How to choose a recruitment agency: 10 questions to ask before you sign

You’ve had three proposals on your desk for two weeks. All three promise “quality talent”, all three claim a huge network and all three charge similar amounts. If you covered up the logos, you’d struggle to tell them apart. And yet you know that choosing well will make the difference between filling the role in a few weeks and starting again in three months.

What separates a good recruitment agency from a mediocre one rarely shows in the sales deck. It shows when you ask specific questions. These are the ten we suggest you take to the first meeting, and what you should be listening for in each answer.

Who they are

1. Which profiles do you really specialise in?

“We’re generalists, but very good ones” is an honest answer, but it isn’t specialisation. You want a provider that works regularly on profiles like yours and can talk fluently about that market: where those people are, what they earn, what makes them move and what makes them turn an offer down. If you’re hiring an Engineering Manager and the conversation stays generic, take note.

2. Which similar searches have you closed recently?

Ask for two or three recent examples, anonymised if need be: sector, role, time to hire and what was hard. That last part tells you the most. Anyone can tell a success story. Explaining an obstacle well, and how it was solved, requires having been there.

3. Who will actually run my search?

At many agencies, the person who sells the project isn’t the one who delivers it. That’s fine, but you’re entitled to meet the person who will speak to candidates on your company’s behalf, and to know how many searches they run in parallel. If it’s too many, your search will be competing for their time with other clients’.

How they work

4. How will you find candidates?

There are three possible sources: job ads, the agency’s own database, and direct approach to people who aren’t looking. All three are valid, but for scarce profiles the third is what makes the difference. Ask how much weight each will carry in your case, and how they’ll pitch your opportunity to someone who’s happy in their job.

5. How do you assess a candidate before presenting them?

A good answer includes in-depth interviews, some exercise tied to the real day-to-day of the role, a read on the person’s motivation to move and, for management roles, how they lead. Ask what you’ll receive for each candidate, too. A forwarded CV isn’t an assessment. A report explaining why they fit and what risks the consultant sees is.

6. How many candidates will you present, and when?

A short shortlist and a committed first date are reasonable. Be as wary of someone promising candidates in two days without understanding the role as of someone who won’t commit to any date at all. For a sense of realistic timelines, see how long tech hiring really takes.

7. How and how often will you update me?

Agree a fixed rhythm, such as a weekly call or report, and what it will cover: how many people have been approached, how many are interested, and why those who said no didn’t want to continue. That last piece is gold. If several people turn the role down because of salary or the working model, you need to know in week two, not week eight.

8. How will you talk about my company?

For weeks, the agency will be your company’s voice to dozens of professionals in your sector. Ask them to tell you how they’d pitch the role on a first call. If you don’t recognise yourself in it, or it sounds like any other job ad, better to know before you start.

The terms

9. What are your terms, in writing?

Fees and which salary they’re calculated on, when they invoice, what the service includes, what guarantee applies if the person leaves early, and whether exclusivity is required. All of it should be in the proposal before the search starts, with no surprises on the invoice. We’ve written about each of these separately: how much a headhunter costs, how a replacement guarantee works and when exclusivity makes sense.

10. What happens if the search doesn’t work?

It’s the question hardly anyone asks and the one that says the most about a provider. Sometimes the market shows that the profile, as defined, doesn’t exist at that salary or in that location. A good agency will tell you early, with evidence, and suggest options: adjust requirements, open up the working model, revisit the salary range or rethink the role. What it shouldn’t do is keep sending candidates it knows don’t fit.

A few signals worth noting

Beyond the answers, pay attention to the questions they ask you. An agency that wants to know why the role is open, what went wrong with the previous person or which candidates you’ve already seen is trying to understand the problem. If all they ask about is salary and start date, they’re probably just looking for CVs that match some keywords.

Another warning sign is being sent profiles you didn’t ask for, or candidates being presented without their permission. Besides being poor practice with personal data, it makes your company look bad in front of people who might have been great hires.

Before you decide

Our suggestion is to ask every provider you’re considering these same questions and note the answers in a simple table. Side by side, the differences show up on their own, and they’re usually much bigger than they looked in the presentations.

If you’d like to put these ten questions to us about your next search, we’re happy to answer. Get in touch and we’ll talk it through on a call.

Frequently asked questions

What should you ask a recruitment agency before hiring it?

The essentials are which profiles it specialises in, which similar searches it has closed, who will run the process, how it finds and assesses candidates, how quickly it presents a shortlist, how it reports progress, and what its terms are for fees, payment, guarantee and exclusivity.

How can you tell whether a recruitment agency is really specialised?

Ask for specific, recent examples of roles similar to yours, even anonymised, and ask what was difficult in each. A specialist agency talks comfortably about that profile's market: where the people are, what salaries are being paid and what makes them move.

How many candidates should a recruitment agency present?

There is no fixed number, but a short shortlist of well-assessed candidates is usually more useful than a long list of CVs. What matters is that each candidate comes with an explanation of why they fit and what the risks are.

What are the warning signs when choosing a recruitment agency?

Promising candidates within days without understanding the role, not letting you speak to the person who will run the search, sending profiles without the candidate's permission, or not having the terms and guarantee clearly in writing.