Approach the conversation like you would an interview. This is your chance to evaluate whether your recruiter is the right fit—and vice versa.

Tips

• Be candid: The more transparent you are, the more accurate and effective their answers will be.

• It’s a two-way street: Recruiters on Dover’s Marketplace will only take on searches they believe will succeed.

1) Assess recruiter availability for your hiring needs

Fractional success often comes down to bandwidth for your hiring needs.

Ask:

• “How much bandwidth do you have for my roles right now?”

• “How many searches are you actively running, and how do you allocate time?”

• “What does your weekly cadence look like—pipeline review, outreach, reporting, feedback loops?”

• “What are good checkpoints for discussing progress?”

• “What’s your typical SLA for candidate updates and communication?”

What you’re looking for:

• Hours available / week

• Proactive suggestions re: meeting / async checkins on progress

2) Validate experience hiring for similar roles

Great recruiters can transfer experience hiring across similar roles, but you still want proof they’ve operated in your lane.

Ask:

• “Have you hired similar roles at a company like mine (eg Series A)? What were the challenges?”

• “Which candidates were hardest to attract—and how did you get them interested?”

• “How do you calibrate with a hiring manager when the profile is evolving?”

• “What’s your approach to assessing candidate quality early?”

Green flags:

• Specific examples (not generic “yes, I’ve done that”)

• Nuanced tradeoffs (e.g., “We widened scope on X, tightened on Y”)

• Awareness of your market constraints (location, comp, company stage)

3) Test their recruiting strategy for your search

This is where fractional recruiters really differentiate: clarity + a plan that matches your constraints.

Ask:

• “How long do you expect this search to take?”

• “Given our requirements and budget, what risks do you see?”

• “What would you do in the first 7 days?”

• “How will you source—what channels, what messaging, what volume?”

• “What’s your recommend pre-interview & funnel (outreach → responses → screens → onsites → offers)?”

• “How do you adjust if candidate pipeline is weak after 2 weeks?”

What you want:

• A concrete 1–2 week plan

• Comfort with iteration and diagnosing bottlenecks

• A realistic timeline tied to interview process math—not optimism → they need to be realistic about what’s possible for your search

4) Align on evaluation, process, and decision-making

Your recruiter is an extension of your hiring team. Make sure they’ll raise the bar (and keep things consistent).

Ask:

• “How do you build an interview plan and scorecard with the team?”

• “How do you ensure interviewers are on the same page?”

• “What do you need from us to move quickly?”

• “What’s your approach to candidate experience?”

Listen for:

• Strong process instincts

• Structured evaluation (scorecards, debriefs)

• Comfort pushing back when a process is slow or unclear

5) Closing and offer strategy (often the hidden lever)

Many searches don’t fail at sourcing—they fail at closing.

Ask:

• “How do you qualify motivations and competing offers?”

• “What’s your approach to offer strategy and closing?”

• “How do you handle late-stage objections?”

• “How do you partner with founders/HMs to win top candidates?”

Green flags:

• They talk about closing as a planned phase, not an afterthought

• They gather signal early (motivations, comp expectations, timeline)