The situation

Ida had been here before. Hiring a Customer Success Manager isn't her first rodeo and the last few attempts had left her wary.

Traditional recruitment agencies hadn't worked. PainChek had given them detailed briefs, specific JDs, clear criteria on the type of person they were looking for. The candidates that came back consistently missed the mark.

So Ida lost faith and went DIY. She ran her own job ads. Reviewed every resume herself. Did the pre-screening calls. Scheduled and ran every interview. Provided feedback. Locked in second rounds. Coordinated reference checks. The candidates were better but the cost was her calendar.

And traditional placement fees of 15% on top weren't an option either. Not on a Customer Success Manager salary, and not after the experience of paying premium fees for candidates who didn't fit.

Better candidates. Less time. Lower cost. None of the existing options delivered all three.

Why she gave SuccessEngine a chance

Ida had been speaking with Huey beforehand. When the CSM role opened up, the timing was right.

Three things tipped her over the line:

• A specialist, not a generalist.
• An operator background. He'd actually done the role he was recruiting for, so he knew the attributes, experience, and personality types that actually fit.
• A genuinely different model. Capped flat fees instead of 15% of base salary.

The outcome

The search closed in under four weeks. Three quality candidates were shortlisted, all of whom hit the brief.

PainChek hired a candidate who had the skills, experience and cultural fit.

And for Ida, the biggest win wasn't just the hire. It was the time she got back

What Ida said about working with SuccessEngine

"The model really attracted us. We'd gone with the percentage model in the past, and the cost of paying 15% is an insane amount of money, especially when things didn't work."

"There was always going to be some scepticism the first time working with someone new. Were they going to deliver within the time frame, with good quality candidates? SuccessEngine definitely ticked the box on that one."

"SuccessEngine gave us some really good quality candidates and hit the brief, which is another tick"

The takeaway

When traditional agencies miss the brief and DIY hiring eats your calendar, there's a third option: a specialist embedded recruiter who's done the role, knows the market, and works to a capped fee.

Ida got the hire she needed, in the timeframe she needed, for $5K instead of $15K+. And got her time back in the process.