Our standards
What we commit to, written down so you can hold us to it.
Most agency promises are made verbally on a first call and forgotten by the third. These are the ones we are willing to publish, which is a useful filter for whether we mean them.
The short version
- No fee until someone starts
- Rates and margins shown before you interview
- One working day to a reply, three for engineers
- 90-day replacement guarantee on direct hires
Every one of these is in the contract, not just on this page.
Why publish this
A promise you can check is worth more
Recruitment runs on claims that are impossible to verify until it is too late to act on them — that the shortlist was screened, that the rate is fair, that someone will call you back. By the time you find out, you have spent the time either way.
So we have written down the specific, checkable things instead of the adjectives. Not “great communication” but one working day. Not “transparent pricing” but the margin on the invoice line. Each one is falsifiable, which is the only property that makes a commitment mean anything.
If we miss one of these, tell us and we will make it right on that engagement — a fee credit, a re-run search, or whatever actually fixes it.
The three that matter most
Everything else follows from these
You always see the number
Clients see the engineer's rate and our margin on the same invoice line. Engineers see the client's budget ceiling and what we take before agreeing to a first interview. Hidden margins are the main reason agencies are distrusted, and the fix costs us nothing but the habit of secrecy.
We answer, and we answer quickly
One working day to a company, three to an engineer, including when the answer is no. Every application is read by a person. Ghosting is cheap for an agency and expensive for whoever is waiting on it, which is exactly why so much of the industry does it.
We stop when we cannot help
If we do not think we can fill a search, we say so at the intake call rather than billing three weeks of activity for it. If an engineer is not a fit for anything we have, we tell them instead of leaving them on a list for a year.
If you are hiring
What every client gets
These apply to every search, on every engagement model:
- No fee until someone actually starts — no retainers, no engagement fees
- The engineer's rate and our margin shown side by side, before you interview
- A shortlist of roughly three, with written screen notes including the weak spots
- 90-day replacement guarantee on direct hires, re-run at no charge
- Two weeks' notice either side on contract engagements
- An honest read at intake on how hard the search will be, including "we would not take this one"
If you are an engineer
What every engineer gets
These apply whether or not we ever place you:
- The comp range, our margin, and the budget ceiling before you agree to interview
- Nothing goes to a client until you say yes to that specific role
- One ninety-minute technical screen, reused across searches rather than repeated
- Real feedback after a rejection — what the client actually said, not a sanitised version
- No exclusivity clauses and no non-competes that follow you around
- No penalty for turning down an introduction or taking a role you found yourself
What this looks like in practice
The same four steps, every search
Roughly three weeks for a typical senior role. Where a step slips, you hear it from us before you have to ask.
Intake
Forty-five minutes on the role and the team, then a written brief you sign off. If we think the search is unfillable at that budget, this is where we say so.
Screening
We search the bench and the open market, then run the technical screen ourselves. You get the notes, including where a candidate was shaky.
Shortlist
Around three engineers inside seven to ten days, each with availability, rate and timezone confirmed in writing rather than assumed.
Offer
We handle scheduling, feedback and rate negotiation. Contracts, compliance and payroll on contract engagements; we step back entirely on direct hires.
What we ask in return
It only works both ways
Short list, and none of it is onerous — but a search stalls without it.
- Tell us early when a role's scope, budget or timeline changes
- Give feedback on a shortlist within a few days, so candidates are not left waiting
- Engineers: keep us honest about your availability, notice period and other processes you are in
If we fall short
Tell us directly. A commitment with no way to complain about it is a slogan, so this address goes to the two people who can actually change how an engagement is run.
Read by two people, replied to within a day:
conduct@northboundtalents.com