TL;DR: ConnectedGroup, in Hong Kong since 1997, leads ten licensed headhunters and recruitment firms for senior hiring in Hong Kong. Search fees run 15% to 25% of first-year pay on contingency and 25% to 33% on retained search.
A Hong Kong headhunter may take at most 10% of a candidate's first month's wages, and the law caps nothing it charges you. The Labour Department's free register dates Gemini Personnel's licence to 1987 and Michael Page's to 1994.
In Chinese the trade is 獵頭公司, a "headhunting company".
Quick comparison of Hong Kong headhunters
| Firm | Model | Strongest for | EA licence no. |
|---|---|---|---|
| ConnectedGroup | Retained and contingent, sold as two products | Buyers who want the model named in the contract | 83278 |
| Second Talent | Flat monthly rate | Engineering, data and AI hires, employed for you | On register as Cowsquare Technology Limited |
| Egon Zehnder | Retained | CEO succession and family business boards | 80632 |
| Spencer Stuart | Retained | Independent directors for listed boards | 82451 |
| Bó Lè Associates | Retained | Greater China mandates with a mainland bench | 83337 |
| Wellesley Partners | Retained | Asset management, private banking, family offices | 80376 |
| Michael Page | Contingency and search | Multinationals hiring across many disciplines | 84131 |
| Robert Walters | Contingency and search | Finance and professional roles in volume | Not printed on its site |
| Gemini Personnel | Search, staffing, payroll and visas | One vendor for the hire, the payroll and the visa | 73530 |
| Elliott Scott HR | Specialist search | HR leadership and nothing else | Not printed on its site |
- 1A Hong Kong agency licence lasts one year. Running an agency without one carries a fine of up to HK$350,000 and three years in prison.
- 2The Code of Practice asks every agency with a website to print its licence number there. Seven of these ten do.
- 3The government approved over 410,000 talent-scheme applications in the three years to March 2026, so a Hong Kong shortlist now carries many recent arrivals.
The 10 best headhunting agencies in Hong Kong
With retained search you pay in stages, hire or not, and get exclusivity and a mapped market. With contingency search you pay only when the hire starts. The firms below sell one, the other or both.
1. ConnectedGroup
ConnectedGroup suits a hiring manager who wants the engagement model written into the contract by name.
ConnectedGroup was set up in Hong Kong in 1997 and calls itself a "big boutique": the accountability of a small firm with a full delivery bench behind it.
It sells its work as separate products rather than one blended fee. ConnectedRecruit is contingent, paid on success and worked from its candidate database.
ConnectedSearch runs retained assignments for senior, regional or confidential roles, with research and candidate assessment built in. ConnectedSolutions supplies contract resources, and ConnectedConsult sells HR consulting.
A separate ConnectedTalent platform handles board and advisory seats.
Products split this way are easier to hold to a scope. Under a single blended fee, firms tend to work each role as contingency and label the expensive ones search.
The register lists ConnectedGroup Limited at Wing On Centre in Sheung Wan, licensed since 2001, for office staff and executive search plus imported workers. The footer prints licence 83278.
Its chief executive, Mathew Gollop, is moderating a panel on Hong Kong's job market at a government talent showcase in London on 17 and 18 October 2026.
- Best for: managers who want contingent and retained terms priced as different products.
- Watch out: it publishes no fee or guarantee, so get both in the service agreement.
- Model: contingent recruitment, retained search, contracting and HR consulting.
2. Second Talent
We are on our own list, so read this entry with that in mind. Second Talent suits a company hiring engineers, data specialists or AI talent that wants the person employed, not only introduced.
We are not a retained search house, and we do not run board or C-suite searches.
To hire developers in Hong Kong through us costs a flat monthly rate, not a share of salary, and nothing until you hire. The vetting happens before you brief us, which is how six to eight candidates arrive inside 24 hours.
Each one passes a technical test, a check of their AI coding tools, an English test and a behavioural interview.
We can also hold the contract through our employer of record in Hong Kong, so you need no local entity, and fill the seat from any of nine Asian markets when it does not have to sit in Hong Kong.
Across more than 200 client teams we hold a 92% talent retention rate.
Cowsquare Technology Limited, the company that operates Second Talent, is on the Labour Department register at Honest Building in Causeway Bay, for office staff and executive search plus imported workers.
- Best for: engineering, data and AI hires where you want one monthly cost and no entity.
- Watch out: the register dates our licence to 2026, the youngest on this list, and our site does not print the number yet.
- Model: flat monthly rate per hire, with no placement fee.
3. Egon Zehnder Hong Kong
Egon Zehnder is the firm a board calls when the appointment is a chief executive, a chair or the next generation of a family business.
Its China practice started in Hong Kong in 1986, added Shanghai in 1995 and Beijing a decade later, and now counts 26 consultants and a 50-strong staff.
The Hong Kong office sits in Two International Finance Centre. The firm says it advises Hong Kong families on leadership succession and works with mainland entrepreneurs expanding abroad, a pairing few search firms in the city can claim.
Search is only part of the work. Clients also buy CEO and board succession planning, board reviews, executive assessment and coaching.
That advisory side is often the real reason to pay a retained fee: a firm that has assessed the whole peer group can tell you where your internal candidate stands.
The register lists Egon Zehnder International Limited with a licence valid since 2016, which dates the current entity rather than the brand. The office page prints licence 80632.
- Best for: CEO succession, chair searches and family business leadership.
- Watch out: top-of-market retained pricing, paid whether or not you hire.
- Model: retained search plus board and leadership advisory.
4. Spencer Stuart Hong Kong
Spencer Stuart suits a listed company filling an independent non-executive director seat.
Its Hong Kong office is in One International Finance Centre, and the register dates the licence of Spencer Stuart and Associates (Hong Kong) Limited to 1994, tied with Michael Page for the second oldest here.
Its research is the reason to call. The 2025 Hong Kong Spencer Stuart Board Index covers the Hang Seng Index and the broader LargeCap index, and it explains why boards here are hiring now.
Under the revised HKEX rules, a director with more than nine years' service counts as "long-serving", and companies may not keep them as independent directors past their first AGM held on or after 1 July 2031.
The renewal shows already: LargeCap companies appointed 59% of their independent directors in the last five years. New Listing Rules also cap an independent director at six Hong Kong-listed boards.
Average independent director pay on the Hang Seng Index rose 13% in two years to US$112,000.
- Best for: independent directors and board composition reviews for listed companies.
- Watch out: board work is its centre of gravity, so it is not the call for a functional head.
- Model: retained search and board advisory.
5. Bó Lè Associates
Bó Lè is the call when the seat is a Greater China general manager, or when the shortlist has to include candidates sitting in mainland China.
Japan's Recruit Holdings took a 14.3% stake in 2010 and bought the remaining shares in April 2013 through RGF Hong Kong, calling it Asia's largest executive search company at the time.
Recruit's release described two tiers: executive search for senior management under the Bó Lè brand, and selection for middle managers and below under BRecruit.
The firm's own site lists wholly owned offices in 13 Asian cities, among them Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Suzhou, Taipei, Jakarta and Singapore. It claims a first candidate within 10 days of a brief.
One caution: much of the site still dates from 2015, so ask for current consultant numbers and recent placements in your sector before you sign.
The Hong Kong office at 28 Stanley Street in Central prints licence 83337 on the contact page. The register lists the licensee there as Bo Le Leaders Limited, valid since 2011.
- Best for: cross-border Greater China roles that need a mainland bench.
- Watch out: dated public material, so verify the team that will run your search.
- Model: retained executive search, with selection under a second brand.
6. Wellesley Partners
Wellesley Partners suits a fund manager, private bank or single-family office filling a seat where the credible pool is small enough to name.
It started in Hong Kong in 2005 as a financial services search firm, and its licence has run since the same year, at Fairmont House on Cotton Tree Drive.
Investment management is its largest practice and has grown fivefold over the past decade.
The team places investment professionals for fund managers in private and public markets, and has helped pension funds, endowments and sovereign wealth funds build Asia programmes across equity, private credit, real estate and infrastructure.
The rest of the practice list reads like the city's balance sheet: corporate and investment banking, wealth management and family offices, plus legal, risk and compliance.
Its contact page lists offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Mumbai, Tokyo, Melbourne and London, and prints licence 80376 against the Hong Kong entity.
- Best for: investment, private banking and family office roles.
- Watch out: outside financial services it has little reason to be on your list.
- Model: retained search for financial services.
7. Michael Page Hong Kong
Michael Page is the pick for a multinational that already buys from PageGroup elsewhere and wants Hong Kong on the same paper.
It works from Central Tower on Queen's Road Central and recruits across accounting, banking, technology, legal, HR, life sciences, procurement, property and sales.
Its footer lists three licences, so ask which one signs your contract: 84131 for Michael Page International (Hong Kong) Limited, 82196 for Page Executive, its board and senior search arm, and 82212 for Page Outsourcing.
The useful detail for Hong Kong is its published candidate verification process. Consultants run structured reference checks covering technical ability, reasons for leaving and whether the previous employer would recommend them.
They verify professional qualifications and work permits for shortlisted candidates, and coordinate probity checks on request.
In a market where many applicants arrived on talent visas in the last three years, that is the step to ask any firm about.
Executive search, contracting and recruitment outsourcing sit beside permanent hiring under one relationship.
- Best for: multinationals that want Hong Kong under a global master agreement.
- Watch out: a large desk, so your role competes for consultant time.
- Model: contingency recruitment, executive search and outsourcing.
8. Robert Walters Hong Kong
Robert Walters suits a company filling several finance, banking or professional roles at once. It has worked in Hong Kong since 1997 from the Nexxus Building on Connaught Road Central.
The register shows two entities at that address. Robert Walters (Hong Kong) Limited has held a licence since 2000, and a separate Robert Walters recruitment outsourcing agency joined it in 2024.
That second licence matters if you plan to hand over a whole hiring programme. Its Hong Kong site does not print a licence number, so ask for it in the proposal.
The useful extra is data. The firm is collecting responses for its 2027 salary survey now, and says the guide will launch in November. It also publishes market updates, such as a Q3 2026 note on technology and transformation hiring.
A benchmark in hand before you set a band is the cheapest way to avoid a declined offer.
It also places contractors, which helps when someone has to cover the seat while the permanent search runs.
- Best for: finance, banking and professional roles with a deep local pool.
- Watch out: no licence number on its site, which the Code of Practice asks for.
- Model: contingency recruitment, search and recruitment outsourcing.
9. Gemini Personnel
Gemini Personnel suits a company with no Hong Kong entity that wants the hire, the payroll and the visa handled by one vendor. It has placed candidates across Asia since 1983 and says it has served more than 5,000 clients.
It also holds the oldest licence on this list: the register dates Gemini Personnel Limited to 1987, at Chung Nam Building in Wan Chai.
Its about page describes a wider range than any firm here: executive search, permanent and temporary staffing, IT recruitment, payroll and outsourcing, visa services, outplacement, assessment and coaching.
An affiliate, iFive, employs temporary and permanent staff for clients and handles their visas and work permits.
Beyond Hong Kong it runs offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The footer prints Hong Kong licence 73530, and a site banner warns of fraudsters impersonating the firm, a reminder to check any recruiter's number against the register.
- Best for: first hires in Hong Kong where payroll and visas come in the same contract.
- Watch out: breadth over depth, so confirm who runs a senior search.
- Model: search and staffing, with payroll, outsourcing and visa services.
10. Elliott Scott HR
Elliott Scott suits a company hiring an HR director, a regional reward lead or an HR systems specialist. It places HR professionals and nothing else.
Stuart Elliott founded it in 2011, and the firm says it has placed HR leaders and specialists in more than 30 countries from five cities, with offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, the UK, the US and India.
A single-function firm is a narrow purchase, and that is the point: its consultants work one professional community all year instead of a slice of many.
It also publishes quarterly HR market overviews for the region. The first 2026 edition describes hiring as selective, with companies favouring transformation hires over broad expansion.
The register lists Elliott Scott HR Recruitment Limited at New World Tower in Central, licensed since 2011. The Hong Kong site does not print a licence number.
- Best for: HR leadership and specialist HR roles.
- Watch out: no licence number on its site, so take it from the proposal.
- Model: specialist search and recruitment.
Check the licence on the Labour Department register
The Labour Department licenses agencies under Part XII of the Employment Ordinance and the Employment Agency Regulations. A licence is valid for one year, renewal is due two months before expiry, and it covers only the premises named on it.
- A licence before any placement work
- At most 10% of the first month's wages from the job seeker
- Up to HK$350,000 and three years for running unlicensed
- The fee and the salary it is a share of
- The replacement window and refund terms
- An off-limits period on the placed hire
Search any firm on the Employment Agencies Portal. Each record gives the licensee's name, address, the year the licence has been valid since, the placement types, and any conviction for overcharging or written warning.
It does not show the licence number. For that, the Code of Practice for Employment Agencies asks any agency with a website to display the number there.
The same code asks agencies to check the accuracy of the CVs they send, including qualifications and work history, and to sign a written service agreement with each employer, preferably before any payment.
What headhunters charge in Hong Kong
None of these firms prints a rate card, and no Hong Kong authority publishes an employer benchmark. Two sources agree on the bands.
A 9cv9 review from August 2026 and Morgan Philips Hong Kong both put contingency at 15% to 25% and retained search at 25% to 33%.
Morgan Philips adds the usual guarantee: 6 to 12 months on retained search and 3 to 6 months on contingency. The Labour Department's only advice to employers is procedural.
It suggests a written service agreement listing the scope, itemised fees and refund arrangements, and a receipt for each payment. Compare staffing agency fee structures before you sign.
Why a Hong Kong shortlist needs checking
The government reported nearly 600,000 talent-scheme applications in the three years to March 2026 in a reply to the Legislative Council. Around 300,000 of the approvals went to mainland applicants and nearly 110,000 to others.
The routes differ. The Top Talent Pass Scheme needs no job offer and grants 24 or 36 months. The General Employment Policy is quota-free and takes about four weeks once papers are in. TechTAS admits research staff against a company quota.
The objection I hear most from hiring leaders here has flipped from "I cannot find anyone" to "I cannot tell which CVs are real".
The shortage has a different shape from the supply. The Labour and Welfare Bureau's November 2024 projection expects a shortfall of 180,000 workers by 2028, more than a third of them skilled technical workers.
Whoever employs the hire also works under the "468" rule, in force since 18 January 2026: an employee with four weeks of service and at least 68 hours across them is on a continuous contract, even if one week falls under 17 hours.
Choosing between them
Pick the model first, then the firm. A board seat or a chief executive calls for retained search, a team of finance professionals is contingency work, and a first hire with no entity needs an employer as much as a recruiter.
Our Hong Kong payroll, benefits and tax guide and EOR providers in Hong Kong cover that side. Compare the same market in Singapore and Vietnam.
If the role is engineering, data or AI, you may not need an introduction at all. Tell us what you are hiring for and we will send a vetted shortlist inside 24 hours, at a flat monthly rate.
Frequently asked questions
Is a headhunter the same as a recruitment firm in Hong Kong?
No. A headhunter approaches candidates who are not applying; a recruitment firm starts from applicants and its database. Most firms here sell both, and both need the same Labour Department licence.
Do I need a Hong Kong entity to hire through a headhunter?
You need a legal employer, not your own entity. A search firm introduces the candidate but does not employ them; an employer of record can hold the contract, run payroll and pay MPF.
