Winsearch

What Winsearch does

Winsearch is a French recruitment and HR consulting firm founded in 1995-1996 and headquartered in Lyon, operating as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Groupe PROMAN, France's leading temporary staffing group. The firm specializes in permanent placement (CDI) and executive search across seven vertical practices: Industry/Engineering, Audit & Accounting, Corporate Finance, Legal, IT/Digital, BTP/Real Estate, and Medical. It also offers complementary HR consulting services including competency assessment (bilan de compétences), individual coaching, outplacement, and internal mobility evaluation through a service called The Human Link, which uses MBTI and projective intelligence tools.

The company operates nine regional offices across France (Lyon, Paris, Bordeaux, Lille, Nantes, Rouen, Marseille, Toulouse, Montpellier) and has expanded internationally through wholly-owned subsidiaries in the United Kingdom (WINSEARCH UK) and Italy (WINSEARCH IT), plus partnerships in Portugal, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Service modules span full recruitment, proactive sourcing, lightweight recruitment support, Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), and executive search. The WINSEARCH MEDICAL division, formed in alliance with Médipro Group, addresses healthcare talent shortages through specialized recruitment for hospitals, clinics, and medico-social structures.

Winsearch generates revenue primarily through fee-for-service permanent placement mandates, executive search retainers, RPO contracts, and HR consulting engagements. Pricing is negotiated on a per-engagement basis with no publicly disclosed tiers. The firm employs 11-50 people, reflecting a high-fee, specialist boutique model rather than a volume recruitment operation. Customer acquisition is driven by sector-specialized consultants engaging ETI and PME clients through direct outreach, supported by an organic job board, a 30,000+ LinkedIn community, and the broader PROMAN distribution ecosystem.

Name

Winsearch

Legal name

WINSEARCH, société par actions simplifiée

Website

https://winsearch.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Winsearch is a French recruitment and HR consulting firm, subsidiary of Groupe PROMAN, specializing in permanent placement, executive search, and career management across seven vertical sectors through nine French offices and UK/Italy subsidiaries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Recruitment Services

NAICS

Employment Placement Agencies (561311), Executive Search Services (561312), Human Resources Consulting Services (541612)

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Executive & Leadership Direct Hire (BPACAFAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Recruiting Administration Outsourcing (Recruitment Support, Scheduling, Onboarding Ops) (BPACAKAG), Talent Acquisition (Recruiting) & Applicant Tracking (ATS) (BPACAPAD)

Keywords

• Executive recruitment services
• Permanent placement staffing
• Sector-specific recruitment
• HR consulting services
• Career management services

Headquarters

HQ city

Lyon

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices9 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Permanent Placement / Recrutement: Winsearch charges fees for permanent placement (CDI) recruitment services, matching candidates with client companies across all sectors and management levels.
2. HR Consulting Services: Revenue generated from career management services including skills assessments (bilan de compétences), coaching, outplacement, and internal mobility evaluations (EMI module).
3. RPO and Specialized Recruitment Services: Fees from Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), executive search, and sector-specific specialized recruitment mandates for clients in industry, audit, finance, legal, IT/digital, and medical sectors.
4. WINSEARCH Medical: Medical recruitment services for healthcare establishments, clinics, hospitals, and medico-social structures, issued from the alliance between Winsearch and Médipro group.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Winsearch is a French recruitment consultancy providing permanent placement, executive search, RPO, and sector-specialized staffing services across industry, audit/accounting, legal, IT/digital, BTP/real estate, medical, and corporate finance verticals. The firm also offers career management services including skills assessments, individual coaching, outplacement, and internal mobility evaluation under The Human Link sub-brand.

Product overview

WINSEARCH is a comprehensive recruitment and HR services platform operating as a single unified offering rather than a modular architecture. The core product encompasses permanent and contract staffing across nine specialized divisions: Industry/Engineering, Audit & Accounting, Corporate Finance, BTP/Real Estate, IT/Digital, Legal, and Medical recruitment, alongside career management services including The Human Link (using MBTI and projective intelligence tools), competency assessments, individual coaching, and professional project construction. WINSEARCH MEDICAL provides specialized healthcare staffing through a partnership with Médipro. Service delivery spans nine French offices and three international locations, with full-service, proactive sourcing, lightweight support, RPO, and executive search modules available within the unified recruitment offering.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• WINSEARCH MEDICAL: Specialized medical and healthcare recruitment division of WINSEARCH, serving healthcare establishments, clinics, hospitals, and medico-social structures

Products and services

• WINSEARCH Core Recruitment Services
• The Human Link
• WINSEARCH MEDICAL
• Executive Search
• Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO)
• EMI: Internal Mobility Evaluation
• Competency Assessment (Bilan de Compétences)
• Individual Coaching
• Professional Project Construction
• Industry & Engineering Recruitment
• Audit & Accounting Recruitment
• Corporate Finance Recruitment
• BTP & Real Estate Recruitment
• IT & Digital Recruitment
• Legal Recruitment

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• WINSEARCH UKminorOthersWinsearch UK is an international extension of Winsearch, operating independently in the United Kingdom to serve clients and candidates across borders, expanding Winsearch's geographic footprint.
• WINSEARCH IT (Italy)minorOthersWinsearch IT operates as Winsearch's Italian subsidiary, providing recruitment services in the Italian market and enabling cross-border recruitment between France and Italy.
• Médipro GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWINSEARCH Medical was created through the alliance between Winsearch and Médipro Group, a recognized player in the healthcare sector. This partnership enables Winsearch to offer specialized medical recruitment services for healthcare establishments, clinics, hospitals, and medico-social structures across France.
• Fondation PROMANminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWinsearch benefits from the support of the Fondation PROMAN, which carries out varied solidarity actions. This synergy reinforces Winsearch's CSR commitments (RSE) and enables participation in projects of greater scope promoting inclusion and solidarity.
• Les Cop1 (Solidarités Étudiantes)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWinsearch partnered with the association Les Cop1 - Solidarités Étudiantes, which helps students in precarious situations through food distributions, clothing donations, and human support. Winsearch teams organized clothing collections to support the initiative, reflecting the company's solidarity values.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Michael Page: Michael Page is one of the largest specialist professional recruitment firms operating in France across white-collar and mid-to-senior management roles. It directly competes with Winsearch for the same ETI/PME client base across functions including finance, legal, IT, and industry, with a similarly specialized-vertical go-to-market model.
• Hays: Hays France operates a multi-sector specialist recruitment model covering accountancy, legal, IT, life sciences, and construction — closely mirroring Winsearch's vertical structure. Both firms compete for permanent placement mandates from French ETIs and PMEs across professional functions.
• Morgan Philips Executive Search: Morgan Philips is a Franco-Belgian executive search and recruitment firm specializing in middle-management and senior leadership placements. It is the closest direct competitor to Winsearch's executive search and 'middle/top management for ETI/PME' positioning in France.
• Robert Half France: Robert Half operates in France with a specialized recruitment model focused on finance, accounting, legal, administrative, and IT roles — significant overlap with Winsearch's verticals (Audit & Accounting, Corporate Finance, Legal, IT/Digital). Both target permanent placement in the same mid-market segment.
• Spring (Groupe Adecco): Spring France is the specialist permanent recruitment and HR services arm of the Adecco Group, with vertical coverage in IT, engineering, sales/marketing, and finance. It competes directly with Winsearch for the same ETI/PME permanent placement mandates across France.
• Approach People Recruitment: Approach People is an international recruitment firm with strong presence in France focused on mid-to-senior management roles across IT, engineering, finance, and industry — comparable target clients and mandates to Winsearch, including cross-border placements into neighboring European markets.
• Adsearch: Adsearch is a French-headquartered multi-sector recruitment firm operating across IT, finance, industry, and healthcare with a multi-office French footprint. It is closely comparable to Winsearch in client segment (ETI/PME), vertical breadth, and permanent placement focus.

Emerging players

• Grant Alexander: Grant Alexander is a French executive search boutique focused on senior management and C-level recruitment, with overlap to Winsearch's executive search practice. Comparable client profile (mid-market French firms and subsidiaries of international groups) and similar fee-based revenue model.

Broad incumbents

• Manpower France: Manpower is one of the largest staffing and recruitment operators in France — a sister group to Winsearch's parent PROMAN via the broader staffing industry — and competes broadly across permanent placement, RPO, and HR services, particularly for volume and enterprise mandates.
• Adecco France: Adecco France is a top-tier broad staffing and recruitment group operating across all major French cities. It competes with Winsearch for permanent placement, RPO, and HR consulting mandates, particularly at larger enterprise tier where its scale is a structural advantage.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/winsearch

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles15 records

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Winsearch