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Cherrypicker

The recruiting agency alternative

Hire talent without placement fees.

Cherrypicker does everything a recruiting agency would do to attract high performing talent to your organization but without the additional overhead. We leverage our network to find the people who are not applying anywhere, get them interested in your role, and deliver them to your inbox. You choose who you want to interview and hire without worrying about the burden of a placement fee at the end.

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Free to join. Pay-As-You-Go when you are ready to recruit.

Hiring through an agency is not a scalable recruiting solution.

A staffing or recruiting agency typically charges 20% to 30% of first-year salary, due when your candidate accepts and meets the typical guaranteed period of 90 days. On a $100,000 hire that is $20,000 to $30,000 of additional overhead that can be used for a higher value initiative.

The placement fee is not the only drawback. You never see the full list of people the agency contacted, so you cannot tell whether the shortlist is the best of the market or the best of what they had spare. Their recruiters carry other clients, and the strongest candidate on their bench goes to whoever is paying most or shouting loudest. And because they are paid on commission, their incentive is a hire, not always the right hire.

Compare recruiting methods

How Cherrypicker compares to recruiting agencies.

Cherrypicker reaches candidates a job ad never will, without the placement fee an agency charges when you hire.

Cost to fill one role

Cherrypicker
About $1,500 per hireOr about $2,500 if our sourcing team helps build your target candidate list. No placement fee is due when you hire candidates from Cherrypicker.
Staffing agency
$25,000+ per hire20% to 30% of first-year salary. On a $100,000 hire that is $20,000 to $30,000, due when the candidate accepts.
Job ads & resume databases
$500+ per job adPostings and database subscriptions cost the same whether or not they produce a hire.

Time to first signal

Cherrypicker
Within 48 hoursReplies from interested and not-interested candidates alike. A full campaign runs about 7 days.
Staffing agency
Their timelineYou wait on their search and their shortlist.
Job ads & resume databases
ImmediateBut only from the people already looking.

Who you reach

Cherrypicker
People not applying anywhereWe specialize in attracting off-market talent who don't have the time to apply to job ads. They rely on their network to present opportunities that are relevant for them.
Staffing agency
Their benchThe agency's own network, which you do not get to see. Agency recruiters can save their best people for other clients.
Job ads & resume databases
Active seekers onlyWhoever finds the posting and applies. Your reach is limited to people browsing in that moment, and AI application tools have made application volume a weaker signal of fit than it used to be.

More than 10x the cost, for the same hire.

Cherrypicker
About $1,500per hire
Staffing agency
$25,000+per hire

Based on a $100,000 hire, where a staffing agency charging 20% to 30% bills $20,000 to $30,000 on acceptance. Cherrypicker charges no placement fee.

Estimate your savings

What replaces the agency

The same outbound motion, run on your behalf, with you in control of every hiring decision.

  1. 1

    You give us the role

    Upload a job description or describe what you need. Compensation, location, the context that matters. No intake call with an account manager who then briefs someone else.

  2. 2

    The target list gets built

    Search the Cherrypicker talent network, use AI sourcing, upload a list you already have, or have our team build one for you. You see the list. An agency never shows you theirs.

  3. 3

    We run the outbound campaign

    Contact data gets verified, messaging gets personalized, and outreach goes out from our own sending infrastructure so your company email domain stays protected.

  4. 4

    Interested candidates land in your inbox

    You interview, you decide, you make the offer. Nobody negotiates on your behalf and no fee is triggered when the candidate accepts.

Roles we recruit for

Cherrypicker specializes in recruiting and filling corporate roles. Our team has over 13 years of recruiting agency and internal recruiting experience before building the Cherrypicker platform, which is why our personalized outreach reads like an experienced recruiter wrote it rather than an AI tool.

  • Accounting
  • Finance
  • Tax
  • Financial services
  • Real estate
  • Legal
  • Human resources
  • Operations
  • Office support

How do I get started?

Creating a company account is free. You only need to purchase Cherrypicker credits when you are ready to recruit candidates. Credit packages start at $1,500 for 300, one credit recruits one candidate, and a typical role fills within about 300 candidates. Credits are valid for 12 months and can be shared across your whole team.

If you would rather our dedicated sourcing team build the target candidate list for you, you can add on sourcing support for $1,000 per role, so roughly $2,500 to fill a role end to end. Compared against $20,000 to $30,000 in agency fees for the same $100,000 hire, and with no fee due when the candidate accepts.

See full pricingEstimate your savings

What an outbound Cherrypicker campaign looks like

Historical figures from our real recruiting campaigns.

Candidates per campaign300
The average number of candidates it takes to fill a job.
Reply rate5-30%
The range we have seen on all campaigns.
Fill rate95%
The percentage of roles we have filled on Cherrypicker.

Campaign performance varies by role, compensation, location, employer brand, and candidate supply. These figures describe what we have seen historically and are not a guarantee of results for any particular search.

Questions teams ask before switching

How is Cherrypicker different from a recruiting agency?
Cherrypicker believes in transparency in the recruiting process while keeping you in control. Candidates respond directly to your team, you run the interviews and you make the offer. You also see the full list of people we contacted rather than the shortlist an agency chooses to show you. Cherrypicker only charges to run the campaign, not when you hire.
Do you charge a placement fee when we hire someone?
No. There is no placement fee or success fee when you hire candidates from the Cherrypicker platform. Instead of paying a traditional recruiting agency which charges a 20% to 30% placement fee, or $20,000 to $30,000 on a $100,000 hire, your team can use the savings to make more competitive offers to prospective candidates.
What does it cost to fill a role?
Credit packages start at $1,500 for 300 credits. One credit recruits one candidate and a typical role fills within about 300 candidates, so roughly $1,500 per role. Need help sourcing? Our sourcing team can build the target candidate list as an optional add on for $1,000 per role. There is no monthly subscription, and credits stay valid for 12 months across every role your team is hiring for.
What kinds of roles do you recruit for?
Corporate roles across accounting, finance, tax, financial services, real estate, legal, human resources, operations and office support. That spans individual contributor searches through to senior management hires such as controllers, directors and senior managers.
Is Cherrypicker a recruiting process outsourcing (RPO) firm?
Not in the traditional sense. A typical RPO takes over part of your recruiting function on a monthly retainer and runs it with their own team, frequently delivered offshore. Cherrypicker is a platform, so your recruiting function remains in-house and we add the additional recruiting muscle on top of it. If you would rather have the work done for you, our US-based sourcing team can build the target candidate list and run the campaign, which covers the same ground an RPO would on sourcing and outreach, with no retainer and no placement fee.
Will Cherrypicker replace my internal recruiting team?
No, and it is not built to. Cherrypicker gives your team more recruiting capacity by running outbound campaigns on your behalf, which frees them for high value work such as employer branding, improving the candidate experience and closing offers. Your team remains in control of the entire hiring process.
What happens if we do not hire anyone from the campaign?
Cherrypicker credits are used to cover the costs around recruiting the highest quality candidates on the market. Credits are valid for 12 months and can be shared across your team to use on any role they are working on. If we cannot enrich a candidate profile we refund that credit in full, and if we cannot find verified contact data we refund half a credit for that candidate.
Who writes the outreach, and will candidates know it is automated?
Messaging is personalized to each candidate and to your role, written to read like a recruiter reaching out rather than a bulk send. Our team has over 13 years of recruiting agency and internal recruiting experience, and that is what our outreach strategy is modeled on. Campaigns also send from our own infrastructure rather than your company’s primary corporate email domain, which preserves your domain reputation for correspondence with engaged candidates.
How quickly do candidates start replying?
Replies typically begin arriving within about 48 hours of a campaign going live, from interested and not interested candidates alike. A full campaign runs about 7 days.
Is our hiring activity private?
Yes. Your campaigns, candidate lists and notes are private to your organization account, and other companies cannot see your hiring activity. Data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and we do not sell hiring data or candidate profiles for advertising, data brokerage, or other unrelated commercial purposes.

More detail in the full FAQ, weigh up all of your options side by side, or read outbound recruiting as a service vs staffing agencies and the true cost of recruiting.

Ready to test out Cherrypicker?

Request a demo and we will scope out a campaign strategy for your open role.

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