Terms of business

Commission fees are due only when your hire starts. Every guarantee is a free replacement search, not a refund. If you engage anyone we introduced within 12 months of the introduction, in any capacity, the fee is due.

1. These terms and who they cover

These terms apply between AtherTalent, operated by Faraz Ather from Pakistan ("we", "us"), and you, the client. They take effect when you ask us to start a search, accept a shortlist, sign a seat or retainer order, or otherwise instruct us in writing. Email counts as writing.

Sections 2 to 14 are the terms of business for clients. Section 15 covers use of this website. If a signed order form or proposal says something different from these terms, the order form wins for that engagement.

The fees on the pricing page are our current published rates. The rate that applies to your engagement is the one in force when you instruct us, or the one in your order form.

2. What we do

We fill roles on commission, run retained searches and fractional talent and HR plans, staff dedicated offshore seats, and deliver fixed-fee HR consulting projects. The process page describes how a search runs. We tell you honestly at the first call if a role is not fillable at your budget.

3. Fees and what triggers them

All fees are in US dollars and are charged per seat, meaning per role filled or per person supplied. Fees exclude sales tax, VAT and similar charges. If your law requires you to deduct withholding tax from our invoices, tell us before the first invoice so we can agree how it is handled.

3.1 Commission placements

• First-year base salary means the annualised base salary in the signed offer, excluding bonuses, commission, equity, allowances and benefits. Part-time roles are annualised on the full-time equivalent. Hourly and contract roles are quoted separately.
• Volume rate. Three or more hires starting in the same calendar quarter drop the Standard rate to 8% for those hires.
• Remote hire kickoff payment. The $300 is credited against the $1,500 total and is not refunded if the search ends without a hire.
• More than one hire. If you hire more than one candidate from the same search, a fee is due for each.
• No exclusivity is required on commission searches unless you ask for a discount in exchange for it, in which case it is set out in your order form.

3.2 Retained search and fractional plans

The retained search engagement fee is credited against the success fee, so on the start date you are invoiced 15% of first-year base salary less the $1,500 already paid. It is not refunded if you withdraw the search.

3.3 Seats

• Every seat has a 3-month minimum term from the seat's start date. After that, either side can end it with 30 days' written notice.
• Seats are invoiced monthly in advance. There are no setup fees and no tool fees. What each seat includes is listed on the pricing page.
• Recruiter seats include a free swap within the first 30 days if the person is not the right fit.
• Three or more seats are quoted at a lower rate.

3.4 Fixed-fee HR consulting projects

Projects are paid 50% at kickoff and 50% on delivery. Each project carries a 30-day fix window: we correct errors or omissions you report within 30 days of delivery at no charge. Work outside the agreed scope is quoted before it starts.

4. Invoicing and payment

• Placement and success fees are invoiced on the candidate's start date. Recurring products, meaning seats and fractional plans, are invoiced monthly in advance for the month ahead. All invoices are due within 15 days of the invoice date (net 15).
• Invoices are in US dollars. We can invoice in GBP or AED on request, converted at the exchange rate on the invoice date and stated on the invoice.
• Invoices are issued by Faraz Ather, trading as AtherTalent, a sole proprietorship in Pakistan (tax registration in progress). Payment is by bank transfer to the account details on the invoice, processed through Payoneer.
• Each side pays its own bank charges.
• If an invoice is overdue we may pause work on open searches, seats and projects until it is paid. The replacement guarantee does not apply to a placement while any fee for it is unpaid.
• We never charge candidates a fee. If a candidate tells you they were asked for money in our name, tell us immediately.

5. Replacement guarantees

What the guarantee is. If the hire leaves, or you end their employment, within the window, we run the search again for the same role on the same brief at no additional fee. For a seat, we replace the person at no additional fee and provide backup coverage in the meantime where the role allows. The guarantee is a replacement, not a refund. Fees already paid are not returned.

Conditions. All of these must be met:

• All fees for the placement have been paid in full and on time.
• The hire left, or was dismissed, for reasons other than redundancy, restructuring, or a change to the role, location or pay that you agreed at offer.
• You notify us in writing within 7 days of the hire resigning or being given notice.
• The replacement search is for the same role, or one at a comparable level and salary.
• One replacement search per placement.

6. Introductions and the 12-month clause

We introduce a candidate when we send you their CV, profile or name in writing, or arrange an interview with them. Introductions are made in confidence and belong to us.

If you, any company in your group, or anyone you pass a candidate's details to engages that candidate within 12 months of the introduction, in any capacity (employee, contractor, consultant, temporary worker, through another agency, or for a different role from the one we introduced them for), the fee for the plan under which they were introduced is due in full. It is calculated on the salary or equivalent annual rate at which they are engaged and invoiced on the date they start.

If you already knew the candidate, tell us in writing within 5 business days of the introduction, with evidence that they were already in an active hiring process with you. Otherwise the introduction counts.

You may not pass a candidate's details to another company or agency. If a third party hires the candidate because you passed on their details, the fee is still due from you.

7. Your obligations as a client

• An accurate brief. Title, duties, location and working pattern, salary range, must-have and nice-to-have criteria, reporting line, and any check the role legally requires. Tell us promptly if any of it changes.
• Feedback within 5 business days of each CV and each interview. If feedback stops, the search pauses until it resumes, and candidates are lost in the meantime.
• Lawful, non-discriminatory requirements. We refuse instructions that screen candidates in or out on a protected characteristic, and if you insist we end the engagement. Our equal opportunity statement explains what we accept and what we do not.
• Written go-ahead before any posting. We do not advertise your role, name your company, or post publicly about the search until you give written go-ahead. Confidential searches stay confidential.
• Tell us when an offer is accepted, within 5 business days, with the start date and base salary, so we can invoice correctly.
• The hiring decision, and the checks, are yours. You decide whom to hire. You carry out any right-to-work, background, credential or reference checks that your law or your policy requires. We take references and can coordinate checks, but we do not warrant a candidate's suitability.
• Treat candidates and seat staff decently. Use candidate details only for the role introduced, honour the offer you make, and pay seat staff nothing directly and charge them nothing. Everything goes through us.

8. What you can expect from us

• A written rubric and comp note within 2 business days of the calibration call.
• A shortlist of 3 to 5 candidates in 5 to 10 business days on commission searches, and 15 to 25 business days on retained searches, each with scorecards and a live skills screen.
• References at offer stage, offer support, and check-ins at 30, 60 and 90 days.
• Weekly reports on retained searches and seat plans.
• An honest answer when a role is not fillable at the budget, before we take your money.

Timescales are targets, not promises. They depend on the market and on how quickly you give feedback.

9. Confidentiality

Each of us keeps the other's confidential information secret and uses it only for the engagement. Yours includes role briefs, salary bands, business plans and anything marked confidential. Ours includes candidate details, rubrics and any fee arrangement specific to you. The duty does not apply to information that is already public, that the receiving party already knew, or that the law requires to be disclosed. It continues after the engagement ends for as long as the information stays confidential.

10. Data protection

• Each of us complies with the data protection law that applies to us. Our privacy policy and candidate privacy notice describe what we do.
• When we send you a candidate's details, you become an independent controller of your copy. Use it only to assess that candidate for the role introduced. Do not pass it to third parties. Keep it secure. Delete it if the candidate is not hired, unless your law requires you to keep it. Tell us within 72 hours of learning of a breach that affects it.
• For HR consulting projects that involve your employees' data, we act on your written instructions, keep the data only for the project, and return or delete it when the project ends. A data processing agreement is available on request.

11. Limitation of liability

• Our total liability to you under or in connection with an engagement, whether in contract, tort or otherwise, is capped at the fees you paid us in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim.
• Neither of us is liable to the other for indirect or consequential loss, or for loss of profit, revenue, business, goodwill or data, however it arises.
• We do not guarantee that any candidate will accept an offer, start, stay or perform. The replacement guarantee in section 5 is the only remedy for a hire who leaves.
• Nothing in these terms limits liability for fraud, for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for anything else that cannot be limited by law.

12. Term and termination

• Commission searches. Either of us can end a search at any time by written notice. No fee is due for a search that ends without a hire, apart from the $300 remote hire kickoff payment. Section 6 survives.
• Retained searches. Either of us can end the search by written notice. The engagement fee is not refunded. Section 6 survives, and the success fee is due if you hire an introduced candidate after ending the search.
• Fractional plans. Month to month. Either of us can end with 30 days' written notice. Fees are payable for the notice period.
• Seats. Three-month minimum term from the seat's start date, then 30 days' written notice from either side. If you end a seat during the minimum term, the balance of the minimum term is payable.
• Projects. Either of us can end a project by written notice. You pay for work completed to that date, up to the agreed fee.
• Breach or insolvency. Either of us can end any engagement immediately by written notice if the other materially breaches these terms and does not put it right within 14 days of being asked, or becomes insolvent.
• Sections 6, 9, 10, 11 and 13 survive the end of any engagement.

13. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of Pakistan.

If a dispute arises, the founder and a senior person from your side will first try to settle it by negotiation in good faith, within 30 days of either side raising it in writing. If that does not resolve it, the courts of Pakistan have jurisdiction. We may also seek to recover unpaid fees in the courts of the country where you are based. Either of us can seek urgent relief in any court to protect confidential information.

14. General

• These terms and your order form are the whole agreement between us for an engagement. Changes must be in writing, and email is enough.
• If any part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest still applies.
• Not enforcing a term on one occasion does not waive it.
• Neither of us may transfer the agreement to someone else without the other's written consent. We may use contractors and suppliers to deliver parts of a service, for example payroll for a seat, and we remain responsible to you for them.
• Notices go by email: to faraz@athertalent.com for us, and to the address on your order form for you.
• We may update these terms. The version in force when you instruct us applies to that engagement.

15. Website terms of use

• Information only. This site is published by AtherTalent for general information. Nothing on it, including the insights pages, is legal, tax or HR advice for your situation.
• Our content. The text, design and images on this site belong to AtherTalent unless stated otherwise. You may link to any page and quote short extracts with attribution. Do not copy pages, scrape the site, or reuse its content commercially without our written permission.
• No warranty. The site is provided as it is. We try to keep it accurate and available, but we do not promise that it is free of errors or always online. Prices shown are current published rates and may change. Your engagement uses the rate agreed in writing.
• Links. The site links to external sites, including Calendly, LinkedIn, the AIHR certificate validator and regulators. We do not control or endorse them, and their own terms and privacy policies apply.
• Forms. Give accurate information, send only your own details or details you have permission to share, and do not use the forms to send spam, malware or anything unlawful.
• Privacy. The privacy policy and cookie notice explain what happens to data you send and what the site records.
• Law. Use of the site is governed by the laws of Pakistan, as in section 13.

16. Contact

Questions about these terms: faraz@athertalent.com, or the contact page. AtherTalent, Pakistan.

This document is written in plain English and is not a substitute for legal advice on your specific situation.