Thinking of Hiring Through Brellis Recruitment? Here Are the Difficult Questions, Answered Upfront

Every new client conversation we have at Brellis tends to circle back to the same handful of questions — about recruitment agency fees, exclusivity, replacement guarantees, and how we actually find candidates. They’re fair questions, and usually the ones that decide whether a business trusts a recruitment agency enough to hand over a search. As a recruitment agency specialising in automotive, manufacturing, supply chain and engineering recruitment across Warwickshire, Leamington Spa, Oxford and Coventry, we’d rather answer them upfront than wait to be asked.

How do recruitment agency fees actually work?

We don’t work off a flat, published fee — and we think that’s a good thing for clients, not a dodge. A graduate-level hire and a hard-to-fill technical or engineering leadership role require completely different amounts of time, market reach, and search effort, and a single headline percentage can’t reflect that fairly. Instead, we agree recruitment fees upfront for each role based on seniority, salary, and complexity, so you’re paying for the actual work the search needs — not subsidising an easier one.

When do you pay a recruitment agency?

You pay once your new hire has actually started. No fees for shortlists, interviews, or offers that don’t convert — this is a contingency recruitment model, not a retainer.

Does Brellis offer a replacement guarantee?

If a placement doesn’t work out, we offer a 12-week rebate on a sliding scale from the candidate’s start date. What we won’t do is offer a free replacement indefinitely. It sounds like it should be client-friendly, but in practice it removes the incentive for a rigorous hiring process on both sides — it becomes a free second attempt rather than a reason to get the brief, interviews, and decision right the first time. Our rebate structure keeps everyone invested in the right outcome from the start.

Why does Brellis ask for exclusivity on a search?

Most of our clients move to exclusive working with us after their first few placements, and there’s a simple reason: running one vacancy through several recruitment agencies at once tends to create more problems than it solves. Candidates notice when the same job is advertised by multiple agencies — it makes them wonder if something’s wrong with the role — and it’s common for the same candidate to be put forward by more than one agency, creating ownership disputes that waste everyone’s time. With access to every major job board and a database of over 40,000 active and passive candidates across automotive, manufacturing, supply chain and engineering, we’re rarely short of reach — so splitting a search across multiple recruitment agencies rarely adds value.

Still have questions before you commit to a search? That’s exactly what the first conversation with the Brellis Recruitment team is for — get in touch with our Leamington Spa, Oxford or Coventry team today.