What it is
A guarantee period is the window after a placed candidate starts work during which the recruiting agency is contractually obliged to find a free replacement, or issue a partial or full fee rebate, if that candidate leaves or is let go. It is set out in the terms of business agreed with the client, alongside the fee percentage and payment terms, and it typically runs anywhere from a few weeks up to three months, depending on the seniority of the role and whether the placement was retained or contingency.
The mechanics usually follow a sliding scale: leave in week one and the agency owes a full rebate or a free replacement search, leave near the end of the period and the obligation shrinks or disappears. Some clients negotiate a flat guarantee, the same obligation for the whole term, others insist on a scale tied to weeks worked. Either way, the guarantee period is the clause that decides who carries the risk if a placement does not stick.
The guarantee period decides who carries the risk when a placement does not stick.
Why it matters
A guarantee period is a direct trade against the fee. A longer guarantee, or a steeper rebate scale, shifts more risk onto the agency in exchange for winning or keeping the client relationship. A shorter one protects margin but can cost the mandate to a competitor willing to guarantee longer. Negotiating it well is as commercially important as negotiating the percentage itself, and it is often the term clients push hardest on.
It also shapes behaviour after the placement, not just before it. An agency that forgets a placement is still inside its guarantee period risks being blindsided by a candidate leaving with no free replacement search queued up and no rebate invoiced, while a desk that tracks it properly can move fast: start a replacement search the day a departure signal appears, rather than the day the client calls to complain.
How boilr handles it
boilr does not negotiate the guarantee period, that stays part of the terms of business conversation between consultant and client, but the moment a placement is logged, the length and rebate scale are recorded in the Company Brain alongside the rest of that account's commercial terms, and the account is flagged for the duration of the window rather than left to memory.
If a job-change or departure signal fires on a candidate still inside their guarantee period, your AI sales employee surfaces it immediately, so a replacement search can start the same day rather than after the client has already noticed. And because guarantee periods are visible to the whole desk, not just the consultant who made the placement, cover continues even if that consultant is out or has moved on.
