Frequently Asked Questions About Harbor Recruitment

We place talent in all 50 US states and every Canadian province, with offices in San Francisco (HQ), Austin, New York, Toronto, and Vancouver. Remote roles are part of the core business — postings are flagged Remote–US or Remote–Canada — and our contracts and payroll are compliant on both sides of the border.

Harbor Recruitment is a staffing and recruiting agency headquartered in San Francisco that places direct hire, contract and contract-to-hire talent across ten practice areas in the United States and Canada. Founded in 2011, Harbor Recruitment offers six services: Direct Hire, Contract and Temporary Staffing, Contract-to-Hire, Executive Search, High-Volume Workforce Programs, and RPO and Payroll Services. The service is free for job seekers; employers pay a success fee only when their hire starts.

Harbor Recruitment is headquartered at 345 California St, San Francisco, CA 94104, with branch offices in Austin, New York, Toronto, and Vancouver. The agency places talent in all 50 US states and every Canadian province, and remote roles are flagged Remote–US or Remote–Canada on every posting.

Harbor Recruitment recruits across ten practice areas: Technology & IT, Finance & Accounting, Healthcare, Engineering & Manufacturing, Sales & Marketing, Administrative & Office Support, Legal, Skilled Trades & Industrial, Creative & Digital, and Human Resources. Roles range from help desk to principal engineer, staff accountant to CFO, and certified tradespeople to HR leaders — on-site, hybrid, or fully remote.

For most professional roles, Harbor Recruitment presents a shortlist of vetted candidates within 3–5 business days of kickoff. Most direct-hire searches close within 3–6 weeks from kickoff. Your account manager commits to a shortlist date at kickoff and reports progress against it.

Three checks: real Harbor Recruitment recruiters email only from the @harborrecruitment.com domain; you can call the main line at +1 (530) 423-3091 and ask to be connected to the recruiter by name; and Harbor Recruitment will never ask you for payment, gift cards, banking details, or to cash a check. If any one of those checks fails, it isn't Harbor — report it to fraud@harborrecruitment.com.

Direct hire is success-based: you pay a percentage of first-year base salary (typically 20–30% in the North American market), invoiced only when your hire starts, and backed by our 90-day replacement guarantee. Executive search is retained, usually 25–35% of first-year compensation with an engagement fee. Contract staffing is one all-in hourly bill rate covering the contractor's pay, payroll taxes, workers' comp, and insurance. Contract-to-hire conversions use a declining fee schedule.

For most professional roles, expect a shortlist of vetted candidates in 3–5 business days. Contract roles often move faster — sometimes within 48 hours. Executive searches run deeper on research and typically present a full slate within a few weeks. Your account manager commits to a date at kickoff and reports progress against it.

Contract-to-hire (sometimes called temp-to-hire) starts with your contractor on Harbor's payroll. When you're ready to bring them on permanently — most clients decide within 3–6 months — you convert them to your payroll and pay a conversion fee that declines the longer the contract has run. After a threshold number of hours, many conversions are free. The exact schedule is in your agreement before anyone starts.

Every direct hire carries a 90-day replacement guarantee: if the hire leaves or doesn't work out within the first 90 days, we rerun the search at no additional fee. It's our standard term because we'd rather stand behind the match than argue about it.