Permanent staffing and recruitment services, closed on evidence not enthusiasm.
A vacancy open for ninety days is not a hiring problem, it is a production problem — and the CVs arriving are the same five profiles from four portals. Our permanent staffing and recruitment services work the other way: a calibrated shortlist we aim to deliver inside five working days, built from targeted outreach for blue-collar to leadership roles, trade-tested or competency-interviewed before it reaches you, with a written replacement guarantee after joining.
Role, CTC band and location are enough for a calibration call.
From an ITI fitter to a plant head, on your rolls.
Permanent placement earns its fee where the role is long-lived and scarcity is real. We run it as a search, not a CV forward: market map, calibrated brief, trade test or structured interview, reference and document verification before an offer goes out.
- ✓Production, maintenance and quality supervisors
- ✓Plant, EHS and manufacturing engineers
- ✓ITI and diploma trades on your payroll
- ✓HR, finance, purchase and back-office roles
- ✓Plant head, CXO and leadership search
Why vacancies stay open for ninety days
Rarely a shortage of applicants. Almost always a shortage of qualified, verified, available applicants.
The same profiles circulate through every job board. Nobody has spoken to them this month, half are not looking, and the ones who are have three offers already.
An empty supervisory seat costs output, safety discipline and the goodwill of the people covering it. Six months later a rushed hire leaves and the clock restarts.
Five to eight profiles you can actually interview, trade-tested or competency-screened, reference checked, with a free replacement if the hire does not last the agreed replacement period.
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How a permanent mandate runs
For comparison only: the slider shows what the same positions would cost each month if they sat on contract instead, at an assumed ₹35,000 gross wage and an illustrative 12% service fee. A permanent placement is billed once — a percentage of annual CTC agreed in your contract — and then nothing further.
Every mandate runs the same steps, with a named consultant.
Permanent placement fees in India: what you actually pay
Permanent recruitment is billed once, as a percentage of the hire's annual CTC, and only when the candidate joins. The percentage rises with seniority and scarcity because the search effort does. Indicative market ranges:
| Hire level | Typical fee | Usual model | What changes the number |
|---|---|---|---|
| ITI trades, operators, technicians, drivers | Around 8.33% of annual CTC, or a flat fee per head for volume | Contingency | Volume, trade-test effort, relocation |
| Staff and supervisory roles | Around 8.33% of annual CTC (one month) | Contingency or exclusive | Exclusivity, number of openings, shift and location |
| Engineers, managers, specialists | 8.33–12% of annual CTC | Exclusive preferred | Scarcity of the skill, notice periods in the talent pool |
| Senior leadership and niche skills | 12–20% of annual CTC | Exclusive or retained | Confidentiality, market mapping, assessment depth — see leadership hiring |
Indicative ranges, not a quote. "Annual CTC" is normally the fixed annual CTC in the offer letter; whether joining bonus or variable pay counts should be written into the agreement. GST at 18% applies on the fee. Board-level and CXO roles are usually run as a retained executive search, priced separately. Compare models on staffing agency fees in India.
Contingency, exclusive or retained: which kind of search you are buying
The same job description gets very different effort depending on how the mandate is set up. Know which one you are signing.
Contingency
Several agencies work the same role and only the one whose candidate joins is paid. Fast for common roles, but it rewards speed over fit, and the same portal CVs tend to arrive from every vendor.
Exclusive
One agency owns the role for an agreed window, typically two to four weeks, still paid on joining. You get a market map, fewer duplicate CVs and a consultant who can afford to screen properly. Our default for supervisory and specialist roles.
Retained
Part of the fee is paid up front to fund a full search with a guaranteed process — used for leadership, confidential replacements and CXO roles. Covered on our CXO executive search page.
How long a permanent hire takes in India, stage by stage
Most of the calendar time in a permanent hire is not search — it is interview scheduling and the candidate's notice period. These are the durations we plan against.
Calibration and brief
A call with the hiring manager to agree must-haves, CTC band, interview panel and slots. A written brief goes back for sign-off.
Search and screening
Our own database and referrals first, then targeted outreach. Every profile is spoken to this week, not scraped.
Shortlist
Five to eight profiles with a note on each: current CTC, expected CTC, notice period, reason for moving and test results.
Interviews and offer
Interview rounds within an agreed turnaround; references and document checks before the offer is released.
Notice period
Blue-collar hires often join within days; staff roles commonly serve 30 days; managers 60–90 days unless you fund a notice buy-out.
Joining and follow-through
Pre-joining check-ins, day-one confirmation, and 30-, 60- and 90-day check-ins inside the replacement window.
The ten answers that make a permanent search fast
Roles that stay open for ninety days usually have one of these unanswered. We ask them on the calibration call; having them ready saves a week.
- ✓The three must-have skills, and what is only nice to have
- ✓Fixed CTC band, variable pay and the ceiling for an exceptional profile
- ✓Budget and appetite for a notice-period buy-out
- ✓Interview panel, number of rounds and two committed slots a week
- ✓Trade test, case study or technical assessment, and who marks it
- ✓Shift pattern, weekly off and overtime expectations
- ✓Work location, commute realities and transport provided
- ✓Companies you do not want us to approach, including your clients
- ✓Deal-breakers from past hires that did not work out
- ✓Joining date the business actually needs, not the ideal one
Why accepted offers fail to join, and what prevents it
In Indian hiring markets it is common for a candidate to accept an offer and then not join — usually because of a counter-offer or a better offer received during the notice period. It cannot be eliminated, but it can be managed.
Test the move before the offer
We ask every candidate why they are moving and what their current employer would have to offer to keep them. If the honest answer is "a raise", we tell you before you make an offer.
Keep the notice period short or engaged
Where the business case supports it, a notice buy-out removes the riskiest weeks. Otherwise, a pre-joining plan — team introductions, paperwork, a site visit — keeps the candidate connected.
Watch the signals
Slow replies, a postponed resignation or new questions about pay are early warnings. We flag them to you the same day so a back-up candidate is still warm.
Hold a warm second choice
For every closed role we keep the runner-up informed until the hire has joined — which is also where our replacement search starts if it comes to that.
What a replacement guarantee should and should not cover
Every agency advertises a guarantee; the value is in the wording. This is the wording we propose, so you can compare it with any other proposal; the period itself is agreed in your contract (two to three months is common in India).
Covered
- ✓The hire resigns within the replacement period
- ✓The hire is released for performance or conduct within the replacement period
- ✓The hire accepts and then does not join — the search re-opens at once
- ✓Replacement at no additional fee, with priority over new mandates
Usually excluded
- –The role, CTC, location or reporting line changes after joining
- –The position is eliminated in a restructuring
- –The placement fee has not been paid within the agreed terms
- –The candidate was rejected by you earlier and re-applied directly
Permanent recruitment FAQs
Fees, guarantees, timelines and the roles we recruit for.
Share a mandate →What does permanent recruitment cost in India?+
A one-time placement fee, as a percentage of the candidate's annual CTC agreed in your contract. As an indicative market range, fees in India run around 8.33% for staff and supervisory roles and 12–20% for leadership or niche search. The fee is invoiced when the candidate joins, not when a shortlist is shared, with GST at 18% on top.
How long does it take to close a permanent role?+
We aim for a first shortlist inside five working days for mainstream roles; offer-to-join usually takes four to eight weeks depending on notice periods. Leadership and scarce-skill searches run six to ten weeks.
What is covered by the replacement guarantee?+
If a placed candidate leaves or is released within the replacement period agreed in your contract, we run a replacement search at no additional fee, with priority over new mandates.
Do you handle blue-collar permanent hiring too?+
Yes. ITI trades, operators, technicians and drivers are placed permanently on client rolls, usually with a trade test as part of screening. Many employers run these as contract-to-permanent instead.
Which roles should stay on contract instead?+
Anything tied to a season, a project or a volume curve, and anything where you want headcount flexibility. For roles you expect to keep for years, permanent placement is cheaper than a recurring markup.
Is GST charged on a placement fee?+
Yes. Recruitment services attract GST at 18% on the fee. Registered employers can usually claim input tax credit on it.
What happens if a candidate accepts an offer and does not join?+
The search re-opens immediately at no extra cost — no fee is due because the fee is invoiced on joining. We usually have a warm second candidate from the same shortlist.
Will you approach candidates working at our competitors?+
Yes, where you ask us to and it is lawful, but never your clients or companies you list as off-limits — and never people we have placed with you.
Should we hire permanently or try temp-to-hire first?+
Hire permanently when the role is long-term and you can assess fit in interviews and tests. If fit is genuinely uncertain — a new function, a new site, a hard-to-test skill — temp-to-hire lets you watch performance for three to six months first.
Have a role open too long?
Send the mandate. We aim for a calibration call today and a shortlist within five working days.