Question 1

How is RW Stearns different from an employment agency?

Accepted Answer

Our services are designed to complement your strengths. We provide the candidates and let you focus on recruiting, interviewing and hiring. This is an extremely cost-effective method of finding qualified candidates for your positions. While an employment agency operates on a contingency basis, getting paid if/when you make the hire, our compensation is based on the material we provide you. On average, the cost per hire is approximately $5,000 - much lower than the typical agency fee of $20,000-$35,000.

Question 2

How is RW Stearns different from a retained search firm?

Accepted Answer

We do not operate as a retained search firm in that we primarily provide information (names, titles and contact information for individuals who are relevant for your opening). When you purchase recruitment research from us, you are responsible for final recruiting and hiring - we are providing you with functionally-relevant individuals (we guarantee this) that you can then immediately reach out to.

Question 3

Do you have a minimum fee?

Accepted Answer

We do not have a minimum fee, although we do accept only those projects that we feel have a good chance of resulting in a hire for our clients. One important component of this process is providing our clients with enough candidates to work with. Accordingly, our average project consists of 50-100 candidates provided to our clients. Please contact us for pricing information.

Question 4

What type of positions do you specialize in?

Accepted Answer

Our services cover a comprehensive range of job families focused within a variety of service and development professional industries. Whether your hiring needs are in product development, manufacturing, test, product marketing, sales, customer service, field support or upper management, our research capabilities are unparalleled. This includes all levels, from the highest level of management to individual contributor roles.

Question 5

On average, how many candidates do I need to get a hire?"

Accepted Answer

This depends upon many factors, including the attractiveness of both the client and candidate companies, the appeal of the new position offered by the client, geographical requirements, etc. Since we identify individuals based upon their job functions rather than upon their openness to change companies, some of them may not be interested in leaving their current position (these are "passive candidates"). Our goal is for our clients to have several interested and qualified candidates per position with whom to do final interviewing. Since our founding in 1984, we have seen that, on average, 50-100 candidates are needed by our clients in order to yield a hire.