Qualigence International
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Engagement models

Five ways to engage - and a sixth we design around you. One operating system underneath.

Hourly. Subscription. Project-based. Retained. Contingent. Practice Leaders match the model to your situation. The hiring discipline doesn't change. Only the structure does.

Every model exists for one reason: the mis-hire costs you 18 months. The fee was never the risk.

You've been burned by a model before - the retainer that bought silence, the contingency race that buried you in resumes. The model was never the problem. The standard inside it was.

02How to choose

The right engagement model depends on three things: how predictable your hiring volume is, how fast you need to move, and how much of the discipline you want us to install vs. operate ongoing.

The industry sells you whichever model pays it best. Pick the one that fits the problem instead.

If you...Best fit
Have one critical role to fill, want hands-on partnership through 90-day integrationRetained
Need ongoing pipeline across recurring role types, want predictable monthly costSubscription (RaaS / PaaS / Sourcing Pods)
Have a multi-role build (post-funding, post-acquisition, expansion) with a defined windowProject-Based
Need expert recruiting capacity at flexible volume with full transparency on time spentHourly
Want pay-on-placement only and have multiple firms in marketContingent
Your problem doesn’t fit any row aboveCustom engagement
03The five models

Same discipline. Five structures - and a sixth we build for you.

A

Hourly

Pay for the work. See every hour.

Expert recruiting capacity billed by the hour. Full transparency into time spent - what we worked on, when, and what came of it. For clients who want flexibility in volume, hands-on partnership, and no per-placement fees.

When to use it

  • One-off searches that don't justify retained
  • Augmenting your internal team during a peak
  • Activity-level spend tracking
  • Fractional recruiting capacity (light volume, ongoing)

What's included

  • Talent research and market mapping
  • Sourcing, screening, presentation
  • Weekly reporting with hours, activities, outcomes
  • Practice Leader on every search
  • 6-Step Performance Engine™ on every screen - same as every model

Hourly recruiting is what Qualigence has been known for. It still works. It's still available. It's no longer the only - or the leading - way to engage us.

B

Subscription

Predictable pipeline. Predictable cost. No per-placement fees.

Recruiting-as-a-Subscription™ (RaaS)

Dedicated recruiter + sourcer paired to your account. Guaranteed shortlist cadence (qualified shortlists every 10 days). Outcome-based qualification, weekly communication. Fixed monthly fee.

Pipeline-as-a-Service™ (PaaS)

10-15 qualified, interested candidates per month for recurring roles. Outcome-qualified screening - the front half of the engine; your team runs the decision. Continuous pipeline. Monthly pipeline health reporting. Built for high-volume recurring positions where pipeline depth is the constraint.

Sourcing Pod Subscription

A dedicated pod feeding your TA team weekly with prospects, qualified profiles, and interested candidates. Your recruiters spend their week closing, not searching. We keep the top of the engine full.

When to use it

  • You hire the same role types repeatedly
  • Your internal TA team needs sourcing horsepower
  • You want predictable monthly cost instead of per-placement variability
C

Project-Based

Defined scope. Defined window. Defined outcome.

A bounded engagement built around a specific hiring initiative - a multi-role expansion, a post-acquisition integration build, a new market opening. Fixed scope, defined timeline, single accountability.

When to use it

  • Multi-role expansion (open 6 plant-leadership roles for a new facility)
  • Post-funding executive build-out (CRO + VP Eng + VP Finance for a Series B)
  • Post-acquisition portfolio build
  • Coordinated geographic expansion

What's included

  • Scoped role definition for every position
  • Coordinated launch and intake
  • Single project lead, single weekly cadence
  • The engine applied across all roles
  • Defined end date and outcome standard
D

Retained

The model for hires you cannot afford to get wrong.

A fully partnered single-search engagement. For executive and high-stakes specialist hires where the cost of the wrong choice dwarfs the cost of a deeper search.

When to use it

  • C-suite, VP, senior leadership
  • Roles where the wrong hire reverberates 18 months
  • Confidential searches
  • Narrow-universe market mapping

What's included

  • Full role design and outcome architecture
  • Confidential market mapping
  • Behavioral assessment and reference depth
  • Practice Leader + senior search consultant throughout
  • 90-day post-hire integration check
  • Replacement guarantee
E

Contingent

Pay only when we place.

Traditional contingent search. You engage us alongside other firms or your internal team. We earn the fee only when our candidate is hired. The 6-Step Performance Engine™ still applies - even on contingent, we don't lower the screen.

When to use it

  • Multi-firm searches
  • Mid-level roles where market access is the primary need
  • Placement-based billing requirements

THE SIXTH STRUCTURE

About 30% of our work fits none of the above. On purpose.

Some problems don’t map to a model - the confidential replacement, the two-country build-out, the research engagement that becomes a search mid-stream. For roughly three in ten clients, we design the structure around the problem: scope, team, reporting, and pricing built for the engagement, governed by the same engine as everything else. One size was never the point. The standard is.

Book a Strategy Call →

Bring the problem, not the model.

When you need it

  • The problem spans models.
  • Confidentiality changes the rules.
  • You need research, sourcing, and search in one engagement.
  • The org chart doesn't have a name for what you need.

Custom is not a premium tier. It’s the honest answer when the catalog would bend your problem to fit it.

Not sure which model fits? Start with the diagnostic.

23 questions. About ten minutes. A scored read of where your hiring breaks - and which engagement model addresses it.

Run the Diagnostic →Book a Strategy Call
Steve Lowisz reviewing an engagement model with a client team in the boardroom
The engagement review

Same discipline. Five different structures.

04The constant

The discipline doesn't change. Only the structure does.

The engine governs every model. On full-search engagements, every candidate runs all six steps. On pipeline models, we run the front of the engine - Winning, Identity, and the behavioral screen - and install the standard your team uses to finish the decision. Every engagement has a Practice Leader. Every full-search hire gets a 90-day integration check. The depth flexes with the model. The standard never does.

“The standard doesn’t flex with the invoice. It holds at one hire or one hundred - that’s the whole product.”

Every model, one operator standard

Whatever structure you choose, the person accountable for it has a name.

Steve Lowisz teaching a leadership workshop, mid-gesture, with an engaged room of hiring leaders around the table
Steve Lowisz - Founder, Qualigence International
05Industries and models

Most industries use a mix. Banking and PE-backed clients lean retained. Manufacturing and healthcare often pair subscription for recurring roles with retained for executive hires. Your Practice Leader will recommend the right structure for your role mix and timeline.

85%+

Long-term retention.

Since 1999

Operating selection discipline at every scale.

Guaranteed

Replacement guarantee on retained.

06Frequently asked
Why don't you publish prices?

On intelligence work we do - scope, timeline, and investment are on the page. Search and recruiting engagements are priced per engagement because scope genuinely varies - and the number goes in writing on the first call.

Can we combine models?

Most clients do. Subscription for recurring roles, retained for the executive layer.

What's the difference between hourly and fractional?

Same billing logic - fractional is simply hourly at a light, ongoing cadence.

Is there a guarantee?

Retained searches carry a replacement guarantee. Every model carries the same screen.

Whichever model you pick, you keep what matters: a hiring system that still runs when the engagement ends.

The wrong model costs a fee. The wrong hire costs a year. Pick with a Practice Leader.

Run the Diagnostic →Book a Strategy Call

23 questions. About ten minutes. A scored read of where your hiring breaks.

Guide, Don't Drive™ installs Human Performance across four domains. LLI and CBI install it in your leaders. Qualigence and Qualigence Staffing install it in your selection - every hire. REI teaches it. GuideOS runs it every week. Steve Lowisz wrote it. One system. Different doors.