Recruitment fees

The band follows the package your hire accepts, not the package briefed. Accept above the briefed band and the fee moves up; accept below it and the fee moves down.

The package is the annual gross base salary, plus superannuation, plus anything guaranteed. Counting toward the band: a sign-on payment, any increase agreed at offer to take effect within 6 months of starting, a car allowance at its stated amount, a contractual loading, a thirteenth month, a guaranteed shift loading, a bonus paid regardless of performance, and anything else the offer guarantees, with a non-cash benefit valued at its reasonable annual cost. A car that comes with the role counts at $20,000 a year where the offer does not state its value. Not counting: anything that has to be earned, such as a discretionary bonus or commission on results.

Part-time and casual roles are banded on the full-time-equivalent package and charged the full fixed fee. A fixed-term or contract role with an initial term of 6 months or less is charged the $800 to start plus 50% of the start-date amount. The other 50% is payable if, within 12 months of starting, it is extended beyond 6 months in total or becomes permanent.

20% off repeat hires, in any band. Any further placement starting within 6 months of your most recent hire’s start date has 20% off the fee for its own band, whichever band that is, taken off the amount invoiced on the start date. Each qualifying placement resets the window. After a longer gap, the next placement returns to the full fixed fee.

Say your next hire is on $120,000: the fee is $14,300, less 20% = $11,440. $800 to start, $10,640 invoiced on their start date. A second hire from the same search pays only the start-date amount, and has 20% off that. A replacement made under the guarantee is not a placement for this purpose, so it neither earns the discount nor resets the window.

The $800 to start is payable to commence the search, and applies once per role brief we take on rather than once per placement. If one search produces two hires for you, you pay the $800 once, and each hire carries its own start-date amount for its band. A new role, or a new search, carries its own $800 to start.

If we send you a candidate outside a search, for example as an anonymised profile, there is no $800 to start. If you hire them, you pay only the start-date amount for their band. If you then ask us to run a search, the $800 to start applies from that point.

The rest of the fixed fee is invoiced on your hire’s start date and payable within 14 days.

If the candidate withdraws before starting, through no fault of yours, the rest of the fixed fee is not payable, and if you want us to, we resume the search with a new search period at no further $800 to start. If you withdraw the offer, or decide not to proceed after the candidate has accepted, including because of a redundancy or restructure, the rest of the fixed fee is payable in full within 14 days of invoice.

Withdrawing a role part-way through a search is different again. Outside the shortlist guarantee below, the $800 to start remains payable and is not refunded or credited.

If we have not delivered a shortlist worth interviewing within 30 days of your $800 reaching us, you are entitled to a full refund of that $800. You decide who to interview. The refund is not automatic: you claim it by telling us in writing that you are ending the engagement. It covers the $800 only and applies once per engagement. If you would rather not end it, the search simply continues and you keep that entitlement for as long as no shortlist worth interviewing has been delivered.

The 30-day clock counts only days we are not waiting on you. If we are waiting on approval of the brief, feedback on candidates, information or interview availability, the clock extends by the days we waited. If you materially change the role, the package or the requirements, it restarts from the date of the change. If you put the role on hold, it pauses until the search resumes.

Tell us within 5 business days whether a shortlist is worth interviewing. If we do not hear back in that time, that shortlist counts as worth interviewing. It also counts as worth interviewing if you interview, or ask to interview, anyone on it. If it is not worth interviewing, say so in writing with your reasons against the brief, and we may revise it within the time left on the clock.

Once someone is placed, the guarantee runs the other way. If your hire resigns within 120 days of starting, or you let them go within 90 days, we run the search again and replace them at no further fixed fee. The remedy is the replacement itself rather than money back: the fixed fee is not refunded, and if the replacement’s package sits in a higher band you pay only the difference.

Tell us in writing within 14 days of the candidate’s last day. The role, reporting line, package and conditions need to be materially what was presented to the candidate at offer, and the fee for that placement needs to have been paid in full. If a payment is missed, we send a written notice, and the guarantee only lapses if it is still unpaid 7 days later. It runs once per placement and is not available for replacement candidates. It does not apply where the departure was caused by redundancy, restructure, a change in role scope or location, serious misconduct, the agreed end of a fixed-term, contract or casual role, or a breach by you of your obligations to the candidate. If we are given at least 4 weeks and still cannot find the right replacement, you choose between continuing the search and taking a credit for the start-date amount you paid against a future fee, valid 12 months. A cash refund is not payable.