What makes a recruitment agency good?
Four things, in order. Relevance: they have recently filled roles like yours, in your market, at your level. Capacity: the recruiter assigned to you has time, not fifteen other roles. Screening: candidates are interviewed by a person before you see them, and the agency tells you what it found, including the weak points. Terms: the fee, the fee base and the replacement period are written down and simple.
Everything else, the size of the agency, the awards, the brand, is secondary. A large agency with a junior recruiter on your account will do worse than a small one with an expert who has time.
How do you evaluate a recruitment agency?
Use this checklist on every agency you talk to, and score each point before you compare fees.
- Three placements in the last year in a role like yours, with the client's name or a reference
- The named recruiter who will work your role and how many roles they carry now
- Whether every candidate is interviewed by a person before you see them
- Written notes on each candidate, including gaps and concerns
- Fee model, fee base (salary or total pay) and payment timing
- Replacement period length and what voids it
- Exclusive or non-exclusive working, and what you get for exclusivity
- Coverage of the countries and remote markets you need
- How they handle scheduling, follow-ups and offer negotiation
- What they will tell you if your pay range is below market
What questions should you ask before signing?
Ask: who exactly will work on this role, and may I speak to them first? What is your interview-to-offer ratio on similar roles? How many CVs will you send and how many will have been interviewed? What happens if we hire someone who applied directly during the search? Is the fee on base salary or on total compensation? What is the replacement period and is it a refund or a new search? Which of our competitors are your clients, and are they off limits to you? How will you keep us informed, and how often?
An agency that answers all of these plainly in one call is usually safe to work with. One that avoids the fee base or the recruiter's workload is telling you something.
What are the red flags?
Candidates sent within an hour of the brief, which means no screening. A refusal to name the recruiter. Pressure to sign exclusive terms before any work. A fee calculated on on-target earnings or total compensation without saying so up front. A replacement clause with conditions that make it unusable, such as excluding any dismissal in probation. Candidates who say they were not told the company name or the pay range. And a fee that rises because the final salary rose, which is the normal percentage model and the reason many employers now look for a flat fee.
How do the agency types compare?
The figures below use sourced industry ranges. Contingency fees of 15 to 25 percent come from AIHR and Top Echelon. Retained fees of 25 to 35 percent come from Paraform. SHRM reports an average internal cost per hire of nearly 4,700 dollars and a 2025 median time to fill of about 44 days for nonexecutive roles.
| Type | Fee | Exclusive | Screening depth | Best for | Main risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contingency agency | 15 to 25 percent of first-year salary on hire | Usually no | Light to medium | Common roles, speed | CV volume over quality, fee grows with salary |
| Retained search firm | 25 to 35 percent of first-year pay, paid in stages | Yes | Deep | Senior and confidential roles | Paid even with no hire, slow |
| Staffing agency | Hourly bill rate with markup | No | Light | Temporary and contract staff | Cost runs every hour, low continuity |
| Contract recruiter | Hourly, daily or monthly | n/a | Depends on the person | Hiring bursts | You manage them, one person's capacity |
| RPO | Monthly plus per-hire under a long contract | Yes | Medium to deep | Large ongoing volume | Long commitment, slow to change |
| Scowter | One flat fee per role | Yes | AI screening plus human interviews and CV verification | Professional roles at a known price | Not for temps or payroll staffing |
How does Scowter answer each point on the checklist?
Relevance: Scowter's talent pools are organised by function, tech, sales, healthcare, finance and operations, with candidates in the United States, India, the United Kingdom and the Gulf, so the recruiter starts with people in your field. Capacity: AI agents do the searching and first screening, so each recruiter spends their time on interviews rather than on search. Screening: every shortlisted person has been interviewed by a human recruiter, checked for availability and pay, and had their CV verified, and the notes say what was found. Terms: one flat fee per role, no percentage, no fee base to argue about, agreed before the search.
The process is five steps. You brief the role. AI searches the pools and more than 150 job boards and screens the CVs. Recruiters interview, check and verify. You receive a ready-to-hire shortlist with notes. Scowter handles scheduling, follow-ups and offer coordination.
When is Scowter not the best choice?
If you need temporary staff on someone else's payroll, use a staffing agency. If you need a public-company board search with in-person assessment across continents, use a global retained firm. If you need a recruiter sitting in your office running your applicant tracking system all day, hire a contract recruiter. For permanent professional roles where you want a vetted shortlist at a price you know in advance, Scowter is built for that.
