Does anybody know how recruiting works in the upper end of C-level recruiting (i.e. Top500s)? I suspect that contract negotiations here are more similar to the movie industry i.e. - lawyers talking lawyers - after some screening process of the candidates etc.

Retained search does occur for specialized firms, typically >$100,000 salaries in roles such as hedge fund analysts / developers, Sr Director's of large scale companies (MS for example) and the like.

Hopefully an actual Exec recruiter at the C level (so different then Sr VP / Director) will chime in, but they are probably out doing dinners and golfing with potential candidates and clientele in megacorps.

Of course I will need a plausible "walk away" option - are you willing to give that?

Edit: it's a bit early in the morning so that was supposed to be an expanation why you might not choose to give ana age t the negotiation power they need.

Not a sales pitch

It takes a long time to find work, and having someone else do it for you, as well as negotiate a higher salary, would be completely worth losing out on even 30-40% of the work you might otherwise have gotten.

I'm not claiming to be a superstar, but superstars are usually in the same position: They are already in a job they love and are successful at. So negotiating a better gig for them always includes the option of credibly walking away.

Of course, the question then comes back: why are you a decent agent, and why should I let you represent me?

Can you tell me more about differential privacy - if the London Underground releases data about journeys from my start point to my end point, surely at some point enough data is released to determine which anonymous ID is me.

I just would like to know are there determined upper and lower bounds on how much can be released before it is explotable?