Part of the staffing & recruitment agency hub — an educational cluster covering how agencies work, the placement models and how employers and candidates work with them. For decision-style reading, see the staffing & hiring comparisons.
This guide explains how permanent placement works, where it adds the most value, and how to get a good result. It is educational and neutral, with no fee figures, rankings or provider recommendations.
Who this page is for
- Employers filling lasting, business-critical roles
- Founders making senior or specialist hires
- HR teams that want sourcing reach without extra headcount
- Hiring managers running their own final interviews
Core concept
Permanent placement is about fit for the long term, not just speed. Because the person becomes your employee, the cost of getting it wrong is higher — so the agency’s job is to bring you well-matched candidates and useful context, and your job is to assess fit rigorously.
Agencies add the most value where reach and judgement matter: senior roles, niche skills, or markets where the best people are not actively applying. For roles you can fill easily yourself, the case for an agency is weaker.
The model is usually contingency or retained. Contingency pays on a successful hire; retained commits to a structured search. The choice should reflect how hard the role is and how much certainty you need.
How it works
- You brief the agency on the role, outcomes and the profile that would succeed
- The agency sources from its network, databases and targeted outreach
- Candidates are screened and a shortlist is presented with context
- You run structured interviews and score candidates consistently
- You make the offer; the agency supports acceptance and onboarding handover
Plan the hire before you source with the recruitment planning checklist, and keep screening consistent using the candidate screening checklist.
Key considerations
- Whether the role genuinely benefits from external reach
- Contingency versus retained for the difficulty of the role
- How well the agency understands your sector and the role
- How your employer brand is represented to candidates
- How onboarding will set the new hire up to stay and succeed
Advantages
- Reach into passive, well-matched candidates
- Specialist insight for niche or senior roles
- A faster path to a quality shortlist
- Screening and market context that save internal time
- Support through offer, acceptance and onboarding handover
Trade-offs
- A placement fee applies on a successful hire
- You depend on the agency’s reach and judgement
- Candidate experience reflects the agency’s representation of you
- Quality varies between firms
- A weak brief produces a weak shortlist
Common mistakes
- Using an agency for roles you could fill easily yourself
- Briefing on a title instead of outcomes
- Treating the shortlist as the decision
- Under-investing in onboarding after a costly search
- Neglecting structured interviews and consistent scoring
Practical checklist
- Write an outcomes-based brief for the role
- Choose contingency or retained deliberately
- Agree employer-brand messaging with the agency
- Run structured interviews with a consistent scorecard
- Plan onboarding before the offer is accepted
- Review the search at agreed checkpoints
For interviews, draw on the interview question bank and the hiring scorecard guide; to plan the wider workforce, see the workforce planning guide.
Free, printable hiring resources
Plan, interview and onboard consistently — whether you hire directly or through an agency. No signup, no gating.