Engineering & manufacturing
Engineering recruitment agency
A flat fee by salary band with no commission, and a 100% refund if the role is not filled. Below are the 3 engineering & manufacturing vacancies we have actually filled, with the real pipeline behind each one.
What we are usually asked to fill
- Design Engineer
- Project Engineer
- Maintenance Engineer
- Quality Engineer
- Production Engineer
What is actually hard about hiring in engineering
Engineering titles travel badly. The same job title covers a draughtsman in one company and a chartered lead in another, so a shortlist built on titles alone wastes everybody's interview time. It is also the sector where the strongest candidates are least likely to be applying to adverts.
What we screen for
The discipline behind the title, the software and standards they work to day to day, whether they have taken a design from concept to manufacture or picked it up mid-stream, and how much of the role was hands-on versus supervisory.
The engineering & manufacturing roles we have filled
| Role | Location | Days to fill | Candidates screened |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electrician | Field-based across London sites, office in Essex | 56 | 108 |
| Field Service Engineer — meat processing equipment | Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire | 115 | 40 |
| CNC Programmer / Setter | The Midlands, relocation packages available | 60 | 37 |
Median 60 days, slower than our overall median of 42 across 46 filled roles. Full funnels for every one of these are on the engineering & manufacturing case studies.
What it costs
| Salary band | Our flat fee | A 20% agency would bill |
|---|---|---|
| Roles up to £30,000 | £1,500 +VAT | up to £6,000 |
| £30,000 – £44,999 | £2,000 +VAT | £6,000 – £9,000 |
| £45,000 – £59,999 | £3,000 +VAT | £9,000 – £12,000 |
| £60,000 – £79,999 | £4,000 +VAT | £12,000 – £16,000 |
The engineering & manufacturing roles above paid between £35,000 and £45,000, which puts most of them in the £2,000–£3,000 bands. If we do not fill the role you get 100% of the fee back.
Frequently asked questions
How much does engineering recruitment cost?
A flat fee by salary band, agreed before the search and unchanged by the salary you agree: Roles up to £30,000 — £1,500 +VAT; £30,000 – £44,999 — £2,000 +VAT; £45,000 – £59,999 — £3,000 +VAT; £60,000 – £79,999 — £4,000 +VAT. There is no commission when you hire, and a 100% refund if the role is not filled. The engineering & manufacturing roles we have filled paid between £35,000 and £45,000, so most sit in the £2,000–£3,000 range against £7,000–£9,000 at a 20% agency.
How long does it take to fill a engineering role?
Across the 3 engineering & manufacturing vacancies we have filled and publish in full, the median was 60 days from brief to hire — slower than our overall median of 42 days across 46 roles. The fastest took 56 days and the slowest 115. We publish the slow ones too.
Do you charge commission on a engineering hire?
No. The fee is fixed by salary band before the search starts and does not move with the salary agreed. That is the whole point of the model, and the saving against a percentage grows as the role gets more senior.
What do you screen engineering candidates for?
The discipline behind the title, the software and standards they work to day to day, whether they have taken a design from concept to manufacture or picked it up mid-stream, and how much of the role was hands-on versus supervisory.
Can I just advertise the role instead?
Yes, and sometimes you should. A £399 +VAT advert puts the role across the major job boards and sends you the applications. It took a median of 62 candidates worked to make one hire in engineering & manufacturing, so if somebody in your business genuinely has those hours, advertising is the cheaper route and we will say so.
Hiring in engineering?
Tell us the role and we will tell you what it costs and how long it is likely to take — using the 3 we have already filled in this sector, not a guess.
See Guaranteed Hire Talk to a recruiter
Or call 0161 327 2895. Prefer to advertise it yourself? Job advertising from £399 +VAT.
Before you decide, the numbers
Cost comparison
Is flat-fee recruitment cheaper than an agency for a £45,000 hire?
Worked figures for a £45,000 UK hire — what a contingency agency bills at 15%, 20% and 25%, what the published flat fees are, what the real difference is once you count your own screening time, and the three situations where the agency is the better buy.
Comparison
Which UK recruitment companies charge a fixed fee and no commission?
A checked list of UK recruiters who charge a flat fee instead of a percentage of salary, with the prices each one actually publishes, what happens if the role is not filled, and who is cheapest for which kind of hire.
Benchmarks
How long does it take to fill a role in the UK?
The median role we filled took 42 days from brief to close, but the spread runs from 14 to 169 days. The per-sector breakdown, what actually drives the difference, and how to read a time-to-fill promise.