Permanent placement on contingency

Permanent placement on contingency is our standard engagement. Contract, contract-to-hire and project crews are available on request only, each on bespoke written terms agreed before work starts.

What permanent placement means here

Permanent placement is the engagement most hiring teams already imagine when they hire a recruiter, and it is the one we treat as our default. We find a person, you interview and decide, and if that person joins your company as a regular member of staff, the search has done its job. The relationship between the new hire and your business is yours from the first day. We do not stand between you and the person, and we make no claim to be anyone's employer.

The word permanent can mislead, so it is worth being plain. It describes your intent when you open the role: you want someone to stay, grow, take on more and eventually train the next person. It is not a promise from anybody that a specific individual will stay forever, and no honest recruiter can give you that. What we can do is spend the effort early on the questions that predict whether someone stays, which are about scope, manager, problem and pace rather than about title.

Contingency is the default, and why

Our standard arrangement is contingency. You do not pay anything to begin, and you pay only if you hire someone we presented. The percentage and the payment terms live in the recruiting agreement you sign before work begins, and we point you to that document rather than restating figures on a web page that cannot know your situation.

We like contingency for permanent roles because it keeps incentives honest in both directions. We are motivated to bring you a short list of people you will actually want to meet, since a long list of maybes earns us nothing. You, in turn, are free to tell us plainly when a profile misses, and to stop whenever the role changes or the budget moves. Nobody is locked into a calendar of milestones for a search whose shape may change after the first conversations.

Roles where it fits best

Permanent placement fits the roles you intend to keep and build around. Senior and staff engineers, platform and infrastructure owners, security practitioners, data engineers, product and delivery leaders, business systems administrators and the technical managers who run teams all belong here. So do the experienced analysts and administrators who become the quiet institutional memory of an IT department.

It also fits the first rung of a frontline career when you want to grow someone. A service desk analyst who is hired with a path toward systems work, a field technician who might become a lead, a junior developer who will be mentored: these are permanent hires with a long runway, and the searches look different from senior ones mainly in where we source and what we test.

How a permanent search unfolds

A search begins with a conversation about the work, not a job description. We want to hear what the team is building or keeping alive, what the last person in the seat did well, and what you would change. From that we calibrate a profile, map the employers where such people are found, and start writing to individuals with a reason that makes sense to them.

The people we reach are mostly employed and not applying, so replies arrive unevenly and conversations take the time they take. Each person who reaches you has spoken with a recruiter about the real stack, the real scope and what they want next, and arrives with a written brief that includes the concerns we still have. You interview, you decide, and we help with the process around the offer so a good candidate is not lost to avoidable friction.

Honest limits

We recruit technology roles only, and we place for direct hire. If you need a person for a defined stretch of work, or a group of people to land a rollout, the other engagement pages describe what is possible on request. If you need something outside technology entirely, we will tell you quickly and point you elsewhere rather than let the clock run.

We also tell hiring teams when a permanent hire is the wrong tool. A role that exists to clear a backlog and then vanish is often better served another way, and a role nobody has scoped yet needs a scoping conversation before a search. A short, frank call on this costs nothing and sometimes saves a search that would have stalled.

What to prepare before you start

You do not need a polished job description. Bring the reason the seat exists, the two or three things the person must own in their first year, the people they will work beside, and the constraints on location, travel and clearance. If you have a previous hire who worked out well, a few sentences about why are worth more than a page of requirements.

If you are weighing remote against onsite, say so honestly. Many technology searches widen dramatically once location flexibility is on the table, and others narrow just as sharply when the work depends on a particular site. Telling us the real constraint early means we spend our effort on people who can actually accept the role.

Where this page connects

If you are unsure which engagement matches the need, the overview of how we work compares all four side by side. If the role does not appear in our lists, the page for roles we have not named lets you describe it in your own words. And if you already know what you need, the form on this site takes two short steps and reaches a senior person.

The four engagements

• How we work
• Contract
• Contract-to-hire
• Project crews
• How we compare

The Six-Step Search

1. 01

   Search Calibration

   We discuss the work before treating a title as a brief. You explain the systems, problems, responsibilities and support available. We agree what experience matters, which requirements are flexible, and what the employer still needs to assess.

2. 02

   Targeted Market Research

   We research teams doing relevant work, not just people using the same tools. A hospital support desk and an office help desk need different backgrounds. You get feedback when the scope, location or compensation makes the search harder.

3. 03

   Personal Outreach

   We identify relevant people and contact them with a reason tied to the opening. Follow-up is considered and respectful. Someone can have the right background and still decline; interest is not assumed from a profile or a reply.

4. 04

   Live Candidate Qualification

   We ask what the person personally delivered, which decisions they owned and what happened when something went wrong. The conversation fits the assignment's level. We discuss motivation, compensation expectations, location, schedule and questions about the opportunity.

5. 05

   Written Candidate Insight

   The presentation explains relevant experience, the apparent fit and the questions still open. We distinguish the candidate's account from our judgment. Your hiring team retains responsibility for technical assessment and the final decision.

6. 06

   Interview and Offer Support

   We help keep interviews moving, clarify unanswered questions and discuss feedback with both sides. We stay involved through offer discussions and practical arrangements, including concerns or changed expectations that could prevent a hire.