Kindred Search/For employers
Twenty-eight working days, laid out hour by hour where it matters. Plus the guarantee that pays you back if it goes wrong, and the reason our fee is a percentage instead of a retainer. Nothing here changes once you've signed.
Most searches fail in week one, when nobody says the uncomfortable thing. Here is where we say it, and what it costs you if we're wrong.
Two hours with the hiring manager and the team they'll sit in. We pressure-test the salary against our own data and tell you if it won't clear.
Week 1We approach a named longlist by hand. Nobody gets a generic message, so people who aren't looking still reply.
Weeks 1–2A shortlist of four, each with a written case for why they fit and one honest reservation. You interview people, not CVs.
Week 3We manage the offer, the counter-offer, and the resignation. Then we check in at 30, 90 and 365 days.
Week 4 → year 1This is the median search, not the best one. Two of the four steps depend on you moving, and we've marked those.
Two hours with the hiring manager and two people from the team. We leave with a written brief and a band we both believe. If your band is under the market, this is the meeting where we say so — and roughly one brief in five ends here until the number changes.
OursYou read the written brief and correct it. Anything you cross out, we don't say to candidates. This takes most clients under an hour, and the searches that stall are almost always the ones where it took a fortnight.
Yours — 1 hourJonah builds a named longlist — typically 30–45 people, with the reason each one is on it. You get the list. You can strike anyone off it, including your competitors' staff if you've a reason to.
OursEvery message is written for the person receiving it and includes the band. Our reply rate on these is around 61%, which is roughly four times what a templated approach gets, and the whole reason is that the first message contains the salary.
OursFour people, each with a page: why they fit, what they want, what they'd need from you, and one honest reservation. If we can only find three we send three, and we tell you why the fourth isn't there.
OursTwo stages, ideally inside eight working days. Every day beyond that costs you candidates — we've lost eleven finalists to slow processes since 2019 and we'll chase you about it.
Yours — 2 stagesWe take the offer conversation, including the awkward part where their current employer counters. 79% of our offers are accepted first time. When one isn't, you get the real reason, not "personal circumstances".
OursWe call you and we call them, separately, and neither conversation gets reported to the other without permission. This is how we know the 94% number is real rather than a number we'd like to be true.
OursMost agencies rebate on a sliding scale that hits zero at twelve weeks. Ours runs a full year, because a hire that fails at month nine is the failure that actually costs you.
| They leave in | What you get | Who decides |
|---|---|---|
| Month 1–3 | Full free replacement search, or 100% refund | You do |
| Month 4–6 | Full free replacement search, or 50% refund | You do |
| Month 7–12 | Free replacement search | You do |
| Any month, if we misrepresented them | 100% refund, no replacement asked for | You do |
We'd rather print these than have the argument later. The guarantee does not apply if the person is made redundant for cause of their own conduct, if the role they were hired into is materially changed inside the first three months without telling us, or if you hired them outside the process after we introduced them. That last one has never happened.
Every fee model creates an incentive. Here's the one ours creates, including the part that isn't flattering to us.
Retained search bills in three parts, and the second and third arrive whether or not the shortlist was any good. We've been on the client side of that. The money arrives before the value does, and by month two nobody is motivated to say "this search isn't working".
Pure contingency at 25% pays whoever gets a CV in first, which is why you get forty of them. It rewards volume over judgement, and it is the reason recruiters have the reputation they have.
We only get paid if someone starts, so we can't bill for effort. And because the fee doesn't rise with volume, sending you forty CVs earns us nothing — sending four good ones earns the same as sending four hundred bad ones would, minus your goodwill.
A percentage fee means we earn more when the salary is higher, and you should know that when we tell you your band is light. Two defences: we publish our band data so you can check us, and we've talked four clients out of a hire entirely, which paid us nothing at all.
| Brief, write-up and sign-off | 6 hrs |
| Market map and named longlist | 14 hrs |
| Approaches, screening calls, write-ups | 31 hrs |
| Interview coordination and feedback | 9 hrs |
| Offer, counter-offer, resignation, check-ins | 11 hrs |
| Typical search, total | 71 hrs |
Full detail, worked examples and the comparison table live on the services page.
Of first-year base salary, invoiced on the start date. No retainer, no exclusivity, 12-month guarantee. 15% on a second hire from the same shortlist.
289 of our 340 placementsOf the client day rate, printed on every timesheet so the contractor sees it too. Weekly invoicing, contractors paid inside 7 days.
38 contractors placedOne of us inside your team three days a week, unlimited roles in one specialism. Cheaper than 20% a head from the third hire onward.
13 companies, 4 went in-house afterSo we measure the thing that matters: are they still there, and are they glad they moved?
“They told us our band was £15k light before they'd start. That was annoying to hear and completely correct — we fixed it and closed our first choice in three weeks.”
“We asked for twelve CVs. Ada sent four and a note explaining why the other eight would waste our time. Two of the four got to final stage. I've stopped asking for twelve.”
Thirty minutes. You'll get an honest read on whether the search is winnable at your number before anyone signs anything.
Demo form — nothing is sent or stored. Typically replies within one working day.
✓ Thanks — we'll come back within one working day with a read on the band.
| Question | Ideally |
|---|---|
| Who does the role report to? | A name |
| Is the band signed off? | Yes / no |
| How many interview stages? | Two |
| Who else is in the loop? | Under four |
| Has this role been open before? | Honestly |
| Start date you're aiming at | A date |
The fee schedule, the worked examples and the comparison table are all on one page. No form in front of any of it.
Typically replies within one working day.