New The talent arm of HRsays — built on five years of HR-leader relationships

The hire you
can't find on Naukri.
In seven days.

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.

★★★★★ 4.9 / 5 from 180+ employers & 1,200+ candidates 7-day promise · zero retainer
3 warm intros · day 6 From the HRsays network
Pay what you decide No retainer · No fixed %
Your search brief
Day 6 of 7
The role
TitleVP People · Series-C FinTech
LocationBengaluru · Hybrid
CTC band₹85L — ₹1.1Cr fixed
Candidates from our network All warm-intro'd
A Anika R.
Currently CHRO · 320-person SaaS · Bengaluru
Strong fit
R Rohan P.
Sr. Director HR · Late-stage FinTech · Mumbai
Strong fit
M Meera S.
Ex-VP People · 2x IPO journeys
Good fit
18,000+

HR leaders, founders and senior professionals in the active HRsays network

220+

Mid-to-senior hires made in the last 18 months — ₹40L to ₹2Cr CTC bands

6.4 days

Average time from role-posted to first warm-introduced candidate

0%

Retainer or upfront fee — you decide what we're worth, only after you hire

Why job boards stop working at this level

For senior talent,
the best candidates aren't looking.

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.

"
73%

of senior hires in India are made through referrals or executive search — not job boards. The numbers get starker the higher you go.

"
90 days

average time-to-hire for a Director-and-above role through traditional channels — with ₹3-8L typically spent on a retainer search.

How HRsays Talent works

One process. Two sides.
Both move fast.

Whether you're hiring or being hired — the steps are honest, the timeline is short, and the conversation is human.

For employers

You're trying to fill a role

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.

  1. Post the role Five-minute brief: title, level, CTC band, location, must-haves, why this role matters. No NDA needed.
  2. We work our network Our team taps the HRsays community — senior HR leaders, founders, ex-colleagues, alumni groups — for warm leads. Not databases. Not scraping.
  3. Get 3-5 warm intros in 7 days Pre-screened candidates with a one-page memo on each: background, why they're open, salary expectations, why we think they fit.
  4. You hire. You decide what we're worth Once your candidate accepts and joins, you tell us what the hire was worth to you. Flat fee, percentage of CTC, milestone-based — whatever feels fair.
For candidates

You're looking for your next role

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?

  1. Share your profile Resume, current role, where you're open to going, what you'd move for. Strictly confidential — we never share without your explicit OK.
  2. We map you to live searches Our team cross-checks your background against active employer briefs. If we see a real match, we'll reach out within 5 working days.
  3. Warm intro to the right hiring manager No application black holes. We connect you with the actual decision-maker, with context on both sides. You decide whether to take the conversation forward.
  4. You join. Optional thank-you If we help you land the role, you tell us what the help was worth. A month's salary, a flat fee, nothing — we don't insist. The relationship matters more.
Why HRsays Talent — and not a job board or a headhunter

We're a network first.
A talent service second.

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.

The network is already there

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."

Zero risk on pricing

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."

Discreet by design

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."

The unusual part

You decide what we're worth.
Only after we deliver.

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.

What real clients have paid

Sample of last 30 hires
₹1.5Lflat fee
Series-A startup, 30-person team, hired Head of Product (₹65L CTC). Founder felt this was right because we sourced the candidate but the founder did most of the closing himself.
8%of first-year CTC
Mid-market services firm, hired VP Sales (₹1.2Cr CTC) — paid ₹9.6L. They'd previously paid 18% to retained-search firms; chose 8% as a fair "split the savings" with us.
₹4Lpost-probation
Series-C SaaS, hired CHRO (₹95L CTC). Paid us only after the candidate completed 90 days, in their words "to make sure HRsays' incentive aligned with the placement actually working".
1 month's
salarycandidate-side
Senior PM moved from a mid-tier startup to a unicorn (₹85L CTC). Paid us one month's post-tax salary voluntarily, six months after joining. Said "I'd have paid 2 months and still felt this was a steal".
Roles we typically cover

From Director to CXO.
Across functions, across industries.

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.

C-Suite

CXO & founding team hires

For founders, CEOs and boards filling out the leadership table — from CFO to CHRO to CTO.

CEO / COO CFO / Finance CHRO / CPO CTO / CISO CMO / CRO
Typical CTC: ₹1Cr — ₹2.5Cr
VP & Director

Function leaders & senior heads

VPs and Directors who own a P&L or run a 30-200 person function. The hardest layer to find on boards.

VP Engineering VP Product VP Sales VP People Head of Marketing GM / BU Head
Typical CTC: ₹60L — ₹1.2Cr
Senior IC / Specialist

Senior specialists & principal roles

High-impact individual contributors and principal-level talent — technical, financial, regulatory.

Principal Engineer Staff PM Senior Architect Finance Controller Sr. Compliance Senior Data Sci.
Typical CTC: ₹40L — ₹80L
Niche & founding

Hard-to-find specialists & founding hires

For early-stage companies hiring founding team, or established companies hiring rare-skill specialists.

Founding engineers Heads of growth Regulatory leads M&A leads Fundraising heads Plus 40+ others
Typical CTC: ₹50L — ₹1.5Cr
Both sides of the table

What employers and candidates
actually say afterwards.

From an employer
"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."
R
Ramesh Iyer Co-founder & CEO · 80-person B2B SaaS, Bengaluru
From a candidate
"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."
N
Nisha Bhatia CHRO · Series-C consumer-tech company, Mumbai
Get started in 5 minutes

Tell us what you're looking for.
We'll do the work.

For employers

Five minutes now.
Three warm intros in seven days.

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.

  • Zero upfront cost No retainer, no advance, no credit card. You pay only after the candidate joins.
  • Seven-day promise First warm-introduced candidate within 7 working days — or your search costs you nothing, ever.
  • Strictly confidential The role isn't posted publicly. Conversations happen one-on-one. Even your company name stays private unless you want otherwise.
  • You set the price Once you hire, you decide what the search was worth. Flat fee, percentage, milestone-based — your call.
  • Replacement if it doesn't work out If the candidate leaves in the first 90 days, we re-run the search at no additional cost.

Post a role

5 min · 7-day reply
1About your company
2About the role
3What you'd pay us (you decide)
Your proposed service charge

No fixed percentage, no quotes — we're asking what feels fair to you. This isn't a final number; it's a starting conversation. Picked from the structures real clients have used.

For reference: Last 30 hires saw amounts ranging from ₹1L flat to 10% of CTC. Median is ~₹3-4L for a ₹60L-1Cr role, or 4-6% of first-year CTC. Many clients prefer "let's talk once it works" — entirely fine.
4How we reach you

Your role brief stays with our team. Never posted publicly. Never shared without your permission.

For candidates

Quiet, curated,
and never on Naukri.

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.

  • 100% confidential Your profile is reviewed only by our team. Never auto-sent. Never visible in searches. Your current employer will not see your activity.
  • Warm intros, not applications When we match you, you talk to the actual hiring manager — not an HR funnel. No CV black holes.
  • Curated, not spammy We only reach out if we genuinely think the role fits. You won't hear from us about every random opening.
  • Pay-what-feels-right (optional) If we help you land a role and you want to recognize the help, you decide what feels right — nothing is the most popular answer for many candidates, and that's fine.

Share your profile

5 min · confidential
1About you
2Where you are today
3What you're looking for
4Resume
5 If we help you land a role · entirely optional
If this works out, what feels fair to you?

Most candidates pay us nothing — and that's genuinely fine.

Quick note: Our economics come from the employer side, not from candidates.

Your details are strictly confidential. Never shared without your explicit OK.

From the HRsays desk

The hiring conversation,
told honestly.

Browse 240+ HRsays articles
Featured · 15 min read

The state of senior hiring in India 2026: how 200+ CHROs are actually filling their leadership roles.

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.

Analysis

Why retained-search firms charge 25% — and when it's actually worth it.

An honest, vendor-agnostic look at the economics of executive search in India. When does retained search make sense? When are you overpaying?

Playbook

The 12-question framework for evaluating a Director-level hire (free template).

Our internal framework for interviewing senior candidates — the questions that actually separate strong operators from impressive resumes.

Founder series

How seven founders made their first VP hire — and what they wish they'd done differently.

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.

Compensation

The 2026 mid-to-senior CTC benchmark report: ₹40L to ₹3Cr across 18 functions.

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.

Candidate-side

For senior professionals: how to be open to opportunities without putting your current role at risk.

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.

FAQ

The honest answers,
before you submit.

Have a question we haven't covered? Email [email protected] — we reply within two working days.

You could. Honestly, a few clients have lowballed us — and we've still worked with them on the second search, just less aggressively. The model works because mid-to-senior hires aren't one-off events; they're relationships. Clients who pay what feels fair get our best people back on speed dial. Clients who burn the relationship don't. Over time, the lowballers find themselves with worse access. It's self-correcting.
Across our last 30 hires: median for a ₹60L-1Cr role was around ₹3-4L (roughly 4-5% of first-year CTC). For ₹1Cr+ roles, median was 5-8%. The cheapest was ₹1L flat (a small startup we've helped repeatedly); the highest was ~10% of CTC for a niche regulatory hire that had taken the client a year to find. Most clients land between 3-7%.
Neither. We're a media company that built a 85K-reader newsletter and an 18K-member professional community over five years. The talent arm leverages that network for warm-introduced hires. We don't maintain a job database; we don't scrape LinkedIn; we don't cold-call candidates from a pre-bought list. Each search is run by hand against our actual relationships.
You owe us nothing — ever. The 7-day promise is a hard commitment. If we don't put a warm-introduced candidate in front of you within 7 working days, the search remains open and there's zero cost to you, regardless of how long it eventually takes (or doesn't). We hit the 7-day mark on 88% of searches we accept.
No. Your profile is never displayed publicly, never shows up in a search, and is never auto-forwarded to employers. Our team reviews it and only reaches out to you when we see a specific match worth your time. Even then, we ask your permission before sharing any details with the hiring employer. The default setting is "absolute discretion".
If the candidate we placed leaves within 90 days of joining, we re-run the search free of charge. If you've already paid us, we either refund proportionally or apply the amount to the next search — your choice. Many clients choose to defer payment until post-probation specifically to keep our incentives aligned.
Yes. If you're hiring multiple roles, you can submit one brief per role — or just write to [email protected] and we'll set up a single call to walk through the full plan. For companies hiring 3+ senior roles in a quarter, we usually negotiate a slightly different arrangement that benefits both sides.
No — we hire across functions: engineering, product, sales, marketing, finance, operations, HR, compliance, and more. The HRsays name comes from our origins as an HR-tech advisory; the talent network we've built since extends across every senior function. About 60% of our recent hires have been outside of HR functions.
7-day promise · zero retainer · you set the price

Two ways forward.
Both start the same way.

Tell us what you're looking for — a senior hire, or your next move. Either way, the next step is a five-minute brief.

Saraikela Kh is an important employment hub in Jharkhand with approximately 285000 active job seekers, 28000 employers, and more than 70000 registered businesses. Employers across manufacturing, retail, logistics, healthcare, construction, agriculture and service sectors generate an estimated 120000 vacancies annually.

By 2028, the number of job seekers in Saraikela Kh is projected to reach 350000 while the number of active companies is expected to increase to approximately 98000. Continued investments, infrastructure development, industrial expansion and skill-development initiatives are expected to strengthen employment opportunities across the district.

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