Hire a single role, add an embedded recruiting team by the month, or run a retained executive search. You pick the model that fits where you are, and we will build a custom option when that is the better fit. Every engagement includes a senior lead who reviews the work. Here is exactly what each one costs.
Every model includes a senior lead who reviews the work. Details, terms and what each one includes are below.
Most companies start with Path 1 or 2. We also run retained executive search and build custom engagements when that fits better. Pick the one that sounds like you, and we'll show the price and the detail.
Not sure? Tell us what you're hiring for and we'll recommend the fit.
Best for a single role or a handful of hires. Priced as a percentage of salary, or a flat fee for a lighter, single-role search.
Full-cycle recruiting with an assigned recruiter and a senior Client Delivery Lead who oversees the search and quality-assures every submission, with a 90-day replacement guarantee.
Best fit when you have an occasional or hard-to-fill role and want a senior-led search priced per hire.
| When you pay | $5,000 opens the search, credited in full toward your fee; the balance when your hire starts |
| Fee | 10% to 15% of first-year base salary: 10% on a new, straightforward role given on a 30-day exclusive, otherwise 12% to 15% by role difficulty |
| Recruiter | Assigned recruiter, with a senior Client Delivery Lead who reviews every submission |
| Guarantee | 90-day replacement |
| Best for | Most roles |
The engagement fee is the first part of your placement fee, credited in full when your hire starts. A minimum placement fee of $15,000 applies. Executive, highly complex, and high-clearance (Poly) roles may be quoted separately.
A lighter, recruiter-led search for a single role, without a dedicated Client Delivery Lead. We source and pre-screen and send you 3 to 5 qualified candidates; you run the interviews, the decision, and the offer.
Best fit when you have one straightforward role and want a vetted shortlist to interview, at a flat, highly affordable price.
One role per company. HireSelect is built as a first engagement. You get a vetted shortlist at a flat fee, we get to show you how we work, and you decide from there whether DirectHire or PartnerHire is the right fit for the rest of your hiring.
BizFirst pay-per-hire options on the same hire, against a traditional agency at 20 to 30% of first-year salary. PartnerHire is priced monthly, so it is shown in Path 2.
| BizFirst | Traditional agency | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hire's base salary | DirectHire 10% | DirectHire 15% | HireSelect (flat) | Traditional 20% | Traditional 30% |
| $100,000 | $15,000 | $15,000 | $3,500 | $20,000 | $30,000 |
| $150,000 | $15,000 | $22,500 | $3,500 | $30,000 | $45,000 |
| $200,000 | $20,000 | $30,000 | $3,500 | $40,000 | $60,000 |
Swipe the table to see the traditional agency columns.
What sets 10% vs 15%: the 10% rate applies to a new, straightforward role given to BizFirst on a 30-day exclusive. Otherwise the fee is 12 to 15%, set by how hard the role is to fill, including seniority, clearance, urgency, and how long it has been open. Executive, highly complex, and high-clearance (Poly) roles may be quoted separately.
The $1,000 placement fee applies to PartnerHire services only. DirectHire searches open with a $5,000 engagement fee, credited in full toward the final fee, with a $15,000 minimum placement fee; the $100,000 row shows that minimum in both DirectHire columns.
See the cost at your exact hiring volume →orread the full guide on what recruiting should cost →
Best when you're scaling or hiring steadily. A flat monthly fee plus $1,000 per placement, never a percentage of salary. The more you hire, the cheaper each hire gets.
A full-time recruiter, 40 hours a week, dedicated to your roles, plus a shared senior Client Delivery Lead who oversees the work and quality-assures every submission. Scale up when hiring heats up, back when it cools.
Best fit when you are hiring steadily across several roles and want a dedicated recruiter and a senior lead working as an extension of your team.
We run your whole recruiting function, not just open roles. A senior talent leader owns it end to end as your single point of contact, backed by a dedicated recruiting pod across unlimited roles.
Best fit when you are scaling headcount and want a senior leader to run your entire recruiting function, from strategy through every hire.
Example only: one dedicated recruiter at $8,500/mo making 4 hires in a month ($8,500 + 4 × $1,000 = $12,500, or $3,125 per hire; $3,000 at the $8,000 six-month rate). Your real cost per hire depends on volume and role mix. Model your exact numbers →
Best when you're hiring a leadership role, a cleared or niche specialist, or a burst of roles on a deadline. We shape the team and the price around the work, drawing on any of the models above.
Project-based work, a burst of roles on a deadline, a niche or cleared search alongside ongoing volume, or a mix that spans models? We shape a team and a price around your project, drawing on any mix of DirectHire, embedded recruiters, and the Complete function, quoted up front before any work begins.
Best fit when your hiring spans more than one model, or you have a burst of roles on a deadline you want scoped and priced to your project.
What can change the number: specialized, senior, executive, urgent, or security-cleared roles can run higher, and reduced pricing may be available for exclusive searches, repeat clients, or several similar openings. Anything non-standard, we quote up front before any work begins. Pricing is subject to change and may vary by scope and market conditions.
Same goal, filling your roles, with a very different model and a very different cost. Pick the comparison that matches who you're weighing us against.
Both models charge a monthly retainer for the team. The difference is what each hire adds on top. On a $150,000 hire, PartnerHire adds a flat $1,000, while a percentage-based agency or RPO adds $15,000 to $18,000 (10 to 12 percent of salary) on top of its retainer.
Some alternatives look cheaper because their published price is only the recruiter. The rows below are what a fair comparison includes: senior oversight, candidate QA, delivery management, accountability. Models differ by provider, so “typically” and “varies” are deliberate; verify specifics with each.
| Capability | Individual / fractional recruiter | Recruiting marketplace | BizFirst PartnerHire (managed) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recruiter commitment | Part-time or shared | Typically shared | Full-time, 40 hrs/week, dedicated |
| Senior Client Delivery Lead | Not typically | Not typically | Yes, in PartnerHire Core & Complete |
| Candidate-submission QA | Recruiter self-QA | Recruiter-dependent, varies | Client Delivery Lead reviews every submission |
| Recruiter oversight | Client responsibility | Often client responsibility | BizFirst |
| Who directs the day-to-day work | Client responsibility | Varies by provider | Your Client Delivery Lead, or your own hiring leader when you would rather direct it |
| Client delivery management | Limited, varies | Varies by provider | Included |
| Escalation management | Client-dependent | Varies | Included |
| Hiring-manager calibration | Varies | Varies | Included |
| Recruiting-process accountability | Individual recruiter | Varies by provider | Managed BizFirst engagement |
Categories are general; capabilities vary by provider, so verify with each. BizFirst DirectHire is contingent and includes a senior Client Delivery Lead on a per-role basis; the embedded, ongoing Client Delivery Lead described above applies to PartnerHire Core and PartnerHire Complete. Only HireSelect, the flat-fee single-role option, is recruiter-led without a Client Delivery Lead.
The relevant unit of comparison is not cost per recruiter, but cost per managed recruiting engagement, and ultimately cost per quality hire including the internal management burden required to reach it. A lower-priced recruiter who needs significant hiring-manager supervision, produces poorly calibrated submissions, or requires you to run your own QA can carry a lower invoice but a higher total delivery cost. BizFirst bundles recruiter execution and senior delivery oversight into one PartnerHire engagement rather than leaving you to manage and QA the recruiter internally. See how the delivery model works and what the Client Delivery Lead does.
Book a time, email us, or just call. Whatever's easiest.
DirectHire is typically 10–15% of the hire's first-year base salary. A $5,000 engagement fee opens the search and is credited in full toward the placement fee, with the balance due when your hire starts. 10% applies to a new, straightforward requirement given to BizFirst on a 30-day exclusive; otherwise the fee is 12–15%, set by the difficulty and qualities of the role, with long-open, heavily worked requirements priced toward the top. A minimum placement fee of $15,000 applies. Executive, highly complex, and high-clearance (Poly) roles may be quoted separately.
With BizFirst DirectHire, typically 10–15% of first-year base salary, a $100,000 hire costs $15,000, the minimum placement fee, with $5,000 paid to open the search and the balance when we place someone. HireSelect is a flat $3,500 for a single role. A traditional agency charging 20–30% would cost $20,000 to $30,000 for the same hire.
BizFirst DirectHire, typically 10–15%, is $15,000 to $22,500 for a $150,000 hire, versus $30,000 to $45,000 at a traditional 20–30% agency. HireSelect is a flat $3,500, and PartnerHire (embedded) is a flat monthly fee plus $1,000 per placement rather than a percentage of salary.
PartnerHire Core is a flat monthly rate per dedicated recruiter, each with a shared Client Delivery Lead: $8,500/mo for one dedicated recruiter, plus $7,000/mo for each additional recruiter (so two recruiters are $15,500/mo and three are $22,500/mo; four or more get custom volume pricing). Every engagement adds a $1,000 fee for each successful hire and includes senior oversight and all specified sourcing tools. With a 90-day minimum that is $8,500 per month; with a 6-month minimum it is $8,000 per month per recruiter, and each additional recruiter is $6,500 (two committed recruiters $14,500). Cleared-role seats, with ClearanceJobs sourcing included, are $9,000 per month ($8,500 committed), $7,500 ($7,000 committed) for each additional cleared recruiter. Both options run month to month after their minimum, on 30 days' notice for one or two recruiters, 90 days for three or more; the 6-month rate carries on after its term. See the cost at your hiring volume
PartnerHire Complete starts at $18,000/mo plus a flat $1,000 per placement, never a percentage of salary. It is our deepest RPO engagement: a senior talent leader runs your recruiting function end to end as your single point of contact, backed by a dedicated recruiting pod, with unlimited active roles. The fee includes the strategic layer that turns hiring into a repeatable system: hiring process design and interview kits, employer value proposition and recruitment marketing, salary benchmarking and offer strategy, and pipeline and metrics in our ATS. Because it is a flat monthly engagement, your cost stays predictable no matter how much you hire.
Both give you a dedicated recruiting team on a flat monthly fee. The difference is who owns the recruiting function. With Core, our recruiters plug into your process and a shared senior lead QAs every submission, so you keep the process and strategy. With Complete, that lead runs the function for you, including process design, offer strategy, and pipeline and metrics, with unlimited roles. Two-recruiter Core starts at $15,500/mo, Complete at $18,000/mo. Either way, you keep the final hiring decision and employer-only steps like the offer, background checks, clearance adjudication, and onboarding.
Yes. Your PartnerHire Core recruiter works full-time, 40 hours a week, on your roles, for $8,500 a month per recruiter, with a senior Client Delivery Lead overseeing the work and reviewing every submission. It is a dedicated resource worked by a recruiter, rather than a share of a pooled team or a cap on the number of open roles.
A cleared-role seat is a dedicated recruiter working roles that require a security clearance, with ClearanceJobs sourcing included. It is $9,000 per month with a 90-day minimum, or $8,500 per month with a 6-month minimum, with $7,500 per month ($7,000 committed) for each additional cleared recruiter, and the same senior Client Delivery Lead, notice terms, and flat $1,000 per placement as a standard seat.
Compare what the fee includes. BizFirst is a full-time recruiter at 40 hours a week, dedicated to you, backed by an American-owned and operated firm, with a senior lead on quality and a flat $1,000 per hire. Lower-priced subscriptions often provide capacity for a set number of roles, a shared or part-time recruiter, or technology-led sourcing. Confirm hours per week, exclusivity, who runs the work, and the binding term before comparing on price.
Yes. PartnerHire Core runs either way. The default is our systems with a senior Client Delivery Lead directing the search. If you already have a recruiting function, the same full-time recruiter can sit inside your team, work in your ATS, and take direction from your hiring leader. BizFirst remains the employer and handles supervision, coverage and replacement. The monthly rate is the same, and on client-directed engagements the monthly fee is the whole fee.
Yes, two ways. HireSelect is flat-fee recruiting for a single role: $3,500 flat at any salary, $500 to start and $3,000 on delivery of 3 to 5 qualified candidates. It is available for one role per company, as a first engagement before you decide whether DirectHire or PartnerHire fits the rest of your hiring. On the retained models, PartnerHire Core and PartnerHire Complete charge a flat $1,000 per placement, never a percentage of salary, no matter what the hire is paid. That flat-fee-per-placement pricing is what separates the retained models from traditional agencies that bill 10 to 12% of first-year salary on top of a monthly fee. DirectHire, our contingent model, is different: it is priced as a percentage of first-year salary (typically 10–15%), with a $5,000 engagement fee credited in full toward the placement fee and the balance billed when your hire starts. So for flat-fee recruiting, HireSelect covers a single role, and PartnerHire Core and PartnerHire Complete cover ongoing hiring.
The prices shown are what you pay. PartnerHire adds a flat $1,000 per placement. DirectHire carries a $15,000 minimum placement fee, and its $5,000 engagement fee is credited in full toward the placement fee. Anything outside the standard scope, such as an executive or high-clearance role, we quote up front before any work begins.
DirectHire placements include a 90-day replacement guarantee: if a placed candidate leaves or doesn't work out within the first 90 days, we recruit a replacement at no additional placement fee, subject to the terms in your agreement. The retained models, PartnerHire Core and PartnerHire Complete, work differently. You're not buying a single result, you're keeping an embedded team that stays accountable for your hiring, so if a hire doesn't work out the team simply keeps recruiting at no extra placement fee. It's part of why 94% of our placements are still in seat past 90 days. How we measure →
A $5,000 engagement fee opens the search. It is the first part of your placement fee, credited in full when your hire starts, so the balance due at hire is the placement fee less $5,000. The placement fee is typically 10% to 15% of first-year base salary, with a $15,000 minimum. Every search has an assigned recruiter and a senior Client Delivery Lead who reviews every submission, and every placement carries a 90-day replacement guarantee, which replaces a departed or terminated hire once within the covered window; standard exclusions apply. Hiring several roles? Ask about volume pricing.
Yes. If your hiring does not fit one model, our Custom option shapes a team and a price around your project, drawing on any mix of DirectHire, embedded recruiters, and the Complete function, quoted up front before any work begins.
We run every search in our own applicant tracking system and sourcing stack, so you never buy tools, share logins, or manage our workflow. That keeps setup turnkey and lets us start right away. Your hires and their information stay yours: at the end of an engagement, on request, we hand over the resumes and submission history for every candidate we submitted, so nothing you paid for is locked in a system you cannot reach.
No. A BizFirst PartnerHire fee pays for a managed recruiting engagement: a dedicated recruiter plus a senior Client Delivery Lead who owns client alignment, recruiter oversight, and quality assurance of every candidate submission. The recruiter runs the search; the Client Delivery Lead manages delivery and protects quality, so comparing the fee to the cost of a single recruiter understates what is included. DirectHire, our contingent model, also includes a senior Client Delivery Lead, on a per-role basis; only HireSelect, our flat-fee single-role option, is recruiter-led without one.
The Client Delivery Lead is a senior BizFirst delivery professional who owns client alignment and intake, recruiting strategy, oversight of the dedicated recruiter, quality assurance of every candidate submission, hiring-manager calibration, feedback and escalation management, and overall accountability for delivery quality. It is included in PartnerHire Core and PartnerHire Complete, and one Client Delivery Lead supports only three to four clients.
Not directly. A fractional or marketplace recruiter is typically one person executing searches, with the client responsible for calibration, oversight, and quality control. A BizFirst PartnerHire engagement adds a senior Client Delivery Lead who performs that oversight and QA for you. When comparing, check whether the alternative also includes senior delivery management and independent candidate-submission QA, or whether those functions become your responsibility.
On PartnerHire, the Client Delivery Lead reviews and quality-assures every submission before it reaches you, so candidates are screened against your requirements by a senior person rather than forwarded straight from the recruiter.
On PartnerHire, BizFirst does. The Client Delivery Lead directs the recruiter, monitors performance, and enforces your requirements, so you are not supervising the recruiter yourself. In many low-cost fractional or marketplace models, that supervision is the client's job.
Because the published price often represents only the recruiter. A BizFirst PartnerHire fee also includes senior delivery management and candidate-submission QA. A lower invoice for a lone recruiter can carry a higher total cost once you account for the internal time spent calibrating, supervising, and QA-ing that recruiter, plus the cost of poorly matched submissions and search resets.
Compare the total delivery model, not recruiter fees alone. Ask whether each option includes a recruiter, a senior Client Delivery Lead, independent candidate-submission QA, client-facing delivery management, recruiter oversight, and clear accountability. If those functions are not included, the services are not equivalent, and a lower price may reflect a narrower scope.
Tell us your hiring volume and the roles you are filling, and we will recommend the right model and send a firm quote, usually within one business day.
Let's talk hiringBook a time, email us, or just call. Whatever's easiest.
Hiring for a single role? HireSelect delivers 3 to 5 vetted candidates for a flat $3,500