How to brief a recruiting agency: what to tell them when you hand over a role
On this page
- What should a brief to a recruiting agency include?
- The agency brief template
- How do you run the briefing call?
- Why should the agency get the pay range?
- What should you not tell a recruiting agency?
- One agency or several?
- What happens after the brief?
- Briefing mistakes that cost weeks
- Questions people ask
When you hand a role to a recruiting agency, tell them seven things in writing: what the hire must achieve in the first year, the three to five must-haves and the deal-breakers, the approved pay range and package, the interview steps with names and how fast you will give feedback, the honest selling points and drawbacks, what they may say publicly and what is confidential, and the terms (fee, exclusivity, how duplicate candidates are handled). Send that brief before a 30 to 45 minute briefing call, and end the call with the recruiter reading back what they will look for. The quality of the first submittals depends more on this hour than on which agency you picked.
Agencies have their own intake checklists, such as our client intake call agenda, and choosing the agency is covered in how to choose a recruiting agency. This page is the client's side: the brief you prepare and the call you run.
What should a brief to a recruiting agency include?
| Item | What to give the agency | What goes wrong without it |
|---|---|---|
| Why the role is open | New role, growth, backfill, or a changed role; any confidentiality | The recruiter cannot answer the candidate's first question |
| First-year outcomes | Two or three results the hire must deliver | Candidates are matched to the job title, not the work |
| Must-haves | Three to five, each stated as something a candidate has done | Every resume is "close" |
| Deal-breakers | What rules a candidate out, such as no license or unable to work nights | Interviews spent discovering a knock-out |
| Pay and package | The approved range, bonus, equity, benefits, and how firm the top of the range is | Candidates you cannot afford, or a role undersold |
| Location and schedule | Site, hybrid days, shifts, travel, relocation support | The most common late withdrawal |
| Interview process | Steps, interviewers, format, any test, and your feedback times | Candidates surprised mid-process; the agency cannot set expectations |
| Selling points and drawbacks | Why someone good would join, and what they will not like | A generic pitch, or a candidate who leaves in three months |
| What is confidential | Whether the company can be named, what can go in an ad | An ad that reveals a restructure |
| Terms | Fee basis, exclusivity, guarantee, and how duplicates are handled | Disputes after the hire |
The agency brief template
Fill it in before the call and send it to the recruiter at least a day ahead.
AGENCY BRIEF - [Role title] - [Company] - [date]
Hiring manager: [name, title] Agency contact: [name]
Search type: [contingency / retained / exclusive for __ weeks]
1. WHY THIS ROLE IS OPEN
[New role / backfill for someone leaving / growth / changed role]
Confidential? [Yes - do not name the company until ___ / No]
2. WHAT THE HIRE MUST ACHIEVE IN YEAR ONE
- [Outcome 1]
- [Outcome 2]
- [Outcome 3]
3. MUST-HAVES (a candidate must show all of these)
- [Has done ___]
- [ ]
- [ ]
NICE-TO-HAVES: [ ]
DEAL-BREAKERS: [e.g. no current ___ license; cannot work weekends]
4. PAY AND PACKAGE
Approved base range: [$___ to $___] (top is [firm / flexible for
an exceptional candidate, with approval from ___])
Bonus / commission: [ ] Equity: [ ] Benefits: [highlights]
Relocation: [ ]
5. LOCATION AND SCHEDULE
[Site address or region, hybrid days, shifts, travel]
6. INTERVIEW PROCESS
Step 1: [who, format, length]
Step 2: [ ]
Step 3: [ ]
Feedback from us: submittals within [__] business days, interviews
within [__] business days.
Target start date: [ ]
7. WHY SOMEONE GOOD WOULD JOIN
- [ ]
- [ ]
WHAT THEY MAY NOT LIKE (tell candidates early)
- [ ]
8. WHAT YOU MAY SAY PUBLICLY
Ads allowed: [yes / no / anonymous only]
Must appear in any ad: [pay range, location, ___]
Do not mention: [ ]
9. CANDIDATES WE ALREADY KNOW
[Applied directly, referred or in process - the agency should not
submit these: names or "we will tell you within one business day"]
10. TERMS
Fee: [__% of first-year base / as per agreement dated __]
Duplicates: [first dated submittal with the candidate's consent]
Guarantee: [ ]How do you run the briefing call?
With the written brief in hand, the call is for the parts writing does not carry: priorities, trade-offs and tone. A running order for 30 to 45 minutes:
- The story of the role (5 minutes). Why it is open and what changes when the right person arrives.
- Must-haves and trade-offs (10 to 15 minutes). For each must-have, say what you would accept instead if the market cannot supply it. This is the most useful thing the recruiter will hear.
- Pay (5 minutes). The range, how firm the top is, and who approves an exception.
- Process and feedback (5 minutes). Who interviews, and your commitment on feedback times.
- The pitch (5 minutes). What you would say to a strong candidate who is not looking.
- Read-back (5 minutes). Ask the recruiter to describe the candidate they will look for and the first places they will search. Correct anything that is off now, not after three submittals.
The agency will also ask its own questions; the intake meeting questions page lists the ones a good recruiter brings, so you can prepare answers.
Why should the agency get the pay range?
An agency without the range either spends your interview slots on candidates you cannot afford or undersells the role to people who would have moved for it. There is also a legal reason in some places. As of October 2026, New York's Labor Law section 194-b says no employer or employment agency shall advertise a job without disclosing the compensation or range, and Colorado's labor department says in its INFO #9A (last updated May 29, 2024) that its posting rules cover posts an employer makes or has another party make. Give the agency the range in writing and say what must appear in any ad. Pay transparency for staffing agencies covers the other states. This is not legal advice.
What should you not tell a recruiting agency?
- Preferences about protected characteristics. The EEOC's page on prohibited practices says it is illegal for an employer or an employment agency to take race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetic information into account in job referrals. "Someone young to fit the team" or "a man for the warehouse" is a request the agency should refuse, and one that puts you at risk too. Coded versions ("digital native", "recent graduate energy") carry the same risk.
- Business information the search does not need. Revenue figures, deal names, the reason a predecessor left. Give the agency what a candidate may hear.
- Internal candidates' details, beyond the names the agency must not approach.
- Other agencies' candidates. If a candidate is already in your process from another source, say so, but do not share their resume.
One agency or several?
If you brief more than one agency on the same role, brief them with the same document on the same day, and agree in writing how duplicates are handled before anyone submits. Several agencies calling the same small market can make a role look desperate, and duplicate submittals are the most common source of fee disputes; see candidate ownership disputes. For hard or confidential roles, one agency with a few weeks of exclusivity usually produces better candidates than three without it.
What happens after the brief?
- First submittals within about a week for most roles. Treat the first two or three as calibration: reply quickly with specific reasons, using how to review candidate submittals.
- A short check-in after the first interviews to confirm the must-haves held up.
- Feedback within the times you promised. The brief's feedback commitment is the part clients most often break; how to give feedback to recruiters has templates that make it quick.
- A written change note if any must-have, the range or the process changes, sent to every agency on the role.
Briefing mistakes that cost weeks
- Sending the job description and nothing else.
- Ten must-haves, so every submittal misses one.
- No pay range, or a range the approver has not signed off.
- Interviewers who were not told the role is with an agency and do not reply.
- Changing the brief after the first interviews without telling the agency.
Questions people ask
What should I tell a recruiting agency when I hand them a role?
Tell them what the person must achieve in the first year, the three to five must-haves and the deal-breakers, the approved pay range and package, the interview steps with names and how fast you will give feedback, honest selling points and drawbacks, what they may say publicly and what is confidential, and the commercial terms in writing, including how duplicate candidates are handled.
Should I give a recruiting agency the salary range?
Yes. An agency that does not know the approved range will either waste interviews on candidates you cannot afford or undersell the role. In some states the range is also legally required in job ads, and New York's pay transparency law applies to employment agencies as well as employers.
What should I not tell a recruiting agency?
Do not express preferences about age, sex, race, religion, national origin, disability or other protected characteristics, because the EEOC says it is illegal for employers and employment agencies to take them into account in job referrals. Also leave out confidential business information the search does not need, and internal candidates' names unless the agency must avoid approaching them.
How long should a briefing call with a recruiting agency take?
Thirty to forty-five minutes is usually enough if you send the written brief first. Spend the call on the must-haves, the pay range, the interview process and what makes the role hard to fill, and end with the recruiter reading back what they will look for.