Most mid-to-senior talent isn't on the job boards — they're heads-down at their current job, taking calls only from people they trust. We've spent five years building those relationships. Tell us the role; we'll work our network and put real, warm-introduced candidates in your inbox within a week. No retainer. No fixed percentage. You decide what we're worth after we deliver.
HR leaders, founders and senior professionals in the active HRsays network
Mid-to-senior hires made in the last 18 months — ₹40L to ₹2Cr CTC bands
Average time from role-posted to first warm-introduced candidate
Retainer or upfront fee — you decide what we're worth, only after you hire
A great VP of Engineering doesn't scroll Naukri on a Sunday. A CHRO at a unicorn isn't updating her TimesJobs profile. They take calls from peers, mentors and ex-colleagues — not cold recruiters.
HRsays Talent exists because the best mid-to-senior hires happen through warm relationships. Five years of building the Indian HR-tech community means we've built exactly that network.
of senior hires in India are made through referrals or executive search — not job boards. The numbers get starker the higher you go.
average time-to-hire for a Director-and-above role through traditional channels — with ₹3-8L typically spent on a retainer search.
Whether you're hiring or being hired — the steps are honest, the timeline is short, and the conversation is human.
A senior position you can't find on the boards. Or you've been searching for months. Or you simply don't want to spend ₹5L on a retainer that might not deliver.
Tired of cold recruiter calls about roles that don't fit? Want to be in front of curated, real opportunities — quietly, without your current employer seeing your activity?
Job boards have a database. Headhunters have a Rolodex. We've spent five years writing for, advising and being read by exactly the people you're trying to reach.
85,000 HR leaders and founders read our newsletter. 18,000 of them are active in our community. When we ask, "we're looking for a VP of Engineering for a Series-C FinTech in Bengaluru" — the right names come back within hours. That's the unfair advantage.
"They came back with three candidates in five days. Two of them weren't even open to switching when first contacted."
No retainer. No upfront. No percentage we slip into a contract. You pay only if we deliver a hire who actually joins — and you decide what the result was worth. The model only works if we're consistently helpful. So we are.
"We've worked with three retained-search firms. Spent ₹14L combined. HRsays delivered the right CFO in eleven days and we paid them what we paid one shortlisting alone."
For senior hires, confidentiality is the whole game. Your role doesn't get posted on a board. Candidate profiles don't get sprayed to a list. Conversations stay one-on-one until both sides are ready. Whether you're hiring or being hired — nobody finds out unless you want them to.
"I was approached for a CHRO role at a unicorn while still at my old company. HRsays handled the entire conversation without ever putting either of us at risk."
We don't quote retainers. We don't charge 8.33% of first-year CTC. We don't even ask for a credit card. Here's how it actually works:
We put real, warm-introduced candidates in front of you in seven days. If you hire one of them and they join, you tell us what the hire was worth to you. Flat fee. Percentage. Milestone-based. Some clients pay on day-one, some pay only after probation clears. We work with whatever model feels right to you.
The reason this works: we're a media company first. We're paid in trust, not transactions. If we lowball ourselves, we lose money. If we shake you down, we lose your future business and your referrals. The economics align our incentives with yours.
Our sweet spot is the mid-to-senior layer that's hardest to fill through traditional channels. We've made hires from ₹40L to ₹2Cr+ CTC across 60+ functions.
For founders, CEOs and boards filling out the leadership table — from CFO to CHRO to CTO.
VPs and Directors who own a P&L or run a 30-200 person function. The hardest layer to find on boards.
High-impact individual contributors and principal-level talent — technical, financial, regulatory.
For early-stage companies hiring founding team, or established companies hiring rare-skill specialists.
"We'd been searching for a VP Engineering for four months — two retained-search firms, ₹6L burnt, nothing landed. HRsays sent us three names in five days. We hired the second one. He's been with us 14 months now. We paid them ₹5L total, on our own terms."
"I wasn't actively looking. HRsays reached out about a CHRO role at a Series-C company. The whole process — intro, interview, offer — was discreet and human. Six months later I sent them a thank-you cheque. They'd earned every rupee."
Tell us about the role, your company, and what you've already tried. Our team will work the network and come back with 3-5 candidates — pre-screened, warm-introduced — within a week. No retainer. No commitment.
Share your profile and what you'd move for. If we see a real match with an active employer search, we'll reach out within 5 working days. Strictly confidential — we never share your profile without your explicit OK.
We surveyed 220 senior people leaders across Indian companies on what's working and what isn't in mid-to-senior hiring — retainer search, internal mobility, employee referrals, network sourcing. The numbers tell a clear story.
An honest, vendor-agnostic look at the economics of executive search in India. When does retained search make sense? When are you overpaying?
Our internal framework for interviewing senior candidates — the questions that actually separate strong operators from impressive resumes.
Conversations with seven Series-B/C founders about their first senior leadership hire. The patterns, the regrets, the right questions to ask in interview round three.
Real CTC data from 1,200+ hires made across the HRsays network in the last 18 months. Cuts by function, stage, geography and experience level.
A practical guide to staying on the radar of executive recruiters, network-led searches and headhunters — while never sending a signal to your current employer.
Have a question we haven't covered? Email [email protected] — we reply within two working days.
Tell us what you're looking for — a senior hire, or your next move. Either way, the next step is a five-minute brief.
Chennai is an important employment hub in Tamilnadu with approximately 3200000 active job seekers, 450000 employers, and more than 1250000 registered businesses. Employers across manufacturing, retail, logistics, healthcare, construction, agriculture and service sectors generate an estimated 2200000 vacancies annually.
By 2028, the number of job seekers in Chennai is projected to reach 4100000 while the number of active companies is expected to increase to approximately 1900000. Continued investments, infrastructure development, industrial expansion and skill-development initiatives are expected to strengthen employment opportunities across the district.
