Paying someone to run your job search used to be unusual. In a slower white-collar market it has become a real category, and the Wall Street Journal and the Telegraph have both covered its arrival in Britain. The pitch is simple: you pay a firm, and the firm does the searching, the applying and sometimes the outreach on your behalf.
The London market is small enough that a serious shortlist runs to six names, and mixed enough that the label "reverse recruiter" hides three very different products. This is what we found when we went through each one, checked the companies behind them, and opened every website on the same afternoon.
A disclosure first. GotAJob sells career help too, including experts who apply on candidates' behalf. That makes several firms below our competitors. We have left our own service out of the ranking and kept the criteria public so you can disagree with our reasoning.
The three products hiding behind one label
Before any comparison, work out which of these you are actually buying. Most disappointment comes from buying one and expecting another.
Managed search means the firm researches roles, tailors your CV for each one, and submits applications. You interview; they do the rest. CareerHigher and Find My Profession run this model.
Coaching-led search means you still run the search, but with structure, accountability and a professional shaping your strategy. Personal Career Management and Executive Connexions sit here. You keep control, and you do the work.
Positioning and branding means fixing how you present rather than how much you apply. City CV built its reputation here. If you are getting interviews but no offers, this is your bottleneck, and no amount of extra applications will fix it.
1. CareerHigher
The closest thing London has to a full reverse recruiter that is also registered here. CareerHigher covers the whole funnel: positioning, research, applications, outreach, interview prep and negotiation. It was founded in 2020 by Andy Pol Agouridis, whose background includes HR roles at Oracle, Pearson and BP, and it is registered at International House, 64 Nile Street, N1.
Pay-As-You-Go is published at $2,500 to start and $1,500 a month after that, which is more transparency than most UK firms in this space offer. The homepage claims 2,000+ job search projects across 40+ countries and displays client logos including Meta, Amazon and Revolut. Trustpilot showed 4.6 from about 30 reviews when we checked in July 2026: a good score on a thin sample, so read the individual reviews rather than the number.
Best for: experienced professionals who want execution, not advice. Relocation and niche searches, where judgment matters more than volume.
2. Personal Career Management
The most established British option here, running since 2003 under founders Corinne and Jonathan Mills, with a London office on Whitechapel High Street and a wider UK network. Its pricing is public in pounds, which is rarer than it should be: £3,400 including VAT for the Job Search programme, £5,400 for the combined career-management programme.
This is coaching-led rather than done-for-you. The firm reports a 98% satisfaction rating and thousands of people coached, though it does not publish an aggregate placement rate, and its Trustpilot presence is thin compared to its size. If you want a British service model, an office you can visit and a structured programme, it is the safest domestic pick.
Best for: career changers, post-redundancy searches, and anyone who wants structure without handing over the wheel.
3. Executive Connexions
London-registered since 2014 on Wenlock Road, and unambiguously aimed at senior people. The homepage leads with a 93% overall placement rate, 12+ years supporting executives, and a hidden-job-market strategy, which is the right emphasis: director and C-suite roles are filled through networks far more often than through job boards.
Two caveats. Pricing is bespoke rather than published, with one regional page citing roughly £500 as a minimum for a coaching series. And the 93% figure is self-reported, as most such figures in this industry are. Trustpilot showed 4.5 from about 15 reviews in July 2026, which is too few to lean on.
Best for: directors, VPs and C-suite candidates who need network strategy rather than application volume.
4. Find My Profession
On operating model alone this would rank higher. Find My Profession has run reverse recruiting since 2015, publishes its pricing plainly at $3,000 a month fixed or $1,500 a month plus 8% of first-year salary, and carries far more review evidence than anyone else here: Trustpilot showed 5.0 from roughly 770 reviews in July 2026.
It ranks fourth for one reason: it is American. The team is US-based and US-facing, delivery to London is fully remote, and for a London search you may want people who know the local market and its recruiters first-hand. Worth noting too that some of its published competitor comparisons review firms it competes with, which is a conflict worth reading around.
Best for: people who want maximum delegation and do not need a London-native team.
5. City CV, now partly Hanover Talent Solutions
Note the screenshot: City CV's site now carries Hanover Talent Solutions branding, and states that its executive, board and senior leadership services are delivered through Hanover. City CV continues to serve professionals and graduates. Any research you read that treats City CV as a single executive brand, including sources written earlier this year, is describing the previous arrangement.
The underlying strengths are real. Founded in 2009 by Victoria McLean, a former headhunter, with an office on King William Street and multiple TORI awards for CV writing. Published prices: career coaching from £1,450, executive CV writing at £1,499, the Professional Programme at £3,699.
Best for: people who are getting interviews and not offers. If you are under-selling yourself on paper or in the room, this beats buying more applications. Check directly which entity would deliver your engagement.
6. The Barrett Group
Founded in 1990, with a genuine claim to being a legacy name in executive career management, and a stated 90% success rate. It ranks last on evidence rather than age.
Its official site does not clearly publish pricing, while third-party reviews commonly report $9,000 or more upfront, some citing around $12,500. Trustpilot showed 2.9 from only 5 reviews in July 2026, and its Better Business Bureau profile carries complaints. It is US-based and serves London remotely. None of that makes it unusable, but at this price ask for named consultants, recent client references and the exact refund terms in writing before you commit.
Best for: senior executives who have done the diligence and want a long-established methodology.
What to ask before you pay
The single most useful question is who does the work day to day: one named consultant, or a pooled team? Ask it first, and ask for the name.
After that: what exactly is customised per application, and who presses send. Whether outreach to hiring managers goes out from your accounts or theirs. What the weekly deliverable looks like, in writing. And how they define success, because "success" that means an interview is a very different promise from one that means a signed offer.
Get the pause, refund and guarantee terms in writing before you pay, not after. A provider who will not put its promise in writing has told you something useful.
Is it worth the money?
It depends on which bottleneck you have, and most people diagnose theirs wrong.
If you are not applying enough because you have no time, managed search buys back the time and can pay for itself: a £3,000 to £6,000 programme covers its cost if it shortens your search by a few weeks or lifts your first-year pay at all. If you are applying plenty and hearing nothing, the problem is positioning, and no volume service will fix it. If you are interviewing and not converting, the problem is performance, and coaching is cheaper and faster than either.
Work out which of those three you are before you read another price list.
The hiring stories on GotAJob show searches that ran from 2 applications to over 400, and the pattern is consistent: the people who moved fastest were the ones who diagnosed the real problem early. You can check your CV free in 30 seconds or track your applications to find your own numbers before spending anything. And if you want a person rather than a programme, our career experts do resume rewrites, mock interviews and applications on your behalf.
Prices, review scores and company details were checked in 2026 and change from time to time - verify current figures with each provider before you buy. Review-platform scores based on small samples should be read as directional, not conclusive.