The short answer: before you hire us, we will not put you in touch with past clients, refund the fee if you do not receive an offer, produce a free market analysis, or show case studies matched to your exact title, industry and city. Each request misreads how a candidate-paid search works. Below is why, and the evidence we give you instead, so you can judge us on things you can check.
Many of the people who contact us now open with the same four requests, often in the same words, because they come from the same buyer’s checklist that circulates online. The checklist was written for buying software or hiring an agency paid by employers. A Reverse Recruiting engagement is neither, and treating it like one leads buyers toward the firms least able to help them.
1. “Can I speak with some of your past clients?”
No. Our clients are senior executives running confidential searches. Most are now in the roles they landed, and many never told their employer, board or colleagues that they were looking. A reference call would expose a search we were hired to keep private, and it would ask a busy executive to do unpaid sales work for us. Asking the same few willing people again and again is not something we will do to them.
A firm with a ready list of “reference clients” either has very few senior clients or does not protect the ones it has. We explain this in more detail in why we do not give client references.
What we give you instead: public reviews on Google, Trustpilot and LinkedIn that describe what we actually did; 32 career services industry awards; the person who would run your search on your first call; and a real, anonymised weekly report so you can see the work before you pay for it.
2. “Will you refund the fee if I don’t get a job offer?”
No. Reverse Recruiting is a paid professional service. You pay for work done in your name: research, positioning, a rewritten résumé and LinkedIn profile, applications, direct approaches to decision-makers and search firms, follow-up, weekly reporting and interview preparation. That work happens whether or not an employer says yes, and the employer’s decision is not ours to make.
Employer-paid recruiters work on contingency because the employer controls the hire and pays only when it hires. On your side of the table, a firm paid only when you land would have three options: take on only the candidates who would land quickly without help, push you toward the first offer that arrives, or charge a far larger fee or a percentage of your salary to cover the risk. None of those is good for you. Our fee is a base fee agreed in writing and never contingent on an offer. That is our choice; the NRRA Code of Ethics requires fee terms in writing before any payment and a base fee that fairly covers the work.
What we commit to instead: our Continued-Service Guarantee. If you have not had 5 qualified interviews or accepted an offer within 4 months, we keep working at no additional fee. We guarantee our work, not an outcome. There is no cash refund, and nothing is due when you accept a position. Details are on our guarantee page.
3. “Can you analyse my market and positioning before I commit?”
Not for free, because that analysis is the work. Mapping your target companies and the search firms that place at your level, benchmarking the roles, deciding how to position you and rewriting your documents takes days of a senior recruiter’s time. It is the first phase of every engagement, not a sales step.
What the free first conversation does cover: our Reverse Recruitment Strategy Session tells you honestly whether Reverse Recruiting fits your situation, how the process works week by week, who would run your search, what it costs, and what is realistic for your target in broad terms. If it is not the right fit, we will say so on the call.
4. “Show me case studies for my exact role, industry and city.”
We can’t, and nobody honest can. Senior searches are confidential, and the number of past searches that match one title, one industry and one city is very small, often none. A single matching story would also tell you little: the outcome of a search depends mostly on your own record, your target and the market at that moment.
What carries across searches is the method: how targets are chosen, how approaches are made in your name, how progress is reported and how interviews are prepared. Ask to see it. On the strategy session we walk you through a real anonymised weekly report, and our reviews show the same method working across many functions and industries.
What you can hold us to
| You can check | How |
|---|---|
| Who runs your search | You meet them before you pay |
| What you are buying | A written agreement with scope, fee and the Continued-Service Guarantee, before any payment |
| The fee | A flat base fee per 30-day cycle, never a percentage of your salary, nothing due on accepting an offer |
| The work | A weekly report of every company targeted, every approach made and every response |
| Our record | Public reviews on independent platforms and 32 career services industry awards |
| Our standards | iCareerSolutions is a member firm of the National Reverse Recruiter Association and works to its Standard Process and Code of Ethics |
For a neutral view of the same questions, read the National Reverse Recruiter Association’s handbook pages on client references, refunds and contingency, free market assessments and case studies.
Do reverse recruiters give client references?
Reputable ones usually do not, because executive searches are confidential and a reference call would expose a past client’s search. Judge the firm on published reviews, the person who will run your search, a sample weekly report and the written agreement instead.
Can I get a refund from a reverse recruiter if I don’t get a job?
Not from iCareerSolutions. Reverse Recruiting is a paid service for work done in your name, and the hiring decision belongs to employers. Our Continued-Service Guarantee keeps the work going at no additional fee if you have not had 5 qualified interviews or accepted an offer within 4 months.
Is the Reverse Recruitment Strategy Session free?
Yes. It covers whether Reverse Recruiting fits you, how the process works, who would run your search, the fee and what is realistic for your target. It is not a market map, target list or résumé review, which are part of the paid engagement.
Why don’t reverse recruiters work on contingency?
Because a candidate-side firm controls neither the employer’s decision nor your choices. A firm paid only on an offer would favour easy candidates, push you to accept the first offer, or charge a percentage of salary. iCareerSolutions charges a base fee only, never contingent on an offer; the NRRA Code of Ethics requires any such element to sit on top of a base fee that covers the work.
