10 Best Headhunting Agencies in the Philippines [2026]

TL;DR: Ten firms worth a call for senior hiring in the Philippines, from John Clements, which has run C-level search in Manila since 1974, to the global desks of Michael Page and Robert Walters. The thing that decides your outcome is not the logo. It is whether you buy retained search, contingency search, or a flat-fee model, and Philippine fees run 15% to 25% of first-year salary for mid-level roles and 25% to 35% for executive search.

Most firms that show up for “headhunter Philippines” run contingency recruitment and price it like retained search. Contingency means working from a database of people who already applied somewhere. Retained means mapping a market and approaching people who are not looking. Contingency runs 15% to 25% of first-year salary. Retained runs 25% to 35%. In my experience, most buyers never find out which one they paid for.

So, I put together the ten firms worth calling, what each does, and which model it sells.

Quick Comparison

Firm	Model	Strongest for	Based
John Clements Consultants	Retained	C-level and board appointments, local corporates	Manila, since 1974
Second Talent	Flat monthly	Engineering and AI leadership hired across borders	Hong Kong, nine markets
Monroe Consulting Group	Retained or success-based	Industrial, consumer, health, IT	Manila, since 2007
Robert Walters Philippines	Contingency and search	Banking, finance and transformation roles	Makati, since 2016
Michael Page Philippines	Contingency and search	Multinationals hiring across ten disciplines	Makati
Curran Daly + Associates	Retained and contingent	BPO, shared services and financial services	Manila
Manila Recruitment	Contingency, 19% published	Hard-to-fill technical and executive roles	Makati, since 2010
Horton International Philippines	Retained	Finance and banking leadership	Manila
Q2 HR Solutions	Search plus RPO	Buyers who want search and staffing in one contract	Makati
WHR Global Consulting	Retained or contingent	Multilingual, licensed and healthcare roles	BGC, since 2009

What Does a Headhunter in the Philippines Actually Do?

A headhunter approaches people who are not applying for your job. The firm maps the companies where the skill sits, names the individuals in those seats, contacts them directly, and manages the conversation through to an offer.

That is the whole difference from a recruitment agency, which works from candidates who already applied or already sit in a database.

In practice the line is blurry in Manila. Almost every firm below sells both, and several sell staffing and payroll alongside. Which product you are buying on this particular role is the thing to settle, because the two are priced and worked differently.

If your role has a deep local pool, a manager in accounting or a mid-level developer, contingency is the right buy. Do not pay a retainer for it.

If you are hiring the first country head or a CTO, the pool is small enough that someone has to go and find them. That work does not happen on a no-win-no-fee basis.

The 10 Best Headhunting Agencies in the Philippines

1. John Clements Consultants

John Clements has run executive search in the Philippines since 1974 and calls itself the benchmark for C-level talent acquisition here. Fifty years in one market buys something a global network cannot import: the partners have placed, or been turned down by, most of the senior people you are about to approach.

The practice runs executive placement, interim management, board search, executive coaching and career transition. It is the natural first call for a Philippine corporate or a family-owned group, and it publishes more about its own pricing than most firms in this industry do.

Consider it when: the role is a board seat, a CEO, or any appointment where local reputation decides who takes your call.

2. Second Talent

We are on our own list, so read this with that in mind. Second Talent is not a retained search house. We hire engineering, data and AI people across nine Asian markets on a flat monthly rate rather than a percentage of salary, and we shortlist inside 24 hours because the vetting happens before you brief us, not after.

Senior Philippine engineers run $3,000 to $6,000 a month through us, with staff and lead engineers at $5,000 to $7,000. There is no placement fee, and we can employ the person through our Philippine entity so you skip incorporation entirely. Across 200+ client companies we hold a 92% talent retention rate.

Consider it when: the role is technical, you want the person employed rather than introduced, and a 25% fee on an unagreed package is not how you want to buy.

3. Monroe Consulting Group

Monroe has been in Manila since 2007 and is part of the Empresaria group of more than 20 staffing brands. The Philippine office splits into five divisions: industrial, consumer, health, professional services and information technology.

That division structure is the useful part. You get a consultant who works one sector all year rather than a generalist learning your market on your retainer. Monroe offers both success-based and retained engagements, so you can match the model to the role instead of the firm.

Consider it when: you are hiring into manufacturing, pharma, FMCG or medical devices, where sector contacts matter more than search theatre.

4. Robert Walters Philippines

Robert Walters opened in Manila in 2016 and says it has since become one of the biggest recruitment firms in the city. It works out of Philamlife Tower in Makati. It recruits across accounting and finance, banking and financial services, human resources, industrial, sales and marketing, technology, and transformation.

The group publishes an annual salary survey for the Philippines, which is worth having on your side of the table whether or not you engage them. Their strength is the finance and banking bench, and their weakness is the same as any large contingency desk: your role competes for consultant attention with every other role on the floor.

Consider it when: you are filling several professional roles at once and want salary benchmarking to come with them.

5. Michael Page Philippines

Michael Page works from BDO Towers Paseo in Makati and handles executive appointments alongside its standard disciplines: finance, marketing, HR, technology, engineering and manufacturing, legal, procurement and supply chain, property, sales, and healthcare. Parent PageGroup runs more than 100 offices across 34 countries.

The network is the product here. If you are a multinational moving a role between Manila, Singapore and Sydney, one master agreement covers all three, and the internal referral of candidates across borders is real rather than a slide.

Consider it when: you are a multinational with a global preferred-supplier list and want the Philippines to run on the same paper as everywhere else.

6. Curran Daly + Associates

Curran Daly sells three separated products: retained search for C-suite roles, contingent search from C-level down to manager, and offshore team building. Its sector weighting sits in BPO and shared services, banking and insurance, and technology.

Splitting the products out that plainly is a good sign. Firms that quote one fee for everything usually run everything as contingency and call the expensive ones search.

Consider it when: you are building or backfilling leadership in a shared services or captive operation.

7. Manila Recruitment

Manila Recruitment is the only firm on this list that publishes its price: a 19% success fee on the candidate’s total gross annual earnings. It asks for 30 days of exclusivity in return, includes reference checks, and guarantees a free replacement if the hire does not work out inside six months.

The firm reports a database of more than 250,000 executives and managers and work for 600+ businesses since 2010. Publishing the fee and the guarantee together is the most buyer-friendly thing any firm here does, and it makes them a useful benchmark even if you hire someone else.

Consider it when: you want a fixed, knowable cost on a senior or hard-to-fill role without negotiating a retainer.

8. Horton International Philippines

Horton International is headquartered in Manila for its Philippine practice and forms part of a search network founded in 1999. It describes itself as a niche player in the finance space over the past two decades, and its client base leans to Fortune 500 and Global 500 corporations, banks, and IT and BPO firms.

Its managing partner covers Japan, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, so a regional mandate can be run through one relationship.

Consider it when: the role is a CFO, treasurer or risk lead, or the search spans several Southeast Asian markets at once.

9. Q2 HR Solutions

Q2 HR Solutions runs C-suite search from Salcedo Village in Makati and says it has more than 20 years in the market. Around the search desk sit permanent staffing, recruitment process outsourcing, staff augmentation, manpower management and background screening.

That breadth is the reason to call them and also the thing to watch. One vendor covering search, RPO and screening is simpler to manage, but you lose the ability to fire the search without unpicking everything else.

Consider it when: you want one Philippine partner across leadership hiring and volume recruitment rather than four.

10. WHR Global Consulting

WHR Global Consulting was founded in 2009 by a certified HR professional and works from Fort Legend Tower in BGC, with satellite offices in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the US. It runs both retained and contingent search and serves clients across APAC, the US, the Middle East, LATAM and Europe.

Its niche is the roles other firms find awkward: multilingual staff, licensed engineers and healthcare practitioners alongside executives and IT. WHR also offers employer of record cover for project-based and fixed-term consultants.

Consider it when: the brief involves language requirements, professional licensing, or a fixed-term senior contractor rather than a permanent hire.

What Headhunting Costs in the Philippines

Two bands cover almost every quote you will receive. Contingency placements for mid-level roles run 15% to 25% of first-year salary. Retained executive search runs 25% to 35% of first-year compensation. Those figures come from John Clements’ own fee explainer, which is the most detailed public breakdown any Philippine firm publishes.

In peso terms the same article works three examples: a PHP 360,000 role at 15% costs PHP 54,000, a PHP 720,000 role at 20% costs PHP 144,000, and a PHP 2,000,000 executive role at 30% costs PHP 600,000.

Notice what the percentage does. The fee is a function of the salary the agency helps you agree, which quietly pays the firm more for a more expensive offer. It is worth reading how staffing agency fee structures differ before you accept the first one quoted, and our recruitment agency fee calculator will price the same hire across models in a few seconds.

How to Brief a Philippine Search So It Does Not Stall

Most searches that go cold here fail on the brief, not the shortlist. Four things move the odds more than the firm you pick.

• Name the target companies. Give the firm eight to twelve organisations where the skill demonstrably sits. Consultants who have to guess the target list will fall back on their database, which is contingency work at a search price.
• Fix the salary band before the search, not after the shortlist. A band agreed mid-process gets stretched to close the candidate the firm has already spent six weeks on.
• Compress your interview loop. Senior Filipino candidates are usually running two or three conversations. A four-week loop loses to a two-week one regardless of who pays more.
• Decide who employs the person. If you have no Philippine entity, sort that before offers go out, not after. Our Philippine payroll, benefits and tax guide covers the statutory cost, and an employer of record removes the incorporation step entirely.

The last point is the one that surprises foreign employers most often. A signed offer with no legal employer behind it is where a good search goes to die.

Why the Philippine Search Market is Changing in 2026

The demand these firms serve is shifting from volume to seniority, and there is a number behind that.

On 14 July 2026 the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines cut its 2028 forecasts. The industry closed 2025 at $40 billion and 1.9 million workers. Its best case for 2028 is now $50.5 billion and 2.14 million people, against the $59 billion and 2.5 million it projected in 2022. The downside case is $43.3 billion and 1.85 million.

IBPAP president Jack Madrid named AI, buyer behaviour and global competition among the risks, and framed the next phase around value per worker: “Success will depend on how quickly we invest in talent, embrace AI responsibly, and deepen collaboration between industry, government, and academe.”

Read that as a hiring signal. Revenue is still forecast to grow faster than headcount, so the seats the industry adds are more senior and more technical than the seats it replaces.

That is the work headhunters are paid for, and it is why the firms on this list compete harder every year for the same small pool of Philippine leaders. Our note on engineering talent in the Philippines covers where that pool sits.

Choosing Between Them

Pick the model first, then the firm. A board seat or a first country head is retained work, and John Clements, Horton or Curran Daly are the natural calls.

A manager or senior specialist with a deep local pool is contingency work, where Manila Recruitment’s published 19% is a fair benchmark to hold the others to. Volume professional hiring across several functions suits the global desks at Michael Page and Robert Walters.

If the role is engineering, data or AI, look hard at whether you want an introduction at all. Tell us what you are hiring for and we will send a vetted shortlist inside 24 hours, employed through our own entity, at a flat monthly rate rather than a share of the salary. If you want the wider agency landscape first, our list of IT recruitment agencies in the Philippines covers the staffing and outsourcing side of the market.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much do headhunters charge in the Philippines?

Between 15% and 35% of the hire’s first-year pay. Contingency placements for mid-level roles sit at 15% to 25%, and retained executive search at 25% to 35%. Manila Recruitment publishes a flat 19% success fee, which is the only public number of its kind among the firms here.

Who pays the headhunter, the employer or the candidate?

The employer, in every arrangement on this page. A firm asking a Philippine candidate for a placement fee on a local professional role is a firm to walk away from.

How long does an executive search take in the Philippines?

Plan for eight to twelve weeks from brief to signed offer on a retained C-level search, and less on contingency roles with a deep pool. The variable that moves it most is your own interview loop, not the firm’s sourcing speed.

Do I need a Philippine entity to hire through a headhunter?

You need a legal employer, which is not the same as 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 handle statutory contributions while the person works for you.

Is retained search worth it over contingency?

Only where the pool is small. Retained buys exclusivity, a mapped market and named off-market approaches, and you pay for it whether or not someone is hired. For a role with fifty credible local candidates, that is money spent on work a contingency desk would do anyway.

What replacement guarantee should I ask for?

Six months is the strongest term published by any firm on this list. Sixty to ninety days is more common. Get the window, and whether it is a free replacement or a pro-rated refund, written into the agreement rather than agreed on a call.