Recruitment on commission
Contingency recruitment for one role at a time, at less than half the typical agency fee. A written rubric inside 48 hours, a shortlist of 3 to 5 in 5 to 10 business days, and a 90-day free replacement. Nothing is invoiced before the start date.
Who this is for
Commission fits a single open role where you want to pay for a result, not for effort. Here is where it works best and where another line fits better.
Engineering, clinical, revenue cycle, finance, sales, operations, or anything else where you can write down what good looks like. One brief, one fee, paid when the person starts.
Senior engineers, clinical leads, directors and above go on the Specialist rate: 12% of first-year base with a market map and a comp note added, minimum $4,000.
A flat $1,500 for candidates based offshore on salaries under $40,000. Same rubric, same live screen, same 90-day replacement. $300 at kickoff, $1,200 on the start date.
We have hired across the US, UK, Pakistan, India and Saudi Arabia. Our hours cover US mornings and the full UK and Gulf business day, so feedback moves the same day.
A confidential replacement at director level belongs on retained search. Five people for one function belong on offshore seats, where recruiting is inside the seat price.
What you get
Every placement follows the same sequence. You see each step in writing, and you sign off the rubric before a single candidate is approached.
15 minutes on the role, the budget, the must-haves and the dealbreakers. You get a straight answer on whether it is fillable at your salary and which rate applies.
Day 0
A weighted scorecard for the role, a salary check against the market you are hiring in, and the sourcing plan. Nothing is sourced until you have signed it off.
Within 48 hours of the call
Each candidate arrives with a completed scorecard, notes from a live skills screen (what we asked and how they did), salary expectation, notice period and right-to-work status. You interview finalists only.
Day 5 to 10
We schedule every interview across time zones, brief the candidate, and collect your feedback inside 5 business days so nobody good goes cold.
From Day 10
Reference checks before the offer. Then help with the number, the counter-offer risk and the timing, through to a signed acceptance.
Before and during the offer
An onboarding plan for the first 30 days, and check-ins at Day 30, 60 and 90. If the hire leaves inside 90 days, we run the search again at no fee.
Day 30, 60, 90
How it works
The dates below are business days from the calibration call. Most of the elapsed time after the shortlist is your interview calendar, not ours.
15 minutes. Role, budget, must-haves, dealbreakers. An honest answer on fillability and rate.
Weighted scorecard, salary check, sourcing plan. You sign it off and sourcing starts the same day.
Scorecards, live skills screen notes, salary expectation and notice period for each. You interview finalists only.
We schedule, collect feedback inside 5 business days, run references and support the offer to signature.
Invoice on the start date, net 15. Check-ins at Day 30, 60 and 90. Free rerun of the search if they leave inside 90 days.
Pricing
All fees are a percentage of first-year base salary or a flat number, in US dollars, per role. Typical agencies charge 20 to 25%. On an $80,000 role that is $16,000 to $20,000 against our $8,000.
Any role where the bar can be written down. Most roles go here.
Typical agency: 20 to 25%
90-day free replacement
Invoiced on the start date, net 15. No exclusivity required. No fee if nobody starts.
Senior technology, clinical leads, director and above.
Typical agency for senior and niche roles: 25 to 30%
90-day free replacement, or 180 days at 14%
Invoiced on the start date, net 15. A confidential brief may fit retained search better; we say which on the call.
Offshore candidates on salaries under $40,000.
Flat-fee remote recruiters: $2,000 to $3,900
90-day free replacement
The hire goes on your payroll or your contractor agreement. If you want a person employed through us instead, that is an offshore seat.
Compare every plan line by lineCandidates are never charged a fee.
What is not included
The fee buys the search, the screen, the shortlist and the close. These sit outside it, and we say so before you sign.
Questions clients ask
The annual base salary in the signed offer, before bonus, commission, equity or benefits. If the role is hourly, we annualise the agreed hours. The percentage applies to that number and nothing else, so a signing bonus does not raise the fee.
The invoice is issued on the candidate's start date and is due in 15 days. Nothing is billed at kickoff or on offer acceptance. The one exception is the remote-hire flat fee, where $300 is billed at kickoff and credited against the $1,500 total.
If the hire resigns or is let go for performance inside 90 days of starting, we rerun the search for that role at no fee. The conditions are the ones you would expect: the invoice was paid on time and the role has not materially changed. Specialist placements can extend this to 180 days for 2 percentage points more. Replacement means a new search, not a refund.
No. Commission placements run alongside your own sourcing or other agencies. If you prefer to give us an exclusive brief, say so on the call and we take that into account when we price it. Retained search is the exclusive product, and it is priced and guaranteed differently.
You pay nothing. On Day 2 we tell you in writing whether the role is fillable at your salary; if the market disagrees with the brief, we say so and either reset the brief with you or stop. We do not send a padded shortlist to look busy.
If you hire a candidate we introduced within 12 months of the introduction, for that role or another, the fee applies. This is the introduction clause in the terms of business. It is standard across the industry, and we point it out rather than bury it.
Next step
A 15-minute call is enough to tell you whether the role is fillable at your budget, which rate applies, and when the shortlist lands. You pay nothing until someone starts.