Staffing service
Direct Hire Recruiting for US & Canadian Employers
Permanent employees, recruited and vetted for you — you pay only when your hire starts.
Overview
What is Direct Hire?
Direct Hire is one of 6 staffing services Harbor Recruitment offers employers in the United States and Canada.
Full-cycle recruiting for permanent, salaried roles. We source, screen, interview, and reference-check; you meet a shortlist, not a stack of resumes. The hire joins your payroll from day one.
When to use Direct Hire
Core roles you need to own long-term — managers, engineers, accountants, sales leaders — where fit matters as much as skills.
What you get
- A dedicated recruiter for your search
- Shortlist of 3–5 vetted candidates in 3–5 business days
- Interview scheduling, reference checks, and offer support
- 90-day replacement guarantee
Typical timeline
Most direct-hire searches close within 3–6 weeks from kickoff.
How pricing works
You pay nothing to open a search and nothing while it runs. Our fee is a percentage of first-year base salary — typically 20–30% in the North American market — and it's invoiced only when your hire actually starts. Every direct hire is backed by our 90-day replacement guarantee: if the hire leaves or doesn't work out in that window, we rerun the search at no additional fee. We'd rather stand behind the match than argue about it.
Every engagement is quoted in writing before anyone starts work.
Get an exact quoteHow it works
From kickoff to day one
Four steps, one account manager, and a search that stays on course from the first call to the first follow-up.
Tell us who you need
A focused intake call covers the role, the team, the pay range, and what success looks like. You leave with a named account manager and a committed shortlist date.
Shortlist in 3–5 business days
You meet a handful of vetted candidates — interviewed, reference-checked, and genuinely interested — instead of a stack of resumes to sort yourself.
Interviews & assessments
We schedule every round, run any skills assessments you want, and debrief both sides within a business day so momentum never stalls.
Offer, onboarding & follow-up
We help you shape an offer that lands, manage the notice period, and stay close through onboarding — with scheduled check-ins across the first 90 days.
Practice areas
Practice areas we staff
Direct Hire is available in every one of our ten practice areas, each run by recruiters who work that market every day.
Related services
Other ways to engage Harbor
Most clients mix models over time — a contract backfill today, a retained search next quarter. The same account manager runs all of it.
- Contract & Temporary StaffingSkilled contractors on our payroll, on your team — one all-in hourly bill rate.Contract & Temporary Staffing details
- Contract-to-HireTry before you hire — evaluate on the job, convert when you're sure.Contract-to-Hire details
- Executive SearchRetained, confidential searches for the leaders who change your trajectory.Executive Search details
- High-Volume Workforce ProgramsRamp a facility or a season — dozens to hundreds of workers, one accountable partner.High-Volume Workforce Programs details
- RPO & Payroll ServicesYour recruiting engine or your payroll of record — run by Harbor, branded as you.RPO & Payroll Services details
Client stories
What employers say
Fill rates and retention numbers matter — but so does what it's like to work with us.
“Harbor filled nine engineering roles for us across Austin and New York last year. The shortlists arrive inside a week and the quality is consistent — our 12-month retention on their hires is the best of any agency we use.”
Rachel KimVP People, Northwind Software “They staffed our Calgary plant expansion — engineers and skilled trades — while we stayed focused on the launch. One bill rate, no compliance surprises, and their coordinator handled every start date.”
Tom VandermeerOperations Director, Ironline Manufacturing “The confidential search for our operations lead was handled with total discretion. Three finalists in five weeks, all strong enough to hire. We signed the retainer for our next search the same month.”
Alexis MoreauManaging Partner, Beacon Ridge Legal
Start a Direct Hire engagement
Tell us who you need. You'll leave the intake call with a named account manager and a committed shortlist date — vetted candidates in 3–5 business days.