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Alternatives

Flat Fee Recruiter alternatives for UK employers

If you are weighing up Flat Fee Recruiter, their own site, read on 5 October 2026, describes three fixed-fee packages: advertising, managed support with CV shortlisting and phone screening, and proactive outreach. We sell the same two halves of the job, the advert and the search, and the thing worth comparing is what happens when a role is not filled. Our managed search, Guaranteed Hire, is priced by salary band and refunds 100% of the fee if we do not fill the role. Our advertising starts from £399 +VAT for a 28-day multi-board listing, with no commission when you hire.

What we checked, and when

Every claim on this page, with how we checked it

  • Their pricing page lists three packages: Express Advertising, Managed Support and Proactive Outreach.

    Their own pricing page, rendered in a headless browser from our own server and read as text. Checked 2026-10-05.

  • Managed Support adds CV shortlisting, phone screening with notes and interview scheduling. Proactive Outreach adds outreach through job-board databases and LinkedIn, plus talent mapping and insights.

    Their own pricing page, rendered in a headless browser from our own server and read as text. Checked 2026-10-05.

  • The page lists a professionally written advert, a careers page, an applicant tracking system with a branded application process, and dedicated support as standard in every package.

    Their own pricing page, rendered in a headless browser from our own server and read as text. Checked 2026-10-05.

What we could not verify

Their pricing page does not describe what happens if a role is not filled. That is not the same as saying they offer nothing, and we have not seen their terms, so ask them directly and get the answer in writing.

What it costs here

One flat fee per vacancy — never a percentage.

Every package is a 28-day listing on Indeed, Adzuna, Google for Jobs, LinkedIn, CV-Library, Totaljobs and Jobsite, plus over 100 micro and aggregator job sites. CV-Library is included on Premium and Premium Plus (posted for the client by our team).

Most popular

Premium Plus

£599 +VAT

per vacancy · 28-day listing

  • Everything in Premium
  • Dedicated account manager
  • Bespoke advert copywriting
  • Guaranteed shortlist
See your advert first →

Pay now →

Clients can draft their own adverts in the ATS, or our content writers write them. The ATS is free to use. Specialist account managers help give every advert the best chance of success. Most adverts are live the next working day after you approve the copy.

What happens if the role is not filled

The same word, five different terms

What comes back if the role is not filled, by the kind of term you are offered
TermWhat actually comes back
100% refund if the role is not filled (TalentFinder UK Guaranteed Hire)The whole fee
A partial refundA stated portion, often conditional on what you did
A free re-run of the searchThe work again, not the money
A support windowContinued effort for a period, no money back
An advertising-only package, from anyoneNothing: you bought the advert, not the outcome
One role, in full

Data Manager — 23 days, 26 candidates worked

Twenty-three days from brief to hire on a managed search, with the whole fee at stake if it had not been filled.

IT & technology · Remote — full-time
Time to fill23 days
Sourced & screened26
Internal interview4
Presented to client4
Client interview3
Hired1

That is a Guaranteed Hire placement — our managed service, bought and priced separately from advertising, with its own terms. It is on this page because it is the honest shape of a hire: an advert puts a role in front of the market, and this is what working that market took. The full funnel and all 2 roles in this sector are on the it & technology case studies.

Where we are not the right answer

If you want to build up support a piece at a time, an advert now, shortlisting later and headhunting only if it comes to that, a tiered structure suits you and ours does not: we sell advertising, and a full managed search, with nothing in between. And if the advert alone will do the job, several providers sell one for less than we do.

We sell the two halves separately and price them separately, so you buy the one you actually need: advertising puts the role in front of the market for a flat fee per vacancy, with the advert written for you; Guaranteed Hire is a recruiter working the role until it is filled, a flat fee by salary band, with a 100% refund if it is not filled.

Fair questions

What is the difference between fixed-fee advertising and a fixed-fee managed search?

Advertising puts the role on the job boards and sends you the applications; reading them, ringing people and arranging interviews stays with you. A managed search means a recruiter does that work and hands you a shortlist. Across our own 46 published filled roles, a median of 26 candidates were worked for each hire.

What happens if the role is not filled?

On Guaranteed Hire, our managed search, you get 100% of the fee back. Our advertising packages are a different purchase: you are buying the advert, so there is no refund once it is live. Ask any provider the same question, because the word guarantee is used for very different terms.

How long does a managed search take?

The median role we filled took 42 days from instruction to the vacancy closing as filled, across the 46 roles we publish in full on our case studies page.

What does a refund-backed search cost?

A flat fee by salary band, agreed before the search starts and unchanged by the salary you end up agreeing: £1,500 to £4,000 +VAT. Roles above £80,000 go to a retained executive search at £6,000 +VAT.

Whoever you choose, ask what comes back if the role is not filled, and get the answer in writing before you pay anything up front.

Write the advert free → See the packages

Compiled by the TalentFinder UK research desk from our own filled-role records and named public sources. About TalentFinder UK · Question about these figures?

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