Frequently asked questions
About Sustainability Recruiter
Who we are, who we work with, and where we recruit.
Who do we work with?
- Impact-driven organisations across Europe whose core business contributes to a more sustainable economy. Ranging from cleantech and circular economy to energy transition, food & agriculture, and ESG & carbon accounting.
How are we different from a traditional recruitment agency?
- Most agencies are done when the contract is signed. For us, that's where it starts. We work with the same organisations for years, so we know what makes people stay: the culture, the team, the way the work really gets done. That's why we measure success by who is still with you a year later.
Which markets do you cover?
- We are based in the Netherlands and recruit across Europe, with the most depth in Amsterdam, London, Berlin, and Paris.
Can you recruit for several locations at once?
- Yes. One partnership covers every market you hire in: searches run in parallel, under a single agreement, at one price per vacancy. No need for a separate agency in each country.
Working together
Who can become a client, how a search runs, and what is guaranteed.
What does the first month look like?
- Research first, then recruit. We start by getting to know your organisation, its mission, strategy, and culture, and go deep on the role and the market: who we're looking for and where they are. Only then does the search begin.
How long does it take to fill a role?
- Usually within 60 days. Three things drive that number: the package and conditions you put on the table, how rare the profile is in your market, and how quickly your team is available to interview candidates. Our delivery guarantee caps it at 100 days: beyond that, the search is free.
How do you find candidates?
- We go out and find them. Instead of waiting for applications, we source on LinkedIn and within sustainability and impact communities, and reach out personally, often with a short video message. That gets a much better response from people who aren't actively looking. Everyone is screened on skills, mission and culture fit before they reach you.
What happens if a vacancy stays open more than 100 days?
- Then it's on us. You don't pay for the search, the vacancy returns to your partnership unused so you keep the full number you signed up for, and we keep going until someone signs.
What if a placed candidate doesn't work out?
- Every hire is covered for a full year: if someone leaves within twelve months, we find a replacement at no extra cost.
Can we cancel if no candidates are presented?
- Yes, for new clients: if no candidate has been proposed in the first 6 weeks of the partnership, our opt-out guarantee lets you stop and get back everything you've paid so far, in full, not pro-rata.
How do you handle our data and candidate privacy?
- In line with the GDPR. Candidate details reach you only once that candidate has agreed to be put forward, your own information is used for the partnership and nothing else, and we keep records no longer than we need them.
Choosing a solution
Which of the three ways of working fits, and how they compare to the alternatives.
Which solution is right for us?
- It depends on who owns hiring in your organisation today. If nobody does, a Partnership fits. If someone owns it but has no time to source and screen, a Fractional Recruiter fits. If people are hiring but the process itself is the problem, start with Hiring Process Optimisation. If you are unsure, a 30-minute call is usually enough to tell.
Do you work alongside our existing HR person?
- Yes. We fit around what you already have. If someone owns hiring but has no hours for sourcing and screening, we add capacity next to them. If nobody owns it, we take on the recruitment function completely. Which of the two it should be is usually clear after one call.
Can you take on just sourcing or screening?
- Yes, that is what a Fractional Recruiter is for: dedicated recruitment capacity for as many hours a week as you need, on the parts you want covered. Sourcing until you have interview-ready candidates, screening, first-round interviews when volume spikes, or building a talent pool for a role that keeps coming back.
What does working as an embedded partner mean in practice?
- In a Partnership, we become ambassadors of your organisation. We use your company email address, tell your story and represent you directly to candidates. To them, we are simply part of your team. That removes the layer an agency normally adds between your employer brand and the people you want to reach.
Pricing and terms
What a partnership costs, what it includes, and the rules it runs on.
What's included in the price per vacancy?
- The full recruitment process for every vacancy in your partnership: intake and assignment confirmation, sourcing through sustainability and impact networks, structured vetting, candidate presentation, and support through interviews and offer. All three guarantees are included.
Does seniority or salary level change the price?
- No. The price per vacancy is the same whatever the role pays. A finance manager on EUR 55,000 and a senior specialist on EUR 95,000 cost you exactly the same. That is the point of an all-in price: unlike an agency percentage, it does not rise with the candidate's salary.
Are your prices excluding VAT?
- Yes. Every price on this site is excluding VAT.
Do you work on retainer or contingency?
- Neither. There is no fee per placement and no hourly billing. You agree a number of vacancies for the year at a fixed price per vacancy, known before the search starts and paid in instalments across the twelve months. What you pay does not move with the candidate's salary or with how long the search takes.
Can we buy extra vacancies during the year?
- Yes, at the same price per vacancy as the rest of your partnership. If your hiring has structurally grown, you move up a tier at renewal instead.
What happens to vacancies we don't use?
- They stay available for the full 12-month term.
What if we find someone ourselves while the search is running?
- Then you have an extra candidate, which is good news. Our advice is to let them go through the same steps as everyone else. That way you judge every candidate on the same criteria and make your choice with confidence.
Why is a fixed price per vacancy cheaper than a traditional agency?
- A traditional agency typically charges 20 to 25% of a candidate's first-year salary per hire. For 8 vacancies at an average salary of EUR 55,000, that's roughly EUR 99,000. We cover the same 8 vacancies for a fixed EUR 60,000.
The cost of hiring
What hiring costs today, and how those numbers are worked out.
What does a hire typically cost?
- For a company hiring 8 people a year at an average salary of EUR 55,000, a 20% agency fee works out at EUR 11,000 per hire. A Partnership at that volume is EUR 7,500 per hire, all-in. Below that sits everything you already pay for job boards, software, and your own team's time, which is why most companies land higher than they expect.
Is a recruiter on the payroll cheaper?
- It depends on your volume. Below roughly 16 hires a year a full-time recruiter is rarely busy enough to pay for itself, because the salary runs whether you are hiring or not. Above that, an in-house recruiter starts to make sense. In between, a Partnership gives you agency reach at close to in-house cost.
Sectors and scope
The kinds of organisations we recruit for, and the roles we fill.
Does Sustainability Recruiter only work with climate-tech companies?
- No. We work with sustainable and impact-driven organisations across a broad range of sectors, from cleantech and circular economy to energy transition, food & agriculture, and ESG & carbon accounting. These are examples, not an exhaustive list. If your organisation is building a more sustainable economy, we're likely a fit.
Do the roles you fill need to be sustainability-related themselves?
- No. The role itself doesn't need to touch sustainability. What matters is that the employer is a sustainable or impact-driven organisation.
What roles do you place?
- Any role, across Sales & Commercial, Marketing & Communications, Finance & Operations, HR & People, Supply Chain & Logistics, Product & Engineering, and Sustainability & ESG. The role itself doesn't need to be sustainability-related; the employer does.
For candidates
Joining the talent network, and what happens after you do.
Do I need sustainability experience to join?
- No. Many of the people we place come from other industries. They bring their finance, marketing, HR or sales expertise into a sustainability-driven organisation. What counts is that you want to work somewhere with a mission, not where you worked before.
How does joining the talent network work?
- Send us your CV and a short note on what you're looking for. We won't put you forward for anything without a conversation first. When a role at one of our clients matches your profile and values, we'll reach out.
What if there's no open role that matches me right now?
- That's the point of a network rather than a single job board. We keep candidate profiles warm for recurring roles across our client base, so a match can come from a vacancy that opens after you join, not only from a vacancy that's live today.
Ready to build a high performing team?
We're the recruitment partner for start-ups and scale-ups driving the sustainable transition. Share your plans and the roles behind them, and we'll take it from there. Book a free 30-minute introduction call.