Best Startup Recruiting Agencies: 2025 Rankings
Dover
May 2, 2025
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5 min
Dover takes the top spot as the best recruiting solution for startups in 2025. We are not saying this as we are biased, but the features we offer to startups say it all. Unlike a traditional agency, Dover combines a free hiring platform with on-demand recruiting services.
In one package, you get free AI-powered tools, multi-channel sourcing, and a marketplace of fractional recruiters who step in or out based on your hiring needs. This blend of software and service, built for startups, makes Dover a one-stop shop for companies looking to scale their team.
What key features and benefits make Dover #1
Free ATS and Career Pages: Dover offers a full-featured, free Applicant Tracking System. You can track applicants, organize your pipeline, and get an AI-generated careers page and job descriptions to kickstart your hiring process.
AI Candidate Scoring: Dover’s platform uses AI-powered resume scoring to automatically shortlist the most promising candidates for you. This means you spend time on the applicants who matter most, rather than sifting endlessly.
Integrated Sourcing Tools: Need to reach out to talent? Dover includes a sourcing extension that helps you find and connect with candidates in seconds. It can send personalized outreach emails as well.
One-Click Job Board Posting: Dover allows you to post a job opening to 50+ job boards with a single click. This saves you the hassle of manually posting on sites like Indeed, LinkedIn, AngelList, etc.
Employee Referrals System: Early hires often come through personal networks. Dover makes it easy to tap into it via a built-in employee referrals system. Team members can submit referrals, and you can track those candidates through the same pipeline.
Agency Management Portal: If you’re working with external recruiting agencies besides Dover, the platform offers an Agency Portal to coordinate them. It gives you full visibility into candidates submitted by agencies, their status, and the costs.
Analytics and Hiring Insights: Dover provides analytics to help you improve your hiring process. You can see metrics like cost-per-hire and recruiter fill rates before engaging a recruiter, and track how your job posts are performing.
Marketplace of Fractional Recruiters: When you need extra help, you can tap into Dover’s marketplace of vetted recruiters. Dover has a network of seasoned recruiters who can work as an extension of your team on a flexible, part-time basis.
Ease of Use & Speed: Startup founders praise how easy it is to start with Dover. You can sign up, invite your team, and have job listings live within minutes. The interface is user-friendly, and many tedious tasks are automated behind the scenes.
In short, Dover is built to make hiring as effortless as possible for a small team. Over 600 startups use Dover’s platform and services, including companies backed by top VCs.
Considerations: Startup-friendly pricing
Cost is often a deciding factor for startups, and Dover shines here as well. The core platform (ATS and tools) is free, and the fractional recruiter service is pay-as-you-go. Most companies using Dover’s recruiters spend around $80/hour, which averages out to about $4k–$7k per hire on the platform. Compare that to traditional recruiting agencies that often charge 15–30% of a hire’s salary (easily $15k-$30k+ for an engineer or designer).
In short, Dover can save startups a lot of money on recruiting. Dover even shows the historical cost-per-hire for each recruiter in its marketplace, so you know what to expect before you start
When to choose Dover
If you’re a seed or Series A startup looking for an all-in-one recruiting solution that is easy, cost-effective, and scalable, Dover is a perfect choice. It’s especially useful if you don’t have any full-time recruiting staff or want to avoid paying hefty agency retainers.
Dover lets you centralize everything, from job postings, candidate tracking to external recruiters. Given its extensive feature set and strong track record, Dover earns our #1 ranking for startup recruiting in 2025.
Coming in at #2 is Paraform, a marketplace that connects startups with independent recruiters on demand. Startups simply post the roles they need to fill, and a pool of vetted freelance recruiters can jump in to help.
This model taps into the wave of experienced recruiters who left big tech companies during the recent layoff cycles and are now freelancing, so the talent network is quite deep. To date, 200+ startups have used Paraform to fill roles ranging from software engineers to sales reps.
How it works: Paraform’s platform lets you list your job openings and the kind of recruiters you are looking for. Once you start working with a recruiter through the platform, Paraform provides tools for communication and managing the process, but you’ll still handle interviewing and final hiring decisions internally.
Key benefits
Speed: Recruiters are motivated to perform well as they get paid per hire or interview milestone. And as a result, you quickly get multiple independent recruiters sourcing candidates for you.
Affordable: Paraform charges startups a subscription/listing fee to post jobs, plus a success fee when you make a hire. This makes sure recruiters only get paid when they get results.
Considerations
As Paraform is relatively new (founded in 2023), it doesn’t come with decades of reputation. The pool of recruiters is large, but quality can vary. Paraform does vet them, but you might need to review recruiter profiles and track their performance.
In contrast, Dover actually provides performance data upfront. Also, Paraform is primarily a marketplace, not a full software suite. You won’t get a built-in ATS or AI tools as you do with Dover. This means you’ll likely need your own system to manage the candidates the recruiters send your way.
When to choose Paraform
Paraform is a strong choice if you need recruiting help fast and want to cast a wide net of recruiters without committing to a single agency. Very early-stage companies (say, under 20 people) have succeeded using Paraform for their first critical hires. Companies often use Paraform to fill high-demand roles like engineering or sales roles.
Overall, Paraform has carved out a niche as a flexible, cost-effective alternative to traditional agencies, making it our #2 recommendation.
Ranking #3 is Riviera Partners, a premier executive search firm specializing in tech talent, particularly leadership roles in engineering, product, and design.
If you need to hire a CTO, VP of Engineering, Head of Product, or similar high-level position, Riviera is often the go-to choice. They’ve been around for about two decades and have a strong track record of placing top executives in venture-backed startups and larger tech companies.
Key benefits
Deep executive network: Their team focuses solely on tech and product leadership searches. Riviera acts as an extension of your company’s leadership team. They will refine the role requirements with you, headhunt passive candidates, and thoroughly vet each candidate.
Data-driven approach. Their internal database and machine learning models help them find candidates with the right domain knowledge and success in similar roles.
Reputation and reach: Trusted by top VCs and CEOs, Riviera is often investor-recommended. Their presence in major hubs like Silicon Valley, NYC, and London expands your talent access.
Considerations
This is a full-service retained executive search firm, with a focus on hiring for senior roles, which means it’s one of the pricier options. Typically, you’ll pay a retainer upfront and a fee that’s often 25-30% of the hired candidate’s first-year salary, around $50K-$60K for a $200K hire.
Another thing to note is the timeline; executive searches can take at least 3-6 months, not suitable for quick hires. Riviera will present a slate of candidates and help schedule multiple rounds of interviews.
When to choose Riviera Partners
If your startup is at the point where you need a key executive and you cannot afford a mis-hire, Riviera is a top choice. Seed-stage startups likely won’t use Riviera, but by Series A or B, especially with investor funding, you might.
In short, Riviera Partners is the best recruiting agency for technical executive hires. Their expertise and network in that arena are beyond compare, which earns them our #3 ranking.
Hunt Club – Referral-Driven Recruiting Service (Rank #4)
At #4, we have Hunt Club, popular for its referral-driven approach to recruiting. Hunt Club has a network of 20,000+ industry experts who refer candidates from their own circles.
How Hunt Club works: Instead of relying solely on LinkedIn or a recruiter’s contacts, Hunt Club taps into a network of industry experts who refer top candidates, often passive ones. They match your job description with relevant experts, who then provide warm referrals. This model gives them access to 8M+ potential candidates and typically yields higher-quality leads.
Their proprietary tech streamlines outreach and referral tracking, while their recruiters guide you through interviews and hiring like a traditional search firm.
Considerations
Use cases: Hunt Club works on a variety of roles, both executive and non-executive. One thing to note is that Hunt Club isn’t exclusively for startups; they have clients ranging from early-stage startups to more veteran companies. That breadth can be good or bad depending on your perspective.
Cost model: Hunt Club charges like a traditional recruiting firm, likely as a percentage of salary or a flat fee per hire. They might also have some upfront or project fees, given the amount of work put in (varies with case). One positive is that by using referrals, they often find candidates who stick around, which can save money in the long run.
When to choose Hunt Club
Hunt Club is a great option if you want to hire through referrals and have access to passive candidates. For roles where cultural fit or specific industry experience is a priority, a referral-based approach can yield ideal candidates.
In summary, Hunt Club offers a unique blend of high-tech and high-touch recruiting, and it ranks #4 on our list as an excellent choice for startups that want a referral-powered talent pipeline.
Korn Ferry – Global Executive Search & Advisory (Rank #5)
Rounding out our list at #5 is Korn Ferry, a global executive search firm. In fact, it’s one of the largest and most reputable firms, with offices around the world. If your startup needs to bring in a heavy-hitter (like a seasoned CEO or another C-suite executive) or search globally, Korn Ferry could be a contender.
Key benefits
Scale and reach: Korn Ferry has an army of consultants and researchers, and a database built over decades, currently over 5 billion data points on candidates across industries. For a startup founder, it means you’re getting a thorough, methodical search with global reach.
Specialized Teams: They have specialized teams for different functions and industries, so a tech startup would likely work with Korn Ferry’s technology practice experts. These recruiters understand the profile you need and can tap into a worldwide network of contacts.
Assessment tools: They have proprietary methods to assess a candidate’s resume, leadership style, competencies, and culture fit. After rigorously vetting candidates, they often produce detailed candidate reports to help your team understand each person’s strengths and potential gaps.
A startup probably wouldn’t use these initially, but it’s worth noting that if you engage Korn Ferry, you’re dealing with a firm that can advise on multiple talent-related fronts.
Considerations
Korn Ferry’s services come with a premium price tag. They typically operate on a retained basis for executive searches, which involves an upfront fee and total costs that can also land in approximately 25-30% of the salary range.
For early-stage startups, this is often expensive unless you’ve raised a huge round earmarked to hire a key executive. Also, Korn Ferry is a big firm, some startups feel that they may not get the same personal touch or urgency that a boutique recruiter might provide.
When to choose Korn Ferry
Consider Korn Ferry when your hiring need is extremely critical, high-profile, or global. For example, if your Series C startup is expanding to Europe and you need a General Manager for EMEA operations, their global presence can help you find someone with the exact experience. It’s often not the first stop for a young startup, but as you grow, it’s a firm that can literally find anyone, anywhere.
We’ve placed Korn Ferry at #5 because, while not every startup will use them, their capabilities in executive recruiting are world-class, and for the right situation, they can deliver transformative hires.
Conclusion: Picking the Right Recruiting Partner
Choosing a recruiting agency or solution as a startup founder comes down to aligning with your hiring needs, budget, and company stage. All the options in our “best of 2025” list have their strengths:
Service | Best For | What You Get |
|---|---|---|
Dover | Early-stage startups | All-in-one hiring platform + on-demand fractional recruiters; affordable and flexible |
Paraform | Fast, flexible hiring for start-ups | Marketplace of recruiters; quick fills, but more founder involvement for later stages. |
Riviera / Korn Ferry | Executive-level hires (Series A-B, if funded) | Premium agencies with deep networks; ideal for VP/C-suite searches |
Hunt Club | Start-ups that need mid-to-senior-level, passive candidates | Referral-driven recruiting; access to vetted, hard-to-reach talent |
In practice, many startups use a combination of these strategies over time. The key is to be aware of what each offers, what you need, and where each shines to help you reach your goals, on budget.
Pro Tip: Always clarify the terms before engaging any recruiting service. Some work on contingency (you pay only if you hire a candidate they find), while others are retained (you pay a fee regardless of the outcome). Most startups prefer contingency to reduce risk, but make sure you set expectations on fees, timeline, and what happens if a hire doesn’t work out (many offer a replacement guarantee in the first 3-6 months).
In the end, the best recruiting agency for your startup is the one that understands your needs and can find people who align with your mission and culture. If you’re looking for a versatile, startup-tailored solution, you can’t go wrong starting with our #1 pick, Dover for startup recruiting. Happy hiring in 2025!
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