Median from intake call to three calibration candidates.
We send you three people worth meeting
Three screened people at a time, calibrated against your first round of feedback — and nothing to pay until one of them starts.
- 11 days
- Median to first shortlist
- 230+
- Client companies

Why a req sits open for four months
Rarely because the market is empty. Usually the role is described in terms of a stack rather than a problem, so sourcing chases keyword matches instead of people who have solved that problem; the panel then rejects strong candidates for reasons that were never in the brief. Every rejection is information, and most agencies never fold it back in.
The other common cause is process latency. A candidate worth hiring is off the market in two to three weeks. If your loop takes five, you are not competing for them — you are watching them accept somewhere else. Half of what we do on a stalled req is find where the days are going.
Deliberately small. Volume is not a service.
Around half started as a single hard-to-fill role.
Engagement types
One desk covers all of these, which matters because the right answer often changes once we understand the constraint you are actually under.
The default. We source, screen and submit; you pay a percentage of first-year base when someone starts. If nobody starts, there is no invoice.
W-2 contractors on our payroll, billed hourly. We carry employment, payroll, workers’ compensation and multi-state tax registration, so the headcount sits outside your plan.
A defined conversion window, usually three to six months, with the fee schedule agreed up front. Useful when the budget is real but the headcount approval is not yet.
Five to fifty similar roles on a shared calendar — support desks, claims teams, warehouse and logistics. Screening runs in batches, and interviews are scheduled as blocks rather than one at a time.
Technical assessment, reference calls and background verification are done before submission. Your panel only meets people who have already cleared them.
If a permanent placement leaves inside the guarantee window, we refill the role at no additional fee. The window is written into the agreement, not offered verbally.
How a search runs
Six stages, and stage three is the one that makes the difference — a calibration round exists specifically so your feedback changes the search.
Not with HR alone. We need the problem the hire solves, the last two people who failed this loop, and which requirements are real versus aspirational.
What that profile costs in that location, how many exist within reach, and whether the band you have approved can actually buy it. Sometimes this conversation ends the search, which is cheaper than four months of it.
Three candidates, explicitly framed as calibration. We want your rejections and the reasons, because that is what tunes the next round.
Three at a time, refreshed as the panel moves. Each comes with the screening notes, the verification status and their current situation, including other processes they are in.
We manage the offer conversation, counter-offer risk and notice period. Candidates being talked out of resigning is the most common late-stage failure, and it is preventable.
Check-ins with both sides at week two and week eight, so a mismatch surfaces while it is still fixable rather than at the six-month mark.
How pricing works
Stated plainly, because opacity here is how the industry earns its reputation.
Payable when the candidate starts, invoiced net-30. The percentage depends on seniority and how hard the profile is to find, and it is agreed in writing before we source.
A single rate covering pay, employer taxes, workers’ compensation, our margin, and the payroll and compliance work. We will show you the split if you ask.
Run us alongside your internal team or another agency. Exclusivity is something an agency asks for when it wants the option to be slow.
Cohort hiring is priced lower per hire because the screening batches. The calibration round still happens, because a fifty-hire mistake is fifty times the size.
Frequently asked questions
Questions we get about recruitment & staffing. Anything else, just ask.
Can we hire for just one role?
Yes, and roughly half our client relationships start that way. There is no minimum and no onboarding fee — one intake call and we can begin sourcing the same week.
What is your fill rate?
We would rather answer a more useful question, which is what happens when we cannot fill it: you owe nothing, and we tell you why. Usually the reason is a band that does not match the market, a loop that takes too long, or a requirement list nobody satisfies.
Will you work alongside our internal recruiters?
Regularly. The practical arrangement is to split the market — they run inbound and referrals, we run outbound to people who are not looking — and to agree ownership rules so nobody gets double-submitted.
Do you replace a hire who leaves quickly?
Inside the guarantee window on a permanent placement, yes, at no additional fee. The window and its conditions are in the agreement. Outside it, we will usually still prioritise the refill, but it is a new engagement.
How do you handle contract compliance across states?
Contractors are W-2 on our payroll, so registration, withholding, unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation in the working state are ours to handle. We currently run payroll in 31 states.
The rest of what we do
Most engagements touch more than one of these — a placement usually needs verification, and contract staff need payroll.
Tell us about the role that has been open longest
A 20-minute intake and a market read, before you commit to anything. If the answer is that the band cannot buy the profile, we will say so.




