search firm runs another search — at its own expense. There are a few exceptions, including change of ownership at a company or a substantial change in the employee's responsibilities.

Of course, some CFOs may be unwilling to swallow a 33 percent fee, with or without a warranty. Herbert Birman, CFO of MIS AG North America, says the pricing models of retained-fee recruiters wasn't cost-effective for the $65 million-in-sales company. He points out that MIS regularly hires sales executives at annual salaries between $70,000 and $100,000.

Birman's alternative? The CFO of the privately held, Newark, N.J.-based company uses the self-serve, Internet-based Monster.com to fill all the company's job vacancies.

Birman is not alone. As we've noted, an increasing number of companies are turning to virtual job sites to help fill staff positions.

5. A Small Circle of Friends
Back when he was a Silicon Valley executive (and search-firm client), James Wright says he had real trouble trying to hire a new vice president of marketing for his employer. Why? Four out of the five final candidates the search firm sent him, he recalls, listed CBS Television Network as a current or former employer.

To Wright, that C.V. line item was a sure sign that the recruiter never widened the search beyond his current contacts. "Some search firms try to sell you what they know," warns Wright, "not what you need."

A few early slip-ups doesn't necessarily mean the search firm is off-base, however. Wright, who now runs information technology recruiter Radican Staffing in Providence, R.I., concedes there's a great deal of give-and-take in the selection process. One sure way to gauge how the search is going: the candidates should be getting closer to the mark as the hunt progress.

Search consultant Moyer says clients would be well served to keep track of how many candidates are left over from previous searches. After only a month of investigation, he notes, it's acceptable if a few candidates are pulled from the search firm's existing files. But by the second month of the engagement, all candidates should be culled specifically for the current search.

How to spot recycled candidates? Ask the search firm if the candidate was developed for your specific assignment, and how they found the candidate. Then, during interviews, ask candidates how long they've worked with the search firm and when the search executives contacted them.

6. Not Up-Front About Hands-Off
Twenty years ago, search executives seemed more like magicians than management consultants. Moyer, who opened his own shop in 1991, recalls how recruiters would show up for a client meeting, scribble down information, disappear, and rematerialize with a slate of candidates weeks later. "It was a black art," he jokes.

Not any longer. Transparency is the real trick to successful searches these days, says Los Angeles-based executive agent, Neal Lenarsky of STI. But even Lenarsky concedes that not all search firms are as clear about their practices as they could be.

Take the so-called hands-off policy. A standard promulgated by the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC), the policy dictates that a search firm refrain from recruiting from existing clients (generally, for one to two years after completing an assignment).

Veteran recruiters say the policy can be a real hindrance for large multinational search firms — firms that generally have extensive client rosters. Conversely, the hands-off policy gives small boutique firms a bit of a leg up, since they tend to run into fewer conflicts of interest when lining up job candidates.

Still, hiring experts note that big search firms maintain big data bases, and thus have access to far greater pools of executive talent. Problems do arise, however, when a recruiter is less than forthcoming about its hands-off policy. In fact, industry insiders confirm that clients are sometimes completely unaware that such a policy exists.

That can spell trouble, particularly when an employer does not know that certain companies — or even sectors — are off-limits to a recruiter.

IBM's board of directors was apparently aware of this ethical restraint placed on recruiters when it reportedly hired two executive search firms to help find a new chief executive in 1993. Heidrick & Struggles eventually led IBM to Lou Gerstner, who signed on as the company's new CEO.

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