Frequently Asked Questions
Straight answers, before you ever book a call.
How the process works, how the pricing model differs from contingency, and what to expect from a research-driven engagement. If your question is not here, ask us directly.
What does Qualigence do?
Recruiting is our whole business. It has been since 1999. Most companies do it as a side effect of growth - we do it as a discipline. The 6-Step Performance Engine™ is our method: six weighted dimensions that define winning before the first resume is reviewed, screen for behavioral evidence, and measure performance at 30, 60, and 90 days after the offer.
What is your proof?
60% or more of the Fortune 500 have used Qualigence. 85% of candidates we place are still performing at 24 months. We have run this from Livonia, Michigan since 1999 - not as an experiment, as a practice.
Can you help us find diverse candidates?
Yes. The boards are oversaturated with recruiters chasing the same visible candidates. Our research team maps the entire pool - including the people not on LinkedIn - and hands you direct contact information. The answer to diversity is not a different value statement. It is a better research process.
How do we get started?
Bring the role. Thirty minutes with a Practice Leader is a working diagnosis, not a pitch. If the role is worth solving, we will tell you how we would solve it.
What is your recruiting process?
Six steps. Winning defines what the hire must produce - in writing, before the search opens. Identity defines the behavioral profile that predicts it. Behavior tests for it through structured evidence-based interviews. Tolerance locks the standard against drift - no exceptions allowed mid-search. Standards inspects the search weekly against the written definition. Performance measures the hire at 30, 60, and 90 days after the offer. The process is the same regardless of level or industry.
Who conducts the interviews?
You can run the interviews or hand us the first round. The standard does not change either way - that part is not optional. What changes is who is holding the questions.
How do you add value if we already have a recruiting team?
If your current process were producing hires that hold, you would not be reading a search firm's FAQ. Bring us the req your team has been circling - that is usually where we prove it.
What is Results-Based Interviewing?
A structured, evidence-based questioning method where every question requires the candidate to prove capability - not describe it. We interview for what the hire must produce, not what their resume says they have done. The four-move method: anchor in the outcome required, ask for a specific time the candidate produced it, separate what they did from what the team did, and score the evidence - not the impression.
How quickly can you start a search?
Most searches are in market within five to seven business days of a completed intake - the written definition of winning, behavioral standard, and sourcing brief. Searches that skip the intake take longer and fill less accurately. We do not start a search without a completed intake.
How is your model different from contingency?
The model pays for speed, so speed is what you get. Quality is what it costs. Contingency creates an incentive to fill the role - not fill it right. We structure engagements around defined scopes and outcomes. The fee is earned when the search is executed with discipline, not when someone accepts an offer.
What engagement models do you offer?
Retained search, subscription RPO, project-based engagements, and hourly sourcing - the Sixth Structure. Each runs the same 6-Step Performance Engine™. The model determines the structure of the engagement, not the standard of the work.
How does the hourly model work?
You pay for sourcing and research time. Our team does the work - market mapping, direct contact information, candidate qualification - at an hourly rate with no placement fee. You own the process, and you can inspect every step. For organizations that need surge capacity or want to bring discipline in-house without a long-term retainer, it is the cleanest model available. The Hourly Recruiting Guide on the field guides page covers the full structure.
What does a retained search cost?
Retained search fees are set by scope and level - not as a fixed percentage of first-year salary. We price below the traditional 30%-plus retained model. The right number comes out of a thirty-minute call once we understand the role.
Do you work on retained search only?
No. We run retained search, subscription RPO, project-based engagements, and hourly sourcing. Each model fits a different problem - retained for critical individual hires, RPO for volume or team-build, project for defined scope, hourly for surge or internal capability-building. The engagement model chooser on the field guides page lays out when each applies.
How does your research team find candidates who are not actively looking?
Our research team maps the entire market - not just active candidates on job boards. That means direct contact information for people who are not looking, not just the visible pool everyone else is already calling. We go where recruiters who depend on job boards cannot follow.
How does hiring discipline improve downstream outcomes?
Hire right at the door and everything downstream - turnover, morale, training spend - stops fighting you. The mis-hire is not the cost of the search. It is the cost of the quarter of carry, the team drag, and the leader hours spent managing around it.
How long does a search take?
Most searches run forty-five to ninety days from intake to offer acceptance, depending on the market, the level, and how clearly winning is defined before the first call goes out. Searches that start without a written definition of winning take longer and fill less accurately. The intake is not a delay - it is what makes the search defensible.
Do you work in our industry?
We have active practice leaders in banking and financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, private equity, life sciences, technology, health insurance, commercial construction, and non-profit. If your industry is not on that list, the diagnostic reads your hiring discipline accurately regardless of vertical, and a strategy call will tell you quickly whether we are the right installer.
Still have a question?
A Practice Leader will answer anything about the process, the pricing model, or the engine. Thirty minutes, no pitch.
Book a strategy callThe question behind every question - is your hiring a system, or a series of hopes.
23 questions. About ten minutes. A scored read of where your hiring breaks.
