Twenty-four months. Every hire, guaranteed.

What happens if we sign an SOW and our hiring needs change before the hire is made?

Either party can cancel the search engagement with 30 days’ written notice. Payments for the months we’ve worked aren’t refunded, but you have no further obligation. We don’t auto-cancel; the call is yours.

What if the hire leaves but the role is also being eliminated — does the guarantee still apply?

The guarantee covers placement failures, not business changes. If the role is being eliminated as part of a layoff or restructuring, the placement didn’t fail — the position ended. In that case the guarantee doesn’t trigger, and the engagement closes at the next monthly cycle. If the hire leaves on their own and the role is then eliminated, the guarantee still applies up to that point, but we don’t replace into a position that no longer exists.

How is this different from a 12-month guarantee from a retained search firm?

A 12-month guarantee covers the first year. Ours covers the second year too, which is when senior placements that don’t work out tend to surface. The structural difference is in the payment as well: retained search firms typically charge 30% of first-year compensation in three installments — engagement, slate, placement — paid in full before the hire has done a day of work. We spread the cost alongside the hire’s contribution period.

What happens if we don’t hire any of the candidates Venn delivers?

A vetted slate of qualifying candidates lands within roughly 90 days of SOW signing. If the right hire hasn’t emerged in that window, you can cancel the search with 30 days’ notice — payments for the months we’ve worked aren’t refunded, but you have no further obligation. The buyer decides whether the slate has produced a viable candidate or not.

Do you work with our in-house recruiter, or replace them?

We work with them — every time. The strongest engagements we run are the ones where the in-house recruiter is in the loop on calibration, slate review, and final interview design. They know the company, the hiring manager, and the team better than any external partner can. Our job is to extend their capacity, not to step in front of them. If you don’t have an in-house recruiter, we adjust accordingly.

Do you require exclusivity? Can we run our own search in parallel?

No exclusivity required. You can run your own search, work with another firm, or rely on referrals — it doesn’t affect our engagement or the guarantee. The one limit: if you hire a candidate we introduced you to without going through our process, our anti-circumvention clause applies (25% of the hire’s first-year base salary). Hires through your own channels, including candidates we never sourced, are unaffected. We expect to earn the placement on the merits of the slate, not on contractual lock-in.

What’s the typical timeline from SOW signing to first hire?

A vetted slate within roughly 90 days; hire start times vary by role and market. Senior or specialized searches sometimes run the full 90-day window; more common roles often produce a viable hire faster — three to six weeks isn’t unusual when the brief is clean and the hiring manager moves quickly. The 90 days is the outer bound, not the target.

What’s the catch?

There isn’t a catch — but there are real constraints worth naming. The engagement is per filled hire, not unlimited. Tier classification follows the hire’s actual base salary at start. Role elimination is the one carve-out from the guarantee. If any of those would be deal-breakers, better to know up front.

What’s our commitment once the hire starts?

Once the hire’s first day arrives, the 24-month clock begins for both sides. You commit to the monthly rate for the full 24 months; we commit to replacing the hire at no additional cost if they leave.