Hiring is hard.
Scaling is harder.

We don’t just fill roles. We build relationships. We partner deeply with founders, embedding in your team to make the high-stakes hires that define your next stage, and the ones after that.

We’ll become your embedded talent team.

Great hiring starts with trust, built through consistent presence, strategic partnership, and time. We embed ourselves as a trusted confidant to founders and hiring teams, offering insight, honest feedback, and long-term thinking without competing priorities. Along the way, we build the infrastructure, playbooks, and systems that enable scalable, high-quality hiring beyond our direct involvement. As the partnership deepens, we become faster and more precise, quickly identifying standout talent and delivering stronger results with every hire.

How We Work

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  • KICKOFF & ALIGNMENT

    We begin with a detailed kickoff to understand the role, team dynamics, and success criteria. Together, we align on experience, skills, interview process, and flexibility, ensuring we’re searching for the right candidate, not just the obvious one.

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    We start by diving deep into your business, team, and goals. We clarify role requirements, expectations, and success metrics while aligning on timelines and priorities. This ensures everyone is on the same page and sets the foundation for a seamless search.

  • PROJECT MANGEMENT

    We operate like we are part of your team, because we basically are, acting as your company project managers. Our clients receive curated candidate profiles with clear summaries and context - not just resumes. We manage interview coordination, feedback, and communication, keeping momentum high and expectations aligned on both sides.

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    Your search is handled like a well-run project. We manage tasks, timelines, and communications so nothing slips through the cracks. Weekly updates keep you informed with clear data, progress, and any challenges we’re facing, so you can plan confidently.

  • RUBRIC & SAMPLE CANDIDATES

    Every candidate is evaluated using a structured rubric tailored to the role. Our screening conversations balance skills and experience, career trajectory and motivations, culture add and leadership potential, and logistics like location, compensation, and timing. This structured approach helps reduce bias and leads to clearer, more confident decisions.

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    Before sourcing begins, we develop a tailored candidate rubric aligned to your culture, skills, and growth needs. We provide sample profiles for feedback, ensuring we’re hitting the mark on quality before the search ramps up.

  • ATS TRANSPARENCY

    We use modern recruiting systems to ensure visibility, consistency, and accountability throughout every search. This allows us to track progress and timelines in real time, share candidate information and feedback seamlessly, and measure outcomes like time-to-hire and role success. Our clients have full access and always know where a search stands and what’s coming next.

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    We operate transparently within your applicant tracking system (ATS) or ours. Every candidate's status, note, and communication is visible in real-time, so you always know what’s happening and can make informed decisions quickly.

  • OWNING THE SEARCH

    Our clients receive curated candidate profiles with clear summaries and context, not just resumes. We manage interview coordination, feedback, and communication, keeping momentum high and expectations aligned on both sides.

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    We don’t just source resumes, we own the end-to-end search. From outreach and engagement to skill validation and cultural assessment, we actively advocate for your roles while keeping you in the loop every step of the way.

  • CLOSING & FOLLOW THROUGH

    When a client is ready to move forward, we provide comprehensive support across references, due diligence, offer strategy, and negotiation. We also guide candidate decision-making to ensure alignment, clarity, and confidence throughout the final stages of the process.

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    Our partnership extends through offer negotiation, candidate onboarding, and post-hire check-ins. We provide guidance on market benchmarks, facilitate smooth transitions, and ensure both your teams and new hires are set up for long-term success!

We’re constantly texting you screenshots of green flags and red flags in real-time. No waiting for weekly updates.

Pricing Models

Contingency

  • We learn your role and company, sourcing and submitting + supporting aligned candidates through your process. No commitment or upfront cost.

  • You’re new to HigherPeople and want to test us out. You’re unwilling to commit any investment until you see results. Best for teams who are able to commit to managing other portions of their candidate funnel (applications, referrals).

    First time clients usually start here before shifting to retained/embedded models.

  • 25% of placement’s annual compensation due only upon successful placement (90 day guarantee).

Retained

  • A true partnership model. We’re mutually committing to make this hire together, operating as one team across the full candidate pipeline (applications, sourced talent, referrals, and more). We fully own the search process so you can stay focused on building.

  • You’re ready to commit to making this hire with us as a partner, letting us own all of the candidate pipelines while you focus on building.

    First + second time clients, as well as folks with one-off senior hires usually choose this option.

  • 20% of placement’s annual compensation due only upon successful placement (90 day guarantee). Payment committed upon fill, regardless of candidate source.

embedded

  • We’re your embedded talent partner, growing with you as you scale. Turn us on/off, up/down as you need to expand your hiring capacity. We run each search end to end.

    Avg. time to fill roles with our embedded partners is 6 weeks.

  • If you have multiple concurrent hiring needs, embedded is the cost efficient way to scale up without breaking the bank.

    Most clients transition to this model after their 2nd or 3rd hire with us.

  • Pricing is calculated based on monthly commitment and volume of roles being worked concurrently.

    Contact us to learn what might best serve your needs.

  • "Katy is an A+ recruiter. Found high quality candidates in an accelerated timeframe. She works hard to align/understand needs and adjust based on feedback. Incredibly responsive and engaged."

    —Carlos Perez, CRO at Concept3D (Seed, 27 hires to date)

  • "HigherPeople made hiring a breeze! We needed a UX designer with highly specific industry experience, and they delivered a pool of excellent candidates. The process was smooth, efficient, and exceeded our expectations. Highly recommend."

    —Alex Hollis, Founder at NurseHub (Series A, 11 hires together)

  • "While there are many candidates that have the skills to fill a role, HigherPeople helps us find the "right fit" by screening for mission alignment and culture."

    —Jess Heinzelman, Co-Founder & COO at Throne (Series B, 9 hires to date)

  • "These new hires have leveled up our organization and are why we were able to raise our next round of funding."

    —Fletcher Wilson, Co-Founder, CEO at Throne (Series B, 9 placements to date)

  • "The only recruiting agency you won't hate!"

    —Jacqueline Cheong, Co-Founder & CEO at Artie (Series A, 3 hires to date)

  • "My investors gave me the name of 3 recruiting firms, but I told them my first stop will always be HigherPeople to see if they have capacity first."

    —Torrey Leonard, Founder at Thoughtly (Seed, 2 hires to date)

We operate like we’re part of your team because we basically are.

When everything feels urgent to you, it feels urgent to us.

When you’re stressed about a hire, we’re stressed about it too. Other recruiters treat this like a transaction. We know that we all win when we’re building together.

Our proven hiring playbook + your unique needs = The HigherPeople Way

Let's Build Your Team