Agency Recruiters

Agency recruiters are external firms or individuals hired by companies to find candidates for open roles. It’s a paid service: the recruiter’s business is sourcing, screening, and delivering suitable candidates to client organizations.

Most agency recruiters work on contract, with fees typically tied to a successful placement, often linked to the new hire completing a probation period. The arrangement functions like professional matchmaking. The recruiter maintains a database of candidates with their backgrounds and skill sets, sources new candidates for specific roles, and runs an initial screening round before passing shortlisted profiles to the hiring company.

This means the client organization only sees candidates who’ve already cleared a first filter, which saves internal hiring teams time. The recruiter takes on the early, labor-intensive work of the process: finding candidates, assessing basic fit, and narrowing the field.