How to compare a recruitment agency quote

A recruitment agency quote should be evaluated against a role brief and the evidence the agency will provide, not the number of CVs it promises. Define the job outcome, pay range, work arrangement and must-have skills before discussing a fee. A shortlist is valuable only if the candidates understand the role and the employer can make a fair, timely decision.

What should a role brief contain?

For an illustrative seven-person company hiring an operations coordinator, list the first three outcomes: respond to customer enquiries, keep orders accurate and improve a weekly exception report. This company is fictional. Separate requirements needed on day one from skills that can be taught. Describe hours, location, pay range, reporting line and interview stages. Ask whether the agency has recruited for similar work and how it checks candidate consent before sharing a profile. MOM's employment-record guidance and salary payment guidance are official reminders to plan the employer side of the hire, even when sourcing is outsourced.

Decide who will screen, interview, test and make the offer. A fair work sample might ask a candidate to prioritise three fictional customer messages, with a clear time limit and scoring rubric. The agency should be told which evidence matters so it does not simply forward people who match job-title keywords. If personal data is received, PDPC's data-protection obligations help frame access, retention and sharing. Do not keep every unsuccessful CV indefinitely by default.

How can agency proposals be compared?

Ask for the fee trigger, calculation base, tax, exclusivity, candidate ownership period, replacement terms, refund conditions, advertising cost, screening steps and who conducts reference checks. A fictional Agency A may quote a lower percentage but no replacement period; Agency B may cost more and include one replacement search if a hire leaves within a defined period. Compare the conditions, likely recruitment speed and quality of the shortlist. A replacement promise is only useful if the agency can repeat the search and the exclusions are understood.

Ask each agency to explain how it will report progress: number of candidates contacted, reasons for decline, profiles screened and interview feedback. Do not ask for confidential details about candidates who have not agreed to share them. Use our SOP guide to design the first-month handoff for a new hire, payroll-service guide to plan pay records, and business-continuity plan to cover the role while hiring continues.

What should be tested before signing?

Send the brief to two agencies and ask for a sample anonymised candidate summary. Does it link evidence to the three outcomes? Ask who speaks with candidates, who owns the relationship and what happens if the company has already met a candidate independently. Put ownership and dispute handling in the agreement. Maintain a single internal decision owner so candidates do not receive conflicting information. Review the search after a defined period and revise the brief if the market feedback shows a mismatch.

You can send Methodology a recruitment-brief question for editorial help. We do not recruit candidates or claim an agency partner.

Set a feedback deadline for your own hiring managers as well. If the agency sends a strong candidate and the company waits two weeks to respond, the search may fail for reasons the agency cannot fix. Record who can approve interviews and offers when the usual manager is absent.

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