How a recruiting agency placement works, from the engineer's side

Most engineers meet agency recruiting through a bad LinkedIn message, so the whole category reads as spam. Underneath, the model is simple and, run honestly, it works in your favor: the company pays for the search, you pay nothing, and a good agent does the tedious parts, targeting, scheduling, comp negotiation, while you do the interviews. Here is the process as we run it at roles.cc, step by step, including the parts other firms prefer not to explain.

The six steps

1. 01You get in the pool. Drop a CV, or apply to a specific role on the board. Either way we read it, a person, with an AI pass for structure first.
2. 02We talk about intent. Level, stack, cities, comp floor, visa needs, and what would make you leave a good job. Five minutes of honesty here saves weeks.
3. 03We match against companies that just raised. Our board tracks who closed a round and who is hiring against it. Fresh-raise companies move in days, not quarters.
4. 04You say yes before anyone learns your name. Nothing moves without your go-ahead on each specific company. No name, no CV, nothing.
5. 05We make the introduction and run the process. Scheduling, prep, feedback between rounds, and the comp conversation, with posted-band data behind it.
6. 06You sign; the company pays us. Our fee is a percentage of first-year salary, paid by the employer, never deducted from your offer.

Does using a recruiter lower your offer?

The honest answer: at a well-run company, no. Hiring budgets carry recruiting costs as a line item the same way they carry job-board spend and referral bonuses; offers are set by level and band, not by subtracting the fee. What a recruiter changes is information: you walk into the negotiation knowing the band, the urgency, and the alternatives, which is usually worth more than the fee costs anyone.

Questions that expose a bad recruiter

• Will you send my CV anywhere without asking me first? The only acceptable answer is never. Blast-forwarding burns your name at companies you might have approached properly.
• Do you represent this company, or are you guessing? Real mandates mean real information: team, band, process, why the role is open.
• What do you know that the job post does not say? A real agent has an answer. A CV-forwarder does not.
• What happens if I say no to an intro? Nothing should happen. Consent per company is the floor, not a feature.

What we do with your CV, and what we never do

• We read it. A person does, with an AI pass for structure first. The read is the work; the score is plumbing.
• We hold it. Your CV and your name stay with us. Nothing reaches a company until you approve that specific introduction.
• We never blast it. No mass-forwarding, no posting you to a portal, no surprise submissions. Anonymous until you say so is the rule, not a setting.
• You can leave. Ask us to delete your profile and we do. The pool is opt-in on the way in and on the way out.

How long it actually takes

Honest expectations: getting into the pool takes minutes. Whether a fit appears depends on the market, and we would rather say nothing than manufacture a bad match, so it can be quick or it can be a while. Once a real fit lands and you say yes, a fresh-raise company often moves from introduction to offer in two to three weeks, because the post-raise window is when they move fastest. We leave you alone in between. No drip campaign.

Why we turn some people away

We turn people away, and saying so is the point. If your target is a market we do not serve, or the level and stack you want are not what our companies are hiring, the useful thing is to tell you, not to keep you warm for a fee that will never come. An agency's only durable asset is being the one that told you the truth. You can always browse the board and apply to anything on it without us.

What it costs you

Nothing, ever. The board is free, the CV check is free, the pool is free, the representation is free. Companies pay us when a hire happens, which means our incentive is a signed offer you are happy with at a company that keeps you. A placement that quits in month two costs us the fee, so we are picky about fit in both directions.