Why (and how) Whispered charges candidates
- Andy Mowat
- Nov 16, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
People sometimes ask "why does Whispered charge candidates?"
We give away our content to help as many people as possible. If you are early in your career, use our free guides to focus your search and apply through the backdoor for posted jobs.
But as you get more senior, roles increasingly aren’t posted.
We built Whispered to help executives
Recruiting firms get paid by companies, rather than candidates. Most recruiters help where they can but can rarely coach candidates beyond a single call. Execs don’t have anyone in their corner until Whispered - we work to accelerate your career.
Our founders felt the pain of executive job searches and we built a platform to make your search less scary and help executives.
We don't just help you find a job...
Whispered isn't a job board to see unposted roles.
Yes do we have the deepest database of unposted roles;)
But if we sold roles, they wouldn't be unposted anymore and companies/recruiters wouldn't share them as there are valid reasons not to post roles. And... we know
We have built a platform that helps executives share insights and connections to accelerate their careers.
“Not being in the right role isn’t just an inconvenience—it comes with real costs. There’s a financial toll, as you’re not maximizing your earning potential. Professionally, you miss out on growth opportunities that could set you up for future success. And emotionally, staying in the wrong position can lead to stress, burnout, and a lack of fulfillment.” Ashley Artrip
We price our model to make it affordable and align with your success
We only work with top candidates looking to invest in their career. We charge as follows:
An initiation fee for onboarding, coaching and early support
A monthly fee for access to the platform, community, introductions, roles, and databases
Whispered is designed to accelerate executives' careers with tactics, databases, introductions, and async advice. This allows us to keep the price low and help as many executives as possible.
We help you do your search better but don’t do your search for you: Candidates who work-out-loud get huge value from the Whispered model. But because your search success is ultimately up to you, we don’t work on a success fee approach like recruiting firms.
We provide databases and (mostly) async coaching: Whispered provides a complete system for executives looking for their next role. This system differs from expensive live coaching - If we sold live coaching, Whispered would be MUCH more expensive.
"Not only did I find my role fast with Whispered, but the interview process was also expedited as I was able to use the Whispered network to come in as a trusted referral to the C-level.” Hannah Duncan Wendt
Bonus: We love keeping our alumni involved: Many Whispered alumni are our best contributors and stay involved in the community after their search.
Compare Whispered to….
If you are committed to investing in your career, you've probably also considered:
Exec/Career Coaching: Coaches can cost upwards of $400-500 / hour to help you get clear and focused on what you want next but they don’t help you find and close roles.
Resume Review: Resume review services often cost more than $1,000 for several hours.
Communities: There are lots of communities for job searchers. These provide much-needed support during the search process.
Networking with Recruiters and Talent Partners: Doing this is free and we give you the cheat sheet on how you can engage these valuable nodes. While recruiters and talent partners are valuable, they aren’t working for you but rather the company. Whispered on the other hand, is working to turbo-charges you with connections to these nodes, helping you position yourself well, and data to leverage them.
“Whispered is defining a new category. It's democratizing access to information that previously is private in order to better serve the job seeker, which in turn benefits companies as well.” Leading career advisor
People pay for all of these models but none help you find your next role and accelerate your search. That is what Whispered is designed for … and why we charge.