How to pick a recruitment agency for IT without buying junk CVs

I'm a recruiter, so writing 'how to choose a recruitment agency' is uncomfortable. But the same client mistake repeats: most failed agency contracts happen because the company bought the wrong format of service, not because the agency was bad. Here's the difference and ten questions to ask before signing.

I'm a recruiter. It's uncomfortable to write a post titled "how to choose a recruitment agency" because it inevitably reads like a self-promotion brochure. But I'll try — because I see the same client mistake over and over. Most failed agency contracts happen not because the agency was bad, but because the company bought the wrong format of service. Let me explain the difference and which questions to ask before signing.

What you're actually buying

On the global recruitment market in 2026 there are roughly three product types sold under the word "agency":

• Resume flow. The agency takes the brief, scrapes job boards, runs mass cold outreach on LinkedIn and tech Telegram channels, sends you everyone who formally fits. Minimal screening. Cost: low (10-15% of annual gross). Useful when you have a niche role and need volume coverage.
• Managed research. The agency builds a donor-company map, methodically works through relevant people, does multi-touch outreach, runs technical screening before showing you anyone. Cost: medium-high (15-25%). Useful for senior or rare combinations.
• End-to-end position closure. The agency owns the whole loop from profile to onboarding, including final interview support, offer help and probation support. Cost: high (20-30%). Useful when you don't have an internal HR function for that segment.

Most "bad agency experiences" are buying the first variant while expecting the second. The company pays for flow but expects research quality. The agency delivers what was agreed, the company is dissatisfied. Nobody lies — different expectations weren't articulated.

Research vs. flow — the real test

This is the main difference worth checking before signing. Flow is an operation: receive brief, search job boards, sweep LinkedIn, filter by keywords, ship to client. Conversion from "CV delivered" to "candidate started" is 5-10%.

Research is market work. First the agency builds a donor-company map: which technology teams use your stack, at what size, in what stage, who works there at the relevant roles. Then targeted outreach with personalised messaging. Conversion is 25-40% because filtering happens before the CV reaches you.

Check what you're being sold — ask before starting: "show me the donor-company map you plan to use." If the answer is "we'll search LinkedIn and job boards" — that's flow, not research.

Ten questions to ask before signing

I'd walk through these. Not all of them are "is this agency good?" — most check that you're buying what you actually need.

• How many roles in my segment have you closed in the last year? Not "we had a similar case", a number.
• Which specific technology companies have you worked with? Generic answers ("we work with market leaders") flag follow-up questions.
• Who specifically will work my role? Name a person, their experience in tech, what roles they personally closed. Not "a team of five researchers".
• What's your typical funnel? How many in shortlist, how many to interview, how many to offer, how many to start. If they don't give numbers — flag it.
• What's your average time-to-close? 4-8 weeks for middle, 8-16 for senior is realistic. "Two weeks for senior" is a flow promise, not a quality one.
• What does the replacement guarantee cover and when is it void? Standard: free replacement if the hire leaves in the first 3 months not due to your changes. Read the fine print.
• What's the reporting cadence? Touches per week, weekly updates, in what format.
• What will you ask the candidate on the screen? "Formal requirements and salary expectations" = flow. "Technical depth, decision context, motivation to change" = research.
• What if a month passes and the profile isn't there? Good answer: "we'll bring an interim market report and discuss adjusting the profile or salary expectations." Bad: "we'll keep searching."
• Show me three candidates from your current database right now. Not for hiring — as a screening-quality example. Serious agencies won't show actual people (NDA) but should describe profiles in anonymised form in 3-5 minutes.

Discuss metrics, don't accept promises

Companies pay twice for "we'll close in 2 weeks" promises: once to the agency, once in team time reviewing the flood. Discuss the funnel, not the timeline.

If you're being promised those same numbers in 3 weeks, one of two things is true: the agency already has a ready funnel for that profile (rare, expensive), or you're being sold a fiction.

Red flags visible before signing

These signals show up in the first conversation. If you see them, keep looking.

• "Whatever volume you have, we'll close." Either an inflated promise or an agency with a too-large "generalist" team without specialisation.
• "We work across all IT segments." If the same agency "closes" backend, frontend, ML, DevOps, mobile, testing, product management and analytics — that's a conveyor, not specialisation. Strong agencies focus on 2-3 segments.
• They don't ask about your team. A strong recruiter in the first 20 minutes tries to understand: what kind of CTO you are, how decisions are made, cultural specifics, what departing employees say about you. If they don't ask, they'll sell a generic template to candidates.
• They won't show how they validate hard skills. "Technical screening exists" isn't enough. What specifically gets asked, who runs it, how long it takes, what filters out.
• Non-exclusive engagement only. Not inherently bad. But if three agencies push flow at one role in parallel, candidates get touched twice, duplicate-rejections happen, the funnel suffers for everyone.
• They agree to any salary band with no pushback. If you say "250-300K" for a Moscow senior and the agency nods without a single market-calibration question, they either don't know the market or know you won't get a result but will collect the retainer.

Process details worth discussing up front

Beyond metrics, lock the "process details" that often break the partnership later:

• Who communicates with the candidate after the CV is shown — agency or your HR. How feedback after interviews is handed over.
• In what form candidates arrive — PDF CV, profile link, recruiter brief with quotes from the conversation.
• What happens with "juniors disguised as seniors" — who owns the level filter.
• Who writes the offer — you or the agency. Who negotiates final conditions.
• How "start" is counted for the guarantee — start date or probation completion.

When you don't need an agency at all

Directly: for a significant share of roles you don't need one. If you have:

• a mass junior/middle role on a popular stack;
• a strong HR team with IT-hiring experience;
• enough time (3-6 months) and a recognisable employer brand;

— it's cheaper and higher-quality to search yourselves. Agency makes sense for senior, for rare combinations (e.g. ML + specific domain), and at moments when you need a pace jump that internal capacity can't deliver.

How we work, briefly

I won't do a long self-presentation. One paragraph for transparency: we do managed research (variant #2 above), specialise in technology companies of 50-300 people, refuse work we don't see closing in a reasonable timeframe, occasionally decline clients up front.

If you're picking an agency right now and want a second opinion — email [email protected] with the role context. We'll send our take in one email: what would be a realistic funnel, what questions to ask the agencies you're considering. No obligation.