We get a lot of roles that have been open for ages and worked on by other recruiters or "specialty firms."

We took on one of these roles recently for a client in Ohio. The position was for a Senior Level Purchasing Manager and the client had an extensive list of requirements. After being open for months and having two separate specialty firms try to fill it, Ashley Lambert was able to fill this position in 82 hours!

That one hire saved our client $26,800 when compared to a 25% placement fee the "specialty firm" wanted to charge.

Time and time again, our approach is able to save our clients money and run circles around other agencies.

If you're struggling with a particular position, I would welcome the chance to walk you through our approach and how it can impact your business.

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Do you struggle to find skilled trades workers?

Here are three recent examples from one client. All examples are compared to a 20% placement.

3rd shift Production Supervisor: It took OTHR 58 hours to fill this role at a cost of $5,800. That is a $11,600 cost savings!

Maintenance Supervisor: It took OTHR 72 hours to fill this role at a cost of $7,200. That is a $17,000 cost savings!

Maintenance Tech: It took OTHR 55 hours to fill this at a cost of $5,500. That is a cost savings of $14,500!

Overall, we saved this client $43,100 on these three roles. Skilled trades are tough, but that doesn't mean you should be paying a fortune to find the right candidate.

If you need help recruiting for production, skilled trades, or engineering at your manufacturing facility, we have an entire team dedicated to this area.

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The LEGACY staffing industry is going to HATE this post...

At the bottom of every initial Inmail I send to candidates, it states:

***We work directly with every Hiring Manager. I am happy to share the employer's contact info if you prefer to apply directly.

Candidates and Job Seekers:

If a recruiter contacted you and is not offering this, you should ask yourself:

1. What are they hiding and why don’t they trust me?

2. Is there really a relationship with the “client”?

3. Do I want to be represented by someone who has to hide information from me and their “client”?

Employers and Hiring Managers:

If you are working with an external recruiter and they are not offering this, you should ask yourself:

1. What else are they hiding from me and the candidates?

2. Should someone who doesn't trust us be representing our company?

3. How many candidates are we missing out on because our legacy staffing resource doesn't trust us and candidates don't trust them?

Not all candidates like working with external recruiters. However, there is an easy fix if you aren't in the Legacy Staffing Industry! Not only do I include the note about contacting employers directly, but I also include the name of the employer and the name of our main contact at that company or the Hiring Manager in every InMail I send. It's funny how when you share the company name and are transparent with candidates, they become much more willing to reply and communicate with you. There will always be a few who still want to apply directly and that accomplishes the goal of expanding the qualified candidate pool as much as possible.

I couldn't be more proud of the team after this one. We had a client come to us who had been looking to fill a role for nearly a year and on top of that had never worked with an agency previously to working with OTHR.

We had to find a senior electrical controls engineer with a PE and with a background in water & wastewater. These are incredibly tough roles to fill, but after some digging, we found the ideal candidate for them. In addition to finding them a great fit for their organization, we changed their perception of what it is like to work with a recruiting agency. It is now a relationship our organization will cherish for years to come.

The other big advantage to partnering with On The Hook versus a traditional agency is that we placed this candidate on our Fractional Recruiter Model. Their total cost to find this individual was $11,750. When compared to a traditional 25% placement fee, that is a $23,250 cost savings.

Each week, we help clients across the country on this innovative model. If you are looking for a more effective and cost-saving approach to recruiting, you need to learn more about On The Hook Recruiting's Hourly approach.

SINGLE client savings = $142,500.00

We successfully helped one of our clients hire 14 skilled positions across multiple departments; saving a total of $142,500.00 due to our Fractional Recruiter Model.

The 14 positions totaled roughly $1.24M in salaries and were tied to a major project with a short time frame.

Could your organization benefit from similar results and cost savings?

Our team is here to help with our Fractional Recruiter Model.

Positions we filled for this client include:

• Customer Service Coordinator (2)
• Regional Sales Manager (East Central)
• Regional Sales Manager (North East)
• Controls Engineering (2)
• Safety Controls Engineering
• Mechanical Design Engineer
• Electro-Mechanical Engineer
• Data Scientist
• Director of Advanced Manufacturing
• Business Systems Analyst
• IT Business Systems Analyst
• Director of IT

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In all the years I have been recruiting, I have yet to speak to a hiring manager that has NOT used a staffing company.

Yet, I rarely encounter a hiring manager who is thrilled with their partnership. I would say two out of 10 are happy. Most people I meet with call it a necessary evil....OUCH.

Why do clients feel this way? Most recruiting companies follow the same process. For example, how many times have you heard this? "I have the perfect candidate for your job opening." It is called skill market, candidate spotlight, candidate marketing, and the list goes on and on.

The reality is, they are shopping that candidate around to the highest bidder, or sometimes the candidate is not even in the market for a new role. Trust me, I have seen it. It is a terrible approach for the candidate and client.

So before you engage with the same old process, you really should speak with my team first. It is time for you to try a different approach. An approach where the candidates we source are exclusive to your organization, one where your meeting with your recruiter weekly, and most importantly, a process tailored to your organization.

Three reasons you should NEVER work with a recruiter or agency that hides employer information:

1. This means they don’t trust you. (candidate or employer)

2. This also means they don’t have a good relationship with the employer (their “client”).

3. You will have a HUGE extra price tag attached to you. (This is true working with any legacy staffing agency.)

At OTHR we work off of complete transparency and no HUGE placement fees. This creates more knowledgeable candidates and a larger candidate pool for our clients. If you haven’t experienced a true partnership-focused staffing vendor, our team is ready to surprise you!

(PS: We all know confidential searches need to be handled differently.)

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Should there be a limit to "remote work" expectations?

If you ask any candidate or employee, the vast majority will tell you their work can be done 100% remotely. After the last few years, I have been shocked by some of these "100% remote" requests, and here are a few examples:

Fixture Designer/Engineer: Several candidates told me they weren't interested unless this position was 100% remote. They expected the employer (manufacturing company) to constantly mail them components, parts, supplies, tools, etc., for them to work 100% from home. Then they would mail back the finished work. All of these candidates were located within a reasonable and commutable distance from the employer.

Resource Efficiency Manager: This search was identifying candidates to work on US Military Bases, doing energy efficiency analysis on all of the base buildings. This includes mechanical systems, electrical systems, utilities, windows, solar, etc. Many candidates were only interested if it was 100% remote.

Obviously, some of the work for both of these roles could be done remotely, like report writing, design work, etc. Beyond that, could anyone be successful in these positions by never stepping foot on company property or a client location?

In all the years I have been recruiting, I have yet to speak to a hiring manager who has NOT used a staffing company.

Yet, I rarely encounter a hiring manager who is thrilled with their partnership. I would say two out of 10 are happy. Most people I meet with call it a necessary evil....OUCH.

Why do clients feel this way? Most recruiting companies follow the same process. For example, how many times have you heard this? "I have the perfect candidate for your job opening." It is called skill market, candidate spotlight, candidate marketing, and the list goes on and on.

The reality is, they are shopping that candidate around to the highest bidder, or sometimes the candidate is not even in the market for a new role. Trust me, I have seen it. It is a terrible approach for the candidate and client.

So before you engage with the same old process, you really should speak with my team first. It is time for you to try a different approach. An approach where the candidates we source are exclusive to your organization, one where you're meeting with your recruiter weekly, and most importantly, a process tailored to your organization.

We have taken on some challenging projects at OTHR, but this may be the hardest one yet...

Senior Environmental Scientist: PFAS, PE License, Security Clearance, Serve as a technical advisor on environmental policies and standards, Ensure regulatory applicability to the Federal Government, etc... to name a few of the must-haves.

Before onboarding this client, they had tried several other "specialty" agencies with no luck.

Not only did we find them the candidate they were looking for, but we also saved them $27,000 with the OTHR Hourly Recruiting Model.

Most specialty firms will charge you 30% of the yearly salary for this skill set and require a portion to be paid upfront.

With our process, our client only paid 12% of the annual salary.

Hiring shouldn't cost a fortune.

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After seeing this EXACT SAME post by 23 different people on my feed, I had to say something...

This specific copy of the post is by a VP trying to say that bad performers should not be terminated.

Yes, you read that correctly.

He then assumes that if someone is terminated, they are shouted at, humiliated, and misunderstood.

Do you really want to live in a world where "terminating an employee due to performance" is shunned?

Do you really want to live in a world where a bad performer is blamed on "how YOU treated THEM", rather than how they broke your trust in doing the job they were hired to do?

Do you really want to live in a world where terminating a bad performer is somehow viewed as "costing them their dignity?

Personal responsibility goes a long way in how successful someone is in their career and life. I understand that success is measured in different ways, but performing poorly at work and then blaming it on anyone but yourself is not going to result in you becoming closer to whatever "success" means for you.

Staffing Agency Showdown: On The Hook vs. The Usual Suspects

Buckle up, because we’re about to take you on a rollercoaster ride through the highs and lows of traditional staffing vs. On The Hook Recruiting!

Legacy Staffing Agencies:

- Fee Frenzy: “Hey, we’ll take 20-30% of that first-year salary. No biggie!”

- One-Size-Fits-All: “You get what you get, and you don’t get upset. Next!”

- Minimal Effort: "Here are 10 resumes that all your competitors have seen and didn't want to hire. They are REALLY strong candidates!"

On The Hook Recruiting:

- Cost Model Magic: “Hey, we’re all about transparency! Pay an hourly rate and cap out at 12% of the first-year salary. Oh, and if we fill the position early, you only pay for the hours we worked. Easy peasy!”

- Personal Touch: “We get to know you, your team, and your culture. Then we find candidates who are basically the human version of your favorite coffee blend.”

- Data Ownership: "Your organization is the ONLY employer that will see your candidates from us. Now that's a partnership!"

Your challenge: Hiring in 2025 without ridiculous costs.

Your solution: A true partner, focused on your hiring goals and budget.

OTHR: 1 client, 4 positions filled, and $53,100.00 saved... so far!

One of our clients requested a cost analysis and I decided it was worth sharing to give Hiring Managers hope that another option exists.

Despite what you read on LinkedIn, hiring and recruiting in 2025 doesn't have to be challenging or expensive. Legacy recruiting firms LOVE to sell you that narrative so they can charge RIDICULOUS fees.

This is a cost analysis for one of the long-term projects we are currently working on. This employer is hiring PMs for environmental engineering-related work at several different locations. Based on the schedule, we have filled four positions and have two more left. Their savings will continue to increase drastically as we finish this project.

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A great example of how our Hourly Recruiting Model delivers value to our clients!

This may be the most powerful example of how our approach sets us apart. We took on a Tooling Design Engineer role back in October. This role had been open for two years! Internal recruiters had tried to tackle it and countless agencies took a stab at it. Our client had very specific requirements and they were happy holding out until they found it.

By December, we had an offer on the table for a candidate. Unfortunately, he turned it down. A few short weeks later, we had another candidate with an offer on the table. The best part for our client; they only spent $14,400 for us to find this individual. That is a $10,600 cost savings when compared to the competition's pricing. To say the team was excited would be an understatement. Rumor has it, they even brought in cake to celebrate!

The moral of the story, we are going to stick with you until the role is filled and we will do it at a price point that makes the relationship sustainable.

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