Here's who pays me and how much, because it explains everything else on this page.

The employer pays, never you — Somewhere between 15% and 25% of the first year's salary, invoiced when you start. You are never charged for anything, and anybody asking a candidate for a fee is not a recruiter
So I'm paid more when you're paid more — Genuinely aligned, and worth knowing when I push back on a low offer. It also means my advice in a salary conversation is not neutral, so weigh it accordingly
And nothing at all if you stay where you are — Not aligned, and it's the incentive behind every recruiter who told somebody a move was right when it wasn't. All I can do is tell you it's there
There's a rebate period — If somebody leaves inside three to six months, part of the fee goes back. It's the contractual reason I'd rather you didn't take a job you'll hate — not generosity, just arithmetic that happens to point the right way
I'm not paid for sending CVs — Volume earns nothing. That is the one structural reason to believe the next section rather than take it on faith
Retained, exclusive or contingent — Say which, plainly, for each role. It decides how much of a company's process you actually control, and candidates are entitled to know which kind of introduction they're getting

It goes nowhere until you name the company — Every time, per company, in writing. Not "a few places I think would suit" — an actual name, and a yes from you before anything is sent
Why that matters more than it sounds — A CV arriving twice from two agencies gets dropped by a lot of employers. One unauthorised send can cost you a job you'd have walked into by applying yourself
It goes as you wrote it — Nothing reformatted into an agency template with a logo on top. That habit exists to make the agency visible, not to make you readable
How long it's kept — Two years from our last conversation, then deleted. Ask sooner and it's done that week with a confirmation — no reason needed and no attempt to talk you out of it
Who else can see it here — Put the honest answer here, including whether colleagues can search the database. Candidates routinely assume the answer is nobody, and it usually isn't
The notes I keep — About roles, salaries and what you're looking for. Never about how somebody came across, and you can ask to see them

I won't ring your work number — Or your desk, or reception, or a colleague. Text or email, and calls only at a time you chose
I won't claim a role I don't have — "I've got something perfect for you", followed by questions about your current employer's team structure, is a market-mapping call in a costume
I won't ask who else is interviewing you — It helps me and can only hurt you. Where a competing offer's timing genuinely matters, I'll ask about the timing and nothing else
I won't send you somewhere you could apply directly — Without telling you first. Some companies pay nothing on a candidate who came direct, and that saving is yours to give away rather than mine
I won't chase a job you've turned down — Once, to check I understood. A second time is pressure, and it doesn't work on anybody worth placing
I won't repeat what you told me privately — Including why you're leaving. Say it stays between us and it does, and that includes not hinting at it

Why the role is open — A growth hire, a replacement, or the third person in two years. The third one is worth knowing before you resign from anything
What happened to the last person — Where I know, you're told. Where I don't, I'll say I don't rather than produce something reassuring
What the band really is — Including where in it they have actually paid people, which is frequently not the top of it
What the manager is like to work for — From people placed there before. It's the single most useful thing an agency accumulates and most of them never pass any of it on
How long they really take — Companies describe a two-week process and run a six-week one. You get the observed number rather than the advertised one
When I think you shouldn't take it — It has happened and it will again. A placement that ends in four months costs me the fee under the rebate anyway, so the honest version is also the profitable one

When you can just apply — If the role is on their careers page and you have no inside track, apply. The company pays less, it usually moves faster, and there is one fewer party between you and a decision
When you're not really looking — A speculative conversation costs an afternoon and a bit of hope. No harm in it — just don't let anybody turn it into momentum you didn't ask for
When it's a field I don't cover — Ask anyway. Where I know somebody decent in it you'll get a name, with no arrangement behind it and no fee coming back to me
When you already know somebody there — An internal referral beats an agency introduction almost every time, and it pays your friend a bonus rather than paying me a fee
When the company is small — Under about twenty people, founders hire through their own network and an agency fee is a genuine obstacle to your application rather than a neutral cost
When you've been burned before — Say so on the first call. It changes nothing about what I'd do and it usually explains which parts of this page you'll want in writing