When sourcing is the right instrument
And, just as usefully, when it is not.
| Your situation | The right instrument | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The role is live and the right people are not applying | Talent sourcing | Researched, direct, lawful approach reaches people who are not looking |
| You are not sure the role should exist, or what it should pay | Talent mapping first | Understand the market before committing; the map becomes the sourcing longlist |
| The decision is where to build, not who to hire | Talent intelligence | The question sits above the requisition |
| It is a board or C-suite appointment | Executive search | Managed end to end, with assessment, referencing and offer management |
| You know who you want but cannot reach them | Number gathering | Contact discovery is a much smaller and cheaper piece of work |
| The need is coming but not yet live | Talent pipelining | Engagement built ahead of need rather than under time pressure |
| Candidates are plentiful and actively applying | Your own team, or a job board | Paying for research adds cost you do not need — we will say so |
How we build a longlist
The part that decides everything downstream.
Define the population, not the job title
- What happens
- We translate the requirement into observable capability: what the person must have done, at what scale, in what environment.
- Why
- Job titles are not comparable between employers or borders. Searching on them produces a list of people with the right label and the wrong experience.
Build the employer universe
- What happens
- Every organisation that could hold the capability, including mid-sized and privately held companies with no brand recognition.
- Why
- In the German Mittelstand or the Dutch high-tech supply chain, most of the capability sits outside the names you would think of first.
Research the people inside them
- What happens
- Named individuals identified and verified against the criteria, with current employer and level confirmed rather than taken from a profile.
- Why
- Profile data goes stale. A shortlist built on eighteen-month-old information wastes your interview time.
Present the longlist before any approach
- What happens
- You see the target population and can challenge the targeting before a single message is sent.
- Why
- This is where most briefs usefully change, while changing them is still free.
What you receive
The candidates are the outcome. The file is the asset.
- A written sourcing brief — the role, the target population, must-haves separated from nice-to-haves, and explicit exclusions.
- The longlist — qualified people identified by research, with current employer, level and location verified.
- Compliant outreach — in the channel and language the market responds to, inside local electronic-marketing rules.
- Qualified candidates — with motivation, notice, salary expectation, location and any restriction captured in writing.
- The response and decline record — who was approached, who engaged, who declined and why. The clearest read you will get on how your role and package are landing.
- Weekly written updates with the pipeline attached.
- The full dataset, handed over permanently.
Brief
- Duration
- Day one, a 30-minute call with the researcher who will do the work.
- Output
- A written sourcing brief and a fixed fee within one working day.
Research
- Duration
- Days 2–7.
- Output
- The target longlist, presented before any outreach.
Outreach
- Duration
- Days 7–21, overlapping with research.
- Output
- Weekly written updates naming who engaged and who declined, with reasons.
Qualification and handover
- Duration
- Continuous, from first responses.
- Output
- Qualified candidates with written summaries, and the full dataset at the end.
Three ways to buy it
| Model | Best for | Typical fee |
|---|---|---|
| Single-role project | One hard role, where you need depth not volume | $3,000–$7,500 |
| Campaign or multi-role | Several linked roles, or one population hired at volume | $9,000–$28,000 |
| Dedicated sourcing seat | Continuous demand — a named researcher working only your roles | $5,200–$9,500 per month |
Fee bands by currency
Published, because a fee you have to ask for usually varies with what you look like you can pay.
| Engagement | USD | GBP | EUR | AUD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single-role sourcing project | $3,000–$7,500 | £2,400–£6,000 | €3,000–€7,500 | A$5,500–A$12,500 |
| Multi-role or campaign sourcing | $9,000–$28,000 | £7,000–£22,000 | €9,000–€28,000 | A$16,000–A$45,000 |
| Dedicated sourcing seat (per month) | $5,200–$9,500 | £4,200–£7,500 | €5,200–€9,500 | A$8,500–A$15,000 |
What moves the number: how broad the population is, how many markets, whether the role is confidential, whether more than one working language is involved, and whether contact discovery is included. What never moves it: the salary, and whether you hire.
A contingency agency at 20 per cent of a $150,000 salary charges $30,000 for a single hire and keeps the research. The fee comparison calculator runs it on your own numbers.
Why a research firm for sourcing
Longlist before outreach
You see the target population before a single message is sent. Most agencies cannot produce one, because they never built it.
Paid for the work, not the placement
No commission, no percentage, no success fee. That is what lets us tell you the band is wrong in week two.
Six time zones, one desk
London and Mumbai cover UK, European, Gulf, Indian and Australian hours. See out-of-hours coverage.
Multilingual outreach
Approaches written in the language the candidate works in — which in Germany, Belgium and the Gulf is frequently the difference between a reply and silence.
Outreach law per market
We work to the local electronic-marketing rule, not one global template. See our data position.
You keep everything
Longlist, approach record, decline reasons and qualification notes, handed over permanently.
Talent sourcing FAQs
What are talent sourcing services?
Talent sourcing services are research-led engagements that identify, qualify and engage candidates for roles that are live now. We build the longlist by researching the market rather than searching a database, approach it lawfully and directly, and hand you candidates with motivation, notice and salary expectation already established.
The commercial difference is that we are paid for the work, not on placement. There is no percentage of salary and no placement fee, and the full dataset is handed over.
How much does talent sourcing cost?
A single-role sourcing project typically costs $3,000 to $7,500, around £2,400 to £6,000 or €3,000 to €7,500. A multi-role or campaign engagement typically costs $9,000 to $28,000. A dedicated sourcing seat typically costs $5,200 to $9,500 a month.
A contingency agency at 20 per cent of a $150,000 salary charges $30,000 for one hire and keeps the research. Full bands by currency are on the cost page.
How is sourcing different from recruitment?
Contingency recruitment is paid a percentage of first-year salary only if you hire, works largely from an existing network or database, and the research stays with the agency.
Research-led sourcing on a project fee is paid for the work. The market is researched rather than queried, the fee does not rise because you offered more money, and you keep the longlist, the approach record and the decline reasons.
How quickly will we see candidates?
First qualified candidates typically within seven to ten days of a signed brief, and a full shortlist within two to four weeks for a single role.
You see the target longlist before any outreach begins, which is where most clients usefully revise their own brief while changing it is still cheap.
Do you work white-label behind our brand?
Yes. A large share of our sourcing runs behind in-house talent teams, recruitment firms and search firms, with approaches made in the client’s name or without naming anyone until a candidate is genuinely interested.
The deliverables are written so your team can present them as their own work, because they own them.
What do we receive?
The qualified candidates, and the whole working file: the sourcing brief, the longlist with current employer and level verified, the approach and response record with decline reasons, and a written qualification summary per candidate.
All of it is yours permanently. The people who declined this time are frequently the right hire eighteen months later, and you will still have their record.
Will you tell us if the role cannot be filled?
Yes, and usually in week two. Because the fee is for the work rather than the placement, we have no reason to keep a doomed campaign running.
The commonest causes are a salary below market, a specification combining two jobs, a location with no realistic catchment, or a working-language requirement nobody tested. The decline record is the evidence that lets you change it.
Is cold outreach to candidates legal?
It depends entirely on the market, which is why we publish a page for each one. US federal law permits unsolicited commercial email with conditions. Australia recognises inferred consent where a published business address matches a genuinely relevant role. Germany and Austria generally require prior express consent even business to business.
We work to the local rule rather than one global playbook, identify ourselves on every approach, and honour opt-outs permanently. See sourcing by market.
Can you source confidentially?
Yes. We describe the opportunity without naming you until a candidate is genuinely interested, and the disclosure point is agreed in writing before the first approach.
Do you handle screening and scheduling as well?
Sourcing includes qualification — motivation, notice, salary expectation, location and restrictions, captured in writing. Deeper screening, scheduling, CV formatting, credentialing and out-of-hours cover are recruitment support, which is bought separately or alongside.
Which markets do you cover?
We publish dedicated pages for the UK, US, UAE, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Australia, and state research coverage across more than seventy markets.
Campaigns frequently cross borders where the realistic candidate pool does. We agree the catchment at briefing rather than defaulting to the country the role sits in.
Do you charge per hire?
No. Every engagement is a fixed project fee or an agreed day rate. There is no commission, no percentage of salary and no placement fee on anything we sell.