// how we work

Brief to placement,and what happens between.

Seven stages. You can see every one of them from your own login, so at no point do you have to email somebody to ask where things are.

About an hour

The brief

You: Tell us the role, the money, who it reports to, and what a good first six months looks like. If there is a person who used to do this job well, tell us about them.
Us: We ask the awkward questions now rather than at offer stage. Chiefly: is the salary the market rate, and is there flexibility if the right person is five per cent above it.
You get: A written brief you sign off. Everything after this is measured against it.

Five to ten working days

Search and approach

You: Nothing. This is our part.
Us: We build a list of people who are doing the job now, and approach them directly. We tell them who you are unless you have asked us to keep the role confidential, in which case we describe it without naming you and only name you once they are serious.
You get: A note partway through saying what the market is telling us. If the brief is not landing, this is when you hear it.

Runs alongside stage 02

Screening

You: Nothing yet.
Us: We read every CV against your brief and we speak to everyone who passes. We check the things that waste an interview slot: notice period, salary expectation, whether they can legally work where the job is, and whether they actually want it.
You get: Nothing yet, on purpose. A drip feed of single CVs is how a shortlist stops being a shortlist.

Delivered as one set

The shortlist

You: Read it. It is short, so this is an evening, not a week.
Us: We send you a small group of people, each with a written summary saying what they have done, why they fit the brief, and what the risk is. There is always a risk, and we would rather write it down.
You get: Candidates in your login, ready to accept or reject.

Yours

Your decision

You: Accept or reject each person. A reject asks for a reason, and the reason is not admin: it is what makes the next round narrower.
Us: We book the interviews you accept and we tell the people you reject, properly and quickly.
You get: Interviews in diaries.

Two to four weeks, mostly notice periods

Offer

You: Decide, and decide quickly. Good candidates are usually in more than one process.
Us: We handle the offer conversation, the negotiation and the counter-offer from their current employer. Counter-offers are common and we will have already asked how they would respond to one.
You get: A signed acceptance and a start date.

Guarantee period runs from the start date

Placement and guarantee

You: Get them started. We check in.
Us: We stay in touch with both sides through the guarantee period. If the placement does not hold, we talk about it rather than pointing at a clause.
You get: The invoice, and a guarantee period recorded against the placement.

// fees

Four models.Agreed before we start.

The model is set per role, in writing, at the brief. It does not change afterwards, and the figure on your invoice is the one snapshotted when the placement was confirmed, not the one that happens to be on the job record later.

Flat feeA defined role at a known level: A fixed amount per hire. Two hires on the same role invoice the same.
Percentage of salaryMost permanent roles: A percentage of that person's agreed salary. Two hires on the same role invoice different amounts.
RetainerOngoing hiring, or a confidential search: A recurring amount. No separate placement fee.
Retainer plus placementSenior or hard to fill roles: A retainer to start the search, and a placement fee on the hire.

// discretion

When you cannot say it is you.

Replacing somebody who still works for you, or moving into a market before you have announced it, means the role has to be advertised without your name on it. Every job on our board carries a switch for this. With it off, the listing shows the role and nothing that identifies you: not the name, not the logo, not a link, and not in the page's data either.

We tell a candidate who you are before they meet you, never before.

Send us the role. We will tell you if we can fill it.

Including if the answer is no.

Brief us on a role →Talk to us first