No hire, no fee. And no plan to keep you dependent.

What you get

A shortlist, not a stack of CVs

Most contingency recruiters are paid to be fast, not right. Volume is the business model: send enough CVs and something sticks. That's why you've been sent people who clearly hadn't read the job description.

We came at this from the other side. BuildIn Talent was founded by an in-house Head of People — someone who spent years receiving those CVs and running hiring for a global SaaS business. We recruit the way a good internal team would, because that's where we learned to do it.

In practice:

• We scope properly first. A briefing meeting on the role, the team, the manager's style and what "good" actually looks like. Not a job spec forwarded by email.
• You get three to five candidates. Each one with a written summary of why they fit, what they're looking for, and where the risk is. If we can only find two who genuinely fit, you get two.
• We tell you when we can't help. If the salary is below market, or the brief is unrealistic, we'll say so on the first call rather than take the role and waste six weeks.
• You keep the market intelligence. Salary benchmarks, competitor mapping, why candidates said no. Yours whether you hire through us or not.

How it works

Four steps, roughly three weeks

1. Brief — day 1 A proper conversation about the role. We'll challenge the spec if it needs it. You get a written brief back to sign off, so there's no ambiguity about what we're looking for.

2. Search — days 2–10 Direct approach, referral networks and our existing talent pools. We're not waiting on job board applications.

3. Shortlist — around day 10 Three to five candidates with written assessments. We'll run a shortlist review call and adjust if we've read the brief wrong.

4. Offer and start We manage the offer conversation, counter-offer risk and notice period. We check in at week one and week four after the start date.

You're invoiced when they start. Not before.

What it costs

20% of first-year basic salary, invoiced on the candidate's start date.

That's a standard market rate, and we're not going to pretend otherwise. What's different is what comes with it, and what we're trying to do about it.

• No fee unless you hire. No retainer, no exclusivity, no obligation to use us again.
• 3 month replacement guarantee. If they leave or don't work out within 3 months, we replace them free.
• 15% from your second placement in a rolling 12 months.
• You keep everything we learn. Search notes, salary benchmarks, competitor mapping, the reasons candidates said yes or no. Yours whether you hire through us or not.
• 20% of your fee credited against any consultancy work you start within 90 days.