Overview

Today I wanted to address an issue that is coming up all too often from hiring companies I am working with, who are using hiring agencies, recruitment companies, and talent sourcing companies, and that issue is – My recruitment company asked me to pay a 30% non-refundable deposit of their huge fee.

Why is this happening?

I believe this is happening because of the labor shortage that became a huge problem during covid. Recruitment companies, hiring agencies, and executive search firms became less and less confident they could fill the roles they were taking on and decided they wanted to be paid even if they did not meet their recruitment, placement, or staffing obligations.

What implications does this have on companies hiring?

The long and short of it is, that if you’re a company hiring, hiring manager or executive, you are going to pay for the recruitment companies services even if they don’t deliver a qualified candidate to you, which in my view, is unfair, unjust and down-right cheeky. I would strongly recommend finding a recruitment consultancy that does not require non-refundable deposits. Here at Personal-Best Worldwide, our deposits are fully refundable if we don’t or can’t deliver on our promise.

What can I do if a recruitment agency or recruitment company asks for a non-refundable deposit?

The simple answer is, of course, don’t give them your role/business. However, always read the terms of business given to you by a recruitment company, this protects your investment whether it’s a downpayment for recruitment and candidate sourcing efforts yet to be delivered, or whether you have received a permanent placement candidate into your role and need protection or guarantee for their period of employment. If a search agency, recruitment company, or recruitment agency is worth its salt, they won’t expect you to pay for a service you don’t get. The clue is in the name, permanent placement.

Should I always use the SAME recruitment company or hiring agency?

No, you shouldn’t. Why? You may ask… Well, it’s pretty simple, just because a recruitment company or agency is really good at filling one type of role, for example, engineers, healthcare staff or customer service and sales personnel, does not mean they are going to be good at filling other roles, such as Directors and VP’s. It is always worth shopping around on the market to see who has the most competitive pricing and who has strong success rates in the industry you are looking to hire in.

How is Personal-Best Worldwide different?

We are experts in many fields of recruitment and have over 17 years of experience hiring in various industries including tech, healthcare, board-level executives, non-profit recruitment, trades, and much more. We don’t ask for non-refundable deposits, we don’t charge high percentage fees and we never expect you to pay for a service you don’t get. Our fees are flat, transparent, and honest, we don’t have any sneaky clauses or charges.

Conclusion

So, I hope you now understand why you shouldn’t be paying any non-refundable deposits from recruiters, and why that isn’t something that should be normalized in the industry. One important thing to remember is that it’s the recruitment companies‘ responsibility to deliver the goods, not the company hiring’s job to pay without success. Join us in changing the face of global recruitment and revolutionizing your recruitment by becoming part of the Personal-Best Worldwide family, we cannot wait to welcome you on board.