Overview
A recruitment agreement is a short document that decides several expensive things: what you pay and when, what happens if the hire does not work out, who may approach your staff, and what an agency may do with the personal data of the people it sends you. Most of these terms are negotiable at signing and none of them are negotiable afterwards. These are the questions worth asking before a search begins.
What should a fee structure tell you?
It should tell you what the fee is calculated on, and when it becomes payable. "A percentage" is not an answer until you know the percentage of what — base salary, guaranteed bonus, allowances, the first year's total package — because the same headline number can differ materially depending on the definition.
- Is the fee triggered on the offer, on the start date, or on the completion of probation?
- How is it calculated for a part-year hire, or one paid in a different currency?
- Are there separate charges for advertising, assessment tools or background checks, and are they payable if no hire is made?
- For contract staffing, is the rate fully loaded, and what exactly does the margin cover?
What does a replacement guarantee actually cover?
Read the exclusions, because that is where the guarantee lives. A guarantee typically covers a candidate who leaves or is terminated within a stated period, and it typically excludes redundancy, restructuring, a change in the role, and termination without a documented performance process.
Then ask the practical questions: does it give you a replacement search or a refund, and who decides? Is it pro-rated? Does it survive if you did not follow the agency's reference recommendations? A guarantee that only produces another search is worth less to you than one that returns cash if you no longer need the role.
Who owns the candidate data?
Ask directly, because it is both a commercial and a compliance question. When an agency sends you a CV, personal data has moved between two organisations, and both of you have obligations under the data protection law of the market the candidate is in — PDPA in Singapore, the PDPO in Hong Kong, PIPA in South Korea, and their equivalents elsewhere.
- On what basis was the candidate's data collected, and were they told it would be sent to you?
- How long may you retain a CV for a candidate you did not hire, and what does your agreement say about deleting it?
- Does the agency retain your feedback about candidates, and where does that sit?
- If the candidate asks either party to delete their data, what happens?
An agency that cannot answer these quickly is an agency that has not thought about them, which eventually becomes your problem as well as theirs.
Exclusive or contingent?
Contingent means several agencies work the role and the one that places the candidate is paid. Exclusive means one agency has the role for a defined period. Contingent feels safer and is often slower, because a role that four agencies are working is a role none of them will prioritise over an exclusive one.
The useful middle position is a time-boxed exclusivity — a defined window, with agreed shortlist milestones, after which the role opens up. That gives the agency reason to commit real time and gives you a way out if they do not.
What is an off-limits clause, and why does it matter?
An off-limits clause stops an agency approaching the people it has placed with you, and sometimes your wider staff, for a stated period. Its absence is a live risk: an agency that knows your team, your structure and your salary bands is well placed to recruit out of you.
Ask for the scope in writing — which people, for how long, and whether it survives the end of the agreement.
How do you check an agency is licensed?
Employment agencies are licensed in most Asia-Pacific markets, and the licence number belongs on the agency's own materials. RecruitFirst's are published in the footer of every page of this site: Singapore EA Licence 13C6342 and Hong Kong Licence 83702. Both can be checked against the registers the Ministry of Manpower and the Labour Department publish.
Do check. A licence number that appears on a website but not on the register is the single clearest warning sign in this industry.
What else is worth asking?
Two questions that are not in any agreement. Who will actually work the role — the person in the meeting, or someone else? And which comparable searches have they run in this market, in this function, in the last year?
If you want our answers to all of the above before there is any agreement to sign, ask. We would rather be assessed on them than on a fee percentage.