Contingency recruiting agreement
- Fee on one placement
- $18,000
- A year of placements at this fee
- $216,000
- Fee at risk during the rebate period
- $4,438.36
- Cash waiting on payment terms at any time
- $17,753.42
Every figure on this page is computed from the inputs entered, by the method stated below it. Reqnix publishes no salary data, no benchmark time to hire, no conversion rate you should expect and no employment law: the days, the costs, the scores and the weights are yours, and the defaults are a worked example to replace with your own.
The figures above start from a worked example ($18,000). Change any input and the answer updates as you type.
Download the Contingency recruiting agreement worked example (CSV)
The contingency recruiting agreement is the document a small agency signs with a client, and its three numbers decide whether the agency makes money: the fee, the rebate, and the payment terms. Enter the salary, your fee percentage, the rebate period in days, your payment terms and the placements you make a year, and this sheet returns the fee on one placement, a year of placements at that rate, the fee at risk through the rebate window at any moment, the cash sitting unpaid on your terms, and the monthly income the rate implies. On the worked example a $90,000 placement at 20% is $18,000, and twelve a year is $216,000: but $4,438 of fee is inside a 90 day rebate window at any time and $17,753 is waiting on 30 day terms. An agency that reads only the first number and not the other two is the reason profitable desks run out of cash.
The rebate is a liability, not a formality
90 days of rebate on twelve placements a year means roughly a quarter of one fee is refundable at any moment. It is small until two placements leave in the same month, which is precisely when it is not.
Terms turn revenue into a waiting room
$17,753 of cash on 30 day terms is a month of income that exists on paper and not in the bank. Shortening terms is usually worth more to a small agency than raising the fee by a point.
The monthly figure is the one to plan on
$18,000 a month at this rate is what the desk actually earns. Annual totals flatter a business whose costs are monthly.
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Contingency recruiting agreement: common questions
What rebate period is standard?
Commonly somewhere between 30 and 90 days, sometimes sliding (full refund early, partial later). This site publishes no standard: enter what your agreement says.
Is contingency better than retained?
Different risk, not better. Contingency is paid on success and priced for it; retained is paid in stages and pays for the work whether or not it lands. The sheet works contingency because that is what the measured query asks about.
Does this replace a lawyer?
No. It works the money in an agreement; the drafting, the enforceability and the terms themselves are for your solicitor. Nothing on this site is legal advice.