Candidate-free recruitment proposals that win the brief
Your market view, your process and your fees, without a single CV or candidate name in the document.
- 5/5 on G2
- 4.2 on Capterra
- Building QuoteCloud since 2013
QuoteCloud helps agencies pitch for a role or an account with a candidate-free proposal: your view of the market, how you'll search, the roles with their estimated fees, and extras such as advertising or psychometric testing the client can tick. Shortlists go to the client separately, from your ATS, with each candidate's consent. The proposal is signed online.
Four sections of a sample client proposal from a fictional agency, Ashby Lane Recruitment, for Harbourline Logistics' new finance team, behind index tabs: the cover; the agency's view of the market; four roles with estimated fees at the agency's band rates plus a job advertising campaign the client has ticked, $83,490.00 including tax; and the acceptance page, with fees payable on each start date. No candidate appears.
A pitch built from your agency's best material
Your credentials, process and guarantee are written once and saved in the content library. The consultant adds the market view and the roles for this client, and nothing about a candidate goes in.
- About Ashby LaneText and photos
- How we searchProcess in five steps
- Finance desk profileSpecialisms and team
- Our guaranteeCompany block Locked
- Candidate privacyCompany block Locked
- Recent assignmentCase study, no names
- Executive search methodFor retained pitches
- 1CoverHarbourline Logistics · valid 30 days
- 2About Ashby Lane From library
- 3Our view of the marketWritten for this brief
- 4How we'll search From library
- 5Our finance desk From library
- 6Roles and estimated feesPrice table with options
- 7Recent assignment From library
- 8Our guarantee Locked block
- 9Candidate privacy Locked block
- 10Accept the proposalSigned online, nothing to pay
Write it once
Save credentials, process and case studies as content library blocks every consultant reuses.
Content library: Essentials and up
Lock what matters
The guarantee and the privacy statement go in as locked company blocks, so nobody rewrites them on deadline.
Content locking: Business plan
No candidates, by design
The proposal sells the agency. Shortlists go from your ATS separately, with each candidate's consent.
Four roles, one estimate, extras they can tick
Each role is a price-table line: the estimated base salary and your band rate in the note, the estimated fee as the price. Job advertising and psychometric testing sit below as optional rows, and the client ticks what they want.
Try it: tick psychometric testing and the estimate updates. Signing accepts the proposal and the terms it refers to. Each fee is invoiced by the agency, from its own accounts system, when that candidate starts.
- Roles at your band rates, with the basis in each line note
- Optional rows for advertising, testing or a market report
- Nothing to pay on signing: fees follow each start date
- Tracking shows when the hiring manager opens it
Price tables: Essentials and up · eSignatures: every plan
Retained & executive search proposalsEstimated fees
| Item | Qty | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roles | $74,100 | ||
Financial controllerEst. base $150,000 · 20%
|
1 role | $30,000 | $30,000.00 |
Senior management accountantEst. base $115,000 · 18%
|
1 role | $20,700 | $20,700.00 |
Accounts payable officerEst. base $78,000 · 15%
|
2 role | $11,700 | $23,400.00 |
| Options Tick to add | |||
| 1 campaign | $1,800 | $1,800.00 | |
| 6 candidate | $450 | $2,700.00 | |
- Subtotal
- $75,900.00
- Tax (10%)
- $7,590.00
- Total
- $83,490.00
- Plus, monthly
- $0.00/mo
Accept the proposal
Chloe Tan · Chief financial officer, Harbourline Logistics
Signed online · 29 May, 11:02 am
Proposal summary
- Roles
- 4, on contingent terms
- Fees
- Payable on each start date
- Terms
- AL-TOB-2027
Certificate of authenticity and audit trail attached
What changes when the proposal holds no candidates
Winning the brief and presenting a shortlist are two different jobs. Once proposals go out from QuoteCloud, they stay that way.
Send your next pitch from QuoteCloud
Free for 14 days, no credit card required. Send us your current proposal and we'll convert one template for you during the trial.
Candidate-free proposals
Sell the agency. Introduce candidates once they've said yes.
A proposal that wins on your knowledge of the market and the way you search can travel around the client's business without putting a single candidate at risk.
Proposals for every specialist deskWhat goes into a candidate-free proposal
Six parts most agency pitches share, each one a QuoteCloud content block in your template.
Your view of the market
Salary expectations, how scarce the skills are and what candidates are asking for, written for this client's brief.
How you'll search
Advertising, direct approaches and your own network, step by step, from the content library.
The timetable
Weeks to a shortlist and to offers, as a table or as a Gantt chart with milestones (Business plan).
Roles and estimated fees
One line per role at your band rate, with optional rows for advertising, testing or a market map.
Your guarantee
Free replacement or a rebate scale, saved once as a locked block (Business plan). See replacement guarantees & rebates.
Acceptance
The hiring manager, procurement or both accept online, with no account and a certificate of authenticity.
From brief to signed proposal
How a consultant sends a candidate-free proposal in QuoteCloud.
Take the brief
Note the roles, salaries and timing from the client meeting. Candidate notes stay in your ATS.
Start from your pitch template
Cover, credentials, process and guarantee are already in it, from the content library.
Write the market view
Add what you know about this market, then price each role at your band rate.
Add the extras
Advertising, testing or a market report as optional rows the client can tick.
Send and follow up
Send it to the hiring manager and procurement, see when it's opened, answer comments and get it signed.
Client proposal questions
Should a recruitment proposal include candidate CVs?
Not in a candidate-free proposal. It sells your market knowledge, your process and your fees. Shortlists go to the client separately, from your ATS, with each candidate's consent. QuoteCloud is not an ATS: it doesn't store, parse, match or score candidates, so nothing about a candidate needs to be in the document.
Can the client choose extras like advertising or psychometric testing?
Yes. Add them to the price table as optional rows. The client ticks what they want and the estimate updates before they sign. You choose which rows start ticked in your template. Price tables are on Essentials and up. Each client's choices are kept with the signed proposal.
Does the client pay anything when they accept a proposal?
Not in this example. Accepting the proposal confirms the roles and the terms it refers to, and each placement fee is invoiced by the agency from its own accounting system when the candidate starts. If you do want a payment on signing, such as a retained engagement fee, QuoteCloud takes it through Stripe or PayPal on Essentials and up.
Can every consultant pitch from the same approved material?
Yes. Save your credentials, process and case studies in the content library (Essentials and up) and build one pitch template from them. On the Business plan you can lock blocks such as your guarantee and privacy statement so they can't be edited, and add an approval workflow for discounted fees.
Will I know when the hiring manager reads the proposal?
Yes. Document tracking on Essentials and up shows when the proposal is opened and sends a notification. The client can ask questions in comments that you answer in the document, and several people can accept it, each with their own signature block.
More for recruitment agencies
Every page of the QuoteCloud recruitment microsite.
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Terms of business & fee tiersFee percentages by salary band, exclusivity options and your guarantee in one set of terms the client signs online.Explore
-
Retained & executive search proposalsEngagement, shortlist and placement fees set out as stages, with only the engagement fee paid on signing.Explore
-
Specialist desks: IT, healthcare & tradesOne agency, several desks: each with its own templates, rate cards and wording, all from one content library.Explore
- RPO & volume hiring proposalsSet-up fee, monthly programme management and a per-hire fee in one programme proposal with a rollout plan.
- Temp & contract rate cardsPay rate plus on-costs plus margin gives the charge rate. The client sees the charge rate, your team sees the rest.
- Replacement guarantees & rebatesFree replacement or a sliding rebate scale, written once, locked, and offered as a choice the client signs.
- Multiple signers & fee-discount approvalsThe hiring manager and procurement both sign, and fee discounts over your limit wait for a director first.
- Annual terms review & bulk sendEvery client's terms carry an expiry date, and next year's terms go to the whole client list in one bulk send.
- ATS, CRM & accounting integrationsSigned terms and won roles reach your ATS, CRM and accounts through Zapier, Make or the API, or native on Business.
- Recruitment templatesReal QuoteCloud templates for recruitment proposals, HR services, consulting agreements and temporary contracts.
- QuoteCloud implementation for agenciesYour terms converted, fee bands and rate cards set up, signers, approvals, integrations and your consultants trained.
- FAQAnswers to the questions recruitment agencies and search firms ask most.
Pitch the agency, not the candidates
Free for 14 days. No credit card required.