Our it recruiting agencies methodology

How were the criteria chosen for US and nearshore hiring?

The criteria follow the decisions a hiring manager must make before signing a recruiting agreement. Can the provider find someone who meets the role requirements? What work will your team still do? What will the hire cost, and what happens if the arrangement ends?

Start with the job you need filled. A senior engineer who will own a production service needs a different assessment from an IT support hire. Office attendance, on-call duties and access to customer systems also change the search.

We use those requirements to frame the comparison. A broad claim about technical talent does not establish experience with your stack. A low recruiting fee does not establish a low total hiring cost.

The hiring model comes first. For a recruiting agency, ask where its work ends after placement. For an employer of record, ask whether finding candidates is part of the agreement. For an outsourcing arrangement, establish who manages the people and who accepts the work.

Those distinctions guide the rest of the page. Comparing fees without naming the work they cover can leave you choosing between different services.

For Latin American hiring, add the work schedule and employment responsibilities to the role requirements. A candidate's location helps you plan interviews and meetings. The written agreement should name who handles payroll and who answers employment questions.

We do not turn these choices into a universal winner. When a page discusses the best IT recruiting agencies for a use case, the recommendation should explain that use case. Your own constraints can change the shortlist.

What does each scorecard row mean, and how should I check it?

Treat a scorecard as a set of questions to resolve before purchase. Read the full row, including any conditions, rather than choosing from a headline alone.

Compare the full cost of the same role

Keep salary, recruiting fees and ongoing service charges separate. Ask whether benefits and employer costs sit inside the quoted rate. Check the billing currency and any terms that allow the price to change.

Use the same seniority, work schedule and engagement length across proposals. If one quote includes employment administration and another covers only the search, identify the extra work before comparing totals.

Published wage figures can help frame a budget, but preserve their labels. The BLS software-developer wage figure is a median annual wage. It is not a provider quote or a statement of your total employer cost. BLS occupational profile

Where a pricing row says "Not published," request the price in writing. Do not read that label as free, expensive or negotiable. It gives you no dollar amount on which to base a decision.

Look at the assessment behind the vetting claim

A count of interview stages tells you little about what a candidate can do. Ask what each stage checks and which results reach your hiring team.

For an engineering hire, request an example of how the assessment tests work similar to the job. That might include reviewing unfamiliar code or explaining a production incident. Choose the task from the role, rather than adding exercises because another agency uses them.

Confirm who evaluates the work. Ask how the evaluator distinguishes a candidate who can complete a task from one who can own it after hiring.

Your interview process should also have a clear purpose. Decide which provider checks you will accept and which decisions remain with your team.

Keep each hiring milestone separate

Time to shortlist ends when candidates reach you. Time to offer acceptance ends when a candidate accepts. The first working day can come later.

SHRM defines time to fill as the period from job requisition to offer acceptance. Preserve that definition when using its benchmark. SHRM recruiting benchmark

Before comparing a provider's timeline with a benchmark, check the starting event and ending event. Also ask whether the number is a target, a median or another measure.

Build your internal steps into the schedule. Name the person who will review candidates, reserve interview time and confirm who can approve an offer. A provider's search estimate does not settle those dates for you.

Check overlap against the actual work schedule

Ask for working hours in the hire's city and your team's city. Include any on-call coverage as a separate requirement.

Bogotá stays on UTC-5 without daylight saving time. New York changes its clock seasonally. A schedule that matches in winter can differ in summer. IANA South America data, IANA North America data

Check the calendar dates that matter to your team. Daily meetings, customer coverage and release windows may need different amounts of overlap. Write the agreed schedule into the hiring requirements before candidates enter the process.

Read replacement terms as contract terms

A guarantee needs a defined remedy. Ask whether it provides a new search, a refund or another form of credit. Check when coverage begins and what actions could end it.

Also ask what happens while the position is vacant. A replacement clause does not answer who will cover incidents or finish work already assigned to the hire.

Keep those operational questions separate from the scope of the guarantee. That lets you plan for a failed placement without assuming the contract covers every consequence.

Keep reported outcomes in context

For retention figures, ask which hires were counted and when the measurement began. For customer counts, ask what qualifies as a customer. Neither measure tells you whether a specific candidate will succeed in your team.

Use reported outcomes to guide follow-up questions. Avoid turning figures with different definitions into a single league table.

This site is an Opus-owned reference; recommendations are editorial. If you want to discuss your requirements, talk to Opus about a role.

How often do we re-check?

Use the page's review date to judge its age. A review date is a dated checkpoint, not a promise that pricing or contract terms have stayed the same.

Re-check commercial terms when requesting a proposal and again before signing. Give extra attention to the fee basis, replacement clause and cancellation terms. Ask the provider to resolve any difference between its public wording and your proposed agreement.

A fixed review interval should never replace those purchase checks. A price can change between reviews, and a proposal can include terms specific to your role.

For time-sensitive comparisons, keep the effective date beside the claim. An older statement can describe an earlier offer accurately while giving the wrong answer for a new buyer.

A changed page date alone should not make a comparison more persuasive. Look for whether the terms relevant to your decision have changed.

Disclosure

Ownership gives this site a commercial interest in the hiring decision. Read recommendations with that relationship in mind, and apply the same contract checks to every option.

Editorial judgment covers which criteria fit a buyer's situation and how to explain the tradeoffs. It does not turn a provider's statement into an independently measured outcome.

A recommendation should leave you with a reason to include an option in your shortlist. It should also make clear which questions your hiring team still needs to settle.

If a recommendation conflicts with a firm requirement, such as office attendance or a fixed work schedule, use your requirement. A favorable description cannot change the job you need done.

How to report a correction

Make a correction request specific enough to check. Include the page address, the affected row or sentence and the wording you believe should replace it.

Add a public link that supports the change. If a fee or guarantee changed, include the effective date. For a broken link, identify the destination you expected.

Separate factual corrections from disagreements about fit. A changed cancellation clause is a factual issue. A view that an agency suits a different type of buyer is an editorial question. Explain the role and constraints behind that view.

Do not include candidate resumes, private pay details or customer information in a public correction request. Quote only what is needed to identify the issue.

Before your own purchase, bring unresolved terms to the provider and ask for a written answer attached to the proposal.

Talk to Opus about a role.

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