A recruiting relationship begins with a business decision: what does this organization need someone to do, and what evidence would make the employer confident that a candidate can do it?
The job title is only the starting point. Two companies can advertise the same title while needing very different experience. One operations director may be responsible for several facilities and a large team. Another may be expected to create a process in a small business with few existing resources. Sending the same candidates to both searches would ignore the work.
Before a recruiter begins sourcing, the employer and recruiter should agree on the assignment. A short, careful conversation can establish the basis for every later decision: what counts as qualified, which compromises are acceptable, who decides and when the search should change.
Describe the result you need
Start with the work rather than a long list of adjectives. What should improve during the first six to twelve months? Which responsibilities will the new employee own? What will the person inherit, and what must be built?
A useful requirement connects to one of those responsibilities. Experience managing a distributed customer-service operation may be essential when the role owns that operation. A preference for a particular university needs a different justification. Distinguishing essentials from preferences gives the recruiter a usable standard and gives the employer a reasoned basis for evaluating people.
Write the standard down. A hiring manager’s unstated expectation can otherwise become a rejection reason only after candidates have invested time. The purpose is not to remove judgment. It is to make that judgment understandable and tied to the job.
Confirm who can engage the recruiter
The person discussing the vacancy may not be authorized to sign an agency agreement. Talent acquisition, procurement, legal or another executive may control the vendor relationship.
An employer may require approval through talent acquisition, procurement, legal, or a specifically authorized executive. Before a recruiter submits a candidate, both sides should confirm the organization’s process and the person permitted to approve the engagement.
A job advertisement tells a recruiter that a role has been advertised. It does not tell the recruiter that the employer wants agency support. The appropriate first question is whether that support is an option and which route the employer uses to approve it.
Make compensation usable
Agree on an approved compensation range, the work location, office expectations and travel. A search brief that omits these facts forces candidates and recruiters to make assumptions.
Use the role’s approved range and the candidate’s expectations to discuss compensation alignment. Confirm any applicable posting and compensation-question requirements for the actual search location before advertising or screening.
The employer should identify who can approve an exception to the range. If no exception is possible, say so. If the scope changes enough to justify a different range, update the search before continuing to present the original opportunity.
Define the fee before candidate introductions
The agreement should explain the percentage, the compensation used in the calculation, the event that earns the fee and when payment is due.
A percentage alone is incomplete. Twenty percent of base salary is different from twenty percent of a compensation package that includes commissions, bonuses or equity. Likewise, a fee earned on an accepted offer is different from a fee earned when the candidate actually starts.
Ivy Recruiter uses a 20% employer placement fee. The compensation basis, fee trigger, and payment terms are established in the employer agreement. Compare the complete obligations before agreeing to a search.
Discuss prior candidates as well. When is an introduction documented? What happens when the employer was already actively speaking with the person? How long does a legitimate introduction remain relevant to a fee? Clear evidence and reasonable exceptions are more useful than a dispute about who “owns” a candidate.
Understand a replacement promise
A guarantee should explain the event covered, the coverage period, the procedure, and the promised remedy. Read the actual wording and ask what the recruiter commits to do.
If a placed candidate leaves within the first 90 days and the departure is covered by our agreement, Ivy Recruiter will replace the candidate at no additional placement fee. The signed employer agreement defines coverage and the replacement process.
Ask what happens if the company eliminates the position, materially changes the job or withdraws the replacement request. The recruiter should be able to explain the obligation in ordinary language. Public marketing and the signed agreement should say the same thing.
Agree on the interview and feedback process
The recruiter needs to know who evaluates each part of the role and how candidates move through the process. The employer needs to know what screening has already occurred and what remains to be explored.
A useful candidate brief identifies relevant evidence, practical alignment and open questions. The employer can then use interviews to investigate those questions rather than repeat the résumé from the beginning.
Agree on a workable feedback cadence. Feedback should identify the criterion behind a decision. “The candidate has managed a smaller operating scope than this role requires” gives the recruiter a meaningful adjustment. An unexplained “not a fit” does not.
Keep candidate permission clear
The candidate should understand the actual opportunity and approve the employer presentation. Confidential searches need a controlled way to disclose the employer before meaningful submission consent. Candidate materials should reach only the appropriate hiring participants.
A good recruiting relationship respects the employer’s process and the candidate’s freedom. It also makes uncertainty visible: which facts are verified, which are candidate-reported and which still need examination.
The most useful first deliverable may therefore be a clear search brief. Before anyone asks for three candidates, both sides should be able to explain what those three candidates need to demonstrate.