Review your agreement with recruitment agency and SOW

What should a busy buyer check before signing?

Start with the events that create a bill or leave you without a working hire. Ask what happens if a candidate accepts, delays their start, leaves, or needs replacing. Then trace each answer to a clause and a price.

Request the master agreement, statement of work, fee schedule, and any policies the contract incorporates. Keep a dated copy of each. If the proposal promises something the agreement does not address, ask for that promise in the signed documents.

Use this checklist during the review:

The master agreement should set the general commercial terms. Use the SOW for the specific hire. Ask counsel to confirm which document takes priority when the wording differs.

For example, a proposal might promise a monthly arrangement while the master agreement requires a longer minimum commitment. Resolve that conflict before procurement approves the purchase order.

Assign a reviewer to each part. Engineering should approve the role and screening requirements. Finance should approve the fee schedule. Security should review access and data handling. Legal should review the obligations and remedies.

Keep an open-items sheet with the clause, requested change, owner, and final decision. Link each decision to the revised document. An email saying a concern is resolved should point to wording your team can find.

Before signature, check the legal entity names against the quote and payment instructions. Confirm who can sign the SOW and who can approve later changes. Give the hiring manager the final version so the person running the engagement knows what was purchased.

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Talk to Opus about a role.

What does the evidence say about classification and paperwork?

Separate worker status from tax paperwork in your review. Ask for an explanation of the proposed hiring arrangement before accepting a label in a contract.

The US Department of Labor says employers must determine whether a worker is an employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Its guidance describes misclassification as treating an employee covered by that law as an independent contractor. That is a US FLSA question; do not use it as the classification test for a worker based in Latin America. US DOL guidance.

For an overseas hire, ask local counsel to review the arrangement in the worker's country. Give counsel the actual work plan: who sets hours, assigns tasks, supplies equipment, and supervises the person. Request a written explanation of who handles any required employment steps.

The IRS describes Form W-8BEN as a certificate of foreign status for individuals for US tax withholding and reporting. Its instructions address giving the form to a withholding agent or payer in the stated circumstances. Keep that tax-document review separate from the employment-status review. IRS Form W-8BEN guidance.

In the contract, ask for named owners for these tasks:

• Collecting and storing the appropriate tax documents.
• Reviewing the proposed worker classification.
• Handling payroll and benefits under the agreed model.
• Responding if the worker changes country or the role changes.

Ask your tax adviser which forms apply to the actual payee. A payment to an individual and a payment to a provider should not share a paperwork checklist by default.

Avoid treating a broad promise to handle compliance as a complete answer. Ask which entity performs each task, what evidence you can request, and how errors are corrected. Have counsel review whether the proposed liability terms match those duties.

Include a process for changes after signing. If the worker plans to move, require notice before the move and assign someone to review the effect. Ask who approves the new arrangement and whether work or billing pauses during that review. Keep the approved work location in the SOW current.

How do the hiring models change a nearshore SOW?

First decide what you are buying: a search, an employment service, a person joining your team, or a finished project. Write the SOW around that purchase.

Use the following distinctions to question the proposed scope. Confirm the details in each agreement rather than relying on the model's label.

Define the recruiting assignment

For a direct-hire search, state who writes the job description, sources candidates, and conducts each screen. Specify the evidence you want before an interview.

For an engineering role, that might include a technical assessment summary and notes on the candidate's relevant production work. Ask how screening will test the skills your manager needs. A list of tools alone gives the interviewer little to work with.

Separate candidate delivery, offer acceptance, and the first day worked. Give each milestone its own definition. Ask what happens to the schedule when your team delays feedback or changes the salary range.

Record your team's duties too. Name the interviewers, agree on feedback deadlines, and identify who can approve compensation. If a hiring manager changes the role mid-search, require a written scope update. Confirm whether earlier submissions still count toward the original assignment and whether any new fee applies.

Define the ongoing working arrangement

If the provider remains involved after the hire starts, name the manager and support contact. Record who approves leave, handles payroll questions, and addresses performance concerns.

For nearshore hiring, replace "US hours" with a named time zone and an agreed working window. Mexico City stays on UTC-6 without seasonal clock changes; Tijuana follows a seasonal clock change. A country name alone will not define the schedule. IANA time zone data.

Ask whether the agreed window follows the US team's clock changes. Include holiday planning and any on-call expectations. Have the provider confirm that the proposed schedule works for the local employment arrangement.

Set out the steps before the first day. Assign responsibility for equipment delivery, account creation, and required paperwork. Ask whether billing begins if the person is ready but your laptop or access approval is late. Give the manager a way to report a blocked start and record the agreed billing treatment.

Define project acceptance separately

If you are buying a software project, specify the deliverables and the tests used to accept them. Name the person authorized to approve a milestone.

Ask for a process to report defects, request corrections, and approve changes to scope. Address access to the repository and delivery of documentation. Avoid leaving the final handover dependent on an undefined statement that the project is complete.

For example, a deployment milestone could require the agreed tests to pass in your staging environment. Define who supplies that environment and who resolves access delays. Ask how long your team has to review the work and what happens if it rejects a deliverable. Keep any deemed-acceptance wording visible during legal review.

What should you ask a provider to put in writing?

Send the questions below with your role requirements. Ask the provider to answer against the proposed agreement so your team can review the wording and commercial effect together.

What exactly makes a fee payable?

Ask whether payment follows signing, candidate submission, offer acceptance, or the first day worked. For a percentage fee, define the pay components used in the calculation.

If a candidate receives a signing bonus or variable pay, ask whether those amounts affect the fee. For recurring charges, specify the billing period and how partial months work.

Request written treatment of these scenarios:

• The candidate accepts but never starts.
• Your team postpones the start date.
• The role closes before a hire is made.
• The candidate joins a different team or related company.
• The provider submits someone already in your hiring process.

Have finance check payment deadlines and invoice-dispute procedures. Ask whether a disputed amount can be separated from the rest of an invoice.

Define what evidence accompanies a charge. An invoice tied to a start date should identify that date and the covered service period. Ask who can correct a billing error and how the correction reaches finance. Confirm whether late-payment terms apply while a documented dispute is under review.

What costs can change after approval?

Request a sample invoice based on your proposed hire. Ask the provider to separate the quoted rate from any possible extra charges.

Cover equipment, background checks, overtime, leave, currency changes, and worker-related exit costs. Ask who approves each charge and how much notice applies to a rate increase.

For a monthly arrangement, confirm whether the rate changes when the worker receives a raise. Ask how a location change would affect pricing. Require written approval before a change takes effect.

A useful comparison sheet has a cost at signing, a recurring cost, and an exit-cost section. Leave conditional charges visible instead of folding them into a single estimate.

If the quote involves currency conversion, name the invoice currency and the exchange-rate method. Ask when the rate is set and who pays bank charges. Have finance test the same sample invoice against the proposed wording so the approval covers the amount your company would actually pay.

How will candidate introductions be recorded?

Ask what counts as an introduction. Require enough identifying information and a date so your team can check prior contact.

Set a process for reporting that a candidate is already in your applicant system. Address duplicate submissions and referrals from your own employees. State who resolves a dispute and what evidence they will review.

If the agreement claims a fee when you hire a candidate later, ask for the exact duration and scope. Check whether the clause extends to another role, another business unit, or an affiliate.

What does the replacement promise cover?

Ask for the guarantee text as part of the agreement. Define the events that trigger a replacement search and the steps your manager must take.

Have the provider explain:

• Whether resignation and performance concerns are covered.
• Whether a role change affects eligibility.
• How and when you must report a problem.
• What charges continue during the vacancy.
• Whether the replacement can carry a different rate.
• What happens if you decline candidates or the search finds no suitable hire.

Review refunds and credits separately. If you need a cash remedy after a failed search, ask for one explicitly.

Also name the person who handles the handover. A replacement search and a transfer of system knowledge are separate tasks. Put both in the plan where you need them.

Who owns the code and controls access?

Ask counsel to review the rights granted by the worker as well as the provider. Request terms covering source code, documentation, inventions, and any materials created during the engagement.

Identify pre-existing code or tools that the worker may bring. Ask how third-party components and open-source licenses will be reviewed. Include your rules for entering company data into AI tools.

Security should specify account ownership, device requirements, and access approval. Ask who reports an incident, who investigates it, and when your team receives notice.

For departure, name the person who revokes access and the person who checks that the handover is complete. Include equipment return and a process for confirming data deletion.

Ask whether anyone besides the named worker can access your systems or perform the work. Require approval for substitutes or subcontractors where your security policy calls for it. Confirm how the same confidentiality and access rules reach those people. Give security the details before it grants production access.

What happens if either side ends the arrangement?

Read the termination clause alongside the fee schedule and guarantee. Ask for the earliest date you can end the service and the steps required to give notice.

Check minimum commitments, renewal terms, and any deadline for preventing renewal. Ask for a worked exit invoice based on the proposed role.

For a Latin American hire, request a country-specific explanation of worker-related exit costs. Have counsel distinguish the provider's commercial notice period from the steps required for the worker's arrangement.

If you may later hire the person through your own entity, ask about transfer consent, fees, and handover. Put any agreed conversion terms in writing before the person starts.

Which remedies match the responsibilities?

Ask counsel to compare the duties each party accepts with the contract's liability limits. Review confidentiality, ownership of work, payroll errors, and data incidents against the proposed remedies.

Request details of any insurance your procurement process requires. Confirm the contracting entity, notice addresses, governing law, and dispute process.

When comparing the best tech recruiting agencies for your role, use the same failure scenarios in every review. Ask each provider what happens if the hire never starts, leaves, or needs replacing. Compare the written answers and resulting costs.

Before signing, mark every open question with an owner. Obtain the final documents again after changes, and check that the approved terms survived the edits.

What should you confirm with Opus before signing?

Opus states: "Opus charges one flat monthly rate per hire. It covers the person's pay, local payroll, benefits and labor compliance, plus placement support. There is no separate recruiting fee. The rate depends on role, seniority and location."

Published dollar rates: Not published.

Request a written quote for the role, seniority, and work location you intend to approve. Ask the SOW to identify the monthly rate, billing start date, and treatment of partial months. Confirm any exclusions and the approval process for extra charges.

Opus states: "The client chooses the finalist and manages day-to-day work."

Use that division of responsibility to prepare your internal plan. Name the hiring decision-maker and the manager who will assign work. Ask the SOW to record the provider's ongoing duties and the contact for questions after the start date.

Opus also states: "Every placement carries a lifetime replacement guarantee with no cap and no time limit."

Ask for that commitment in the agreement, together with the procedure for starting a replacement search. Confirm how billing, handover, and candidate approval work during that search. Address any refund or credit you need in separate wording.

Bring a role description and a proposed start date to the discussion. Include the required work hours, interview owners, and security requirements. Request the agreement and role-specific SOW together so engineering, finance, and legal can review the same purchase.

Talk to Opus about a role.

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