Direct Hire
Direct hire recruiting: permanent placements with a 90-day guarantee.
Direct hire recruiting places a permanent employee on your payroll from day one, with ApTask sourcing, verifying and shortlisting the candidates. You receive a shortlist of three to five candidates within five business days, pay a single recruitment fee set as a percentage of base salary, and every placement carries a 90-day no-fee replacement guarantee.
Last updated · ApTask Editorial Team
What is direct hire recruiting?
Direct hire (permanent placement) is when a staffing firm recruits a candidate who joins the client’s own payroll from day one. The firm does not employ the worker; it earns a one-time placement fee, usually a percentage of the hire’s first-year base salary, often backed by a replacement guarantee.
At ApTask direct hire runs under Strategic Workforce Staffing, the same master agreement as contract and contract-to-hire, so a requisition can switch model without re-papering the supplier. C-suite, VP and director searches run as retained executive search, with structured technical assessment and a 12-month guarantee.
Source: ApTask is certified by the National Minority Supplier Development Council. What NMSDC MBE certification means.
How is a direct hire fee structured?
ApTask charges a single recruitment fee for direct hires, set as a percentage of base salary and agreed in the client contract before the search starts. There is no hourly billing and no conversion fee: the candidate is your employee from the first day.
Pricing is walked through in the discovery call and locked in the requisition together with the engagement model, rate card and SLA. If you would rather see the work first, contract-to-hire replaces the placement fee with a conversion fee that steps down to zero after six months. The glossary defines direct hire and the conversion fee.
What does the 90-day replacement guarantee cover?
Direct-hire placements carry a 90-day no-fee replacement guarantee: if the hire does not work out inside the first 90 days, ApTask runs the replacement search without a second fee. Contract engagements have a two-week replacement window instead, and contract-to-hire lets you release the candidate during the evaluation period.
The guarantee sits on top of the verification pipeline every candidate clears before a resume reaches you: identity verification, employment-history reconciliation, technical proof-of-work and reference checks. Each shortlisted candidate arrives with a scorecard, so the decision is built on evidence rather than enthusiasm.
How fast is a direct hire shortlist?
The SLA is a shortlist of three to five candidates within five business days of intake, each with a scorecard. A vertical recruiter responds to a new requisition within 24 hours, and most requisitions get a first calibration slate of two to three reference candidates inside 48 hours.
As a reference point, New Jersey clients typically see shortlists within 5 business days for direct hire, with an average time-to-fill of 19 business days. Timelines vary by role scarcity and client requirements.
Which roles fit direct hire?
Direct hire fits permanent, business-critical seats where you want the person on your own payroll, benefits and culture from the start: core engineering roles, team leads, and the managers who run technology, healthcare, engineering and financial-services functions. For C-suite, VP and director roles, use retained executive search instead.
By specialty: IT staffing, cloud engineers, cybersecurity, DevOps, data science, AI and ML, ERP, Workday, Salesforce and healthcare, which also offers permanent placement for clinical roles.
By location: New Jersey, New York, Texas, California and Florida, with clients served nationwide from the Iselin, NJ headquarters.
Side by side
How does direct hire compare with retained search, contract-to-hire and contract?
| Model | Who employs | Fee | Shortlist | Guarantee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct hire | You, from day one | Single recruitment fee, a percentage of base salary | 3–5 candidates in 5 business days | 90-day no-fee replacement |
| Retained executive search | You, from day one | Retained model with structured technical assessment | Case study: shortlist of three inside six weeks | 12-month replacement guarantee |
| Contract-to-hire | ApTask until conversion, then you | Hourly bill rate, then a conversion fee stepping down to zero after six months | 3–5 candidates in 48 hours | Release at any point in the evaluation period |
| Contract | ApTask (W-2) or the worker’s own entity | Hourly bill rate; margin published | 3–5 candidates in 48 hours | Two-week no-fee replacement window |
Terms as stated on Strategic Workforce Staffing and in the executive leadership case study.
How it works
How does direct hire work at ApTask?
- 01
Intake
Send the role, timeline and the constraint that matters most: budget, clearance, geography or stack. A vertical recruiter responds within 24 hours.
- 02
Calibration slate
Two to three reference candidates inside 48 hours to calibrate compensation, level and stack-fit against your actual market, before the full search runs.
- 03
Authenticated sourcing
Identity verification, employment-history reconciliation, technical proof-of-work and reference checks, run by a recruiter who has shipped on the same stack.
- 04
Shortlist in five business days
Three to five candidates, each with a scorecard. You interview, we coordinate, and the fee is already fixed in the requisition.
- 05
Offer and start
The candidate joins your payroll, benefits and policies from day one. ApTask does not employ the worker at any stage.
- 06
90-day guarantee
If the hire does not work out inside the first 90 days, ApTask runs the replacement search at no additional fee.
Frequently asked questions
How is a direct hire fee calculated?
It is a one-time fee set as a percentage of the hire’s base salary, agreed in the client contract and backed by ApTask’s 90-day no-fee replacement guarantee. The percentage is quoted in the discovery call rather than published as one figure.
What is the difference between direct hire and contract-to-hire?
Direct hire puts the candidate on your payroll from day one for a single recruitment fee. Contract-to-hire starts the person on ApTask’s payroll so you can evaluate them on the job, then converts for a fee that steps down to zero after six months.
Does ApTask recruit executives?
Yes, through retained executive search: a retained model with structured technical assessment built in and a 12-month replacement guarantee, for C-suite, VP and director roles.
How long does a direct hire search take?
The shortlist SLA is five business days. New Jersey clients see an average time-to-fill of 19 business days; timelines vary by role scarcity and client requirements.
Are candidates verified before I see them?
Yes. Every candidate clears identity verification, employment-history reconciliation, technical proof-of-work and reference checks before a resume reaches you, and arrives with a scorecard.
Does a direct hire fee count as diversity spend?
Yes. Direct ApTask engagements count as Tier 1 minority-owned spend; ApTask is an NMSDC-certified Minority Business Enterprise, recertified annually.
Keep exploring
Permanent hiring, in context.
Retained Executive Search
CTO, VP Engineering and Head of Product searches with structured technical assessment and a 12-month guarantee.
Evaluate firstContract-to-Hire
See the work before you commit; the conversion fee steps down to zero after six months.
Umbrella agreementStrategic Workforce Staffing
One MSA across contract, contract-to-hire and direct hire, with the model recommended per seat.
GuideContract vs contract-to-hire vs direct hire
How a direct hire fee is calculated and when each model fits, without the commercial detail.
Supplier diversityMBE-certified staffing
How direct hire spend counts as Tier 1 diversity spend with an NMSDC-certified MBE.
ProofCase studies
Measured outcomes, including a retained CTO search that lifted year-one revenue 25%.
Hiring a permanent seat you cannot get wrong?
Send the role and the must-haves. You will have a calibration slate inside 48 hours, a shortlist inside five business days, and a 90-day no-fee replacement guarantee behind the hire.