What is Contingency Recruitment?

Contingency Recruitment describes the majority of recruitment transactions. A contingency recruiter, or recruitment agency, gets paid only upon the successful placement of a candidate in a job.

TOPCHEFS Careers & Recruitment is a contingency recruiter so we invoice you only if we succeed for you and place a chef with you.

This is in contrast to "Retained Recruitment." Any fee attaching to the, contingency, recruitment assignment belongs to the client and never to the candidate so the recruiter is working only for the client.

Fees are calculated as a percentage of the candidate's first year renumeration.

Can TOPCHEFS get work permits for overseas candidates?

No we cannot obtain work permits on behalf of clients. We can, and often do, locate excellent quality chefs from abroad and are happy to advise clients, to the extent of our competency, as to how they should go about obtaining a work permit for such chefs.

Do you have a refunds policy?

Yes we do! You will receive a full copy of our refunds schedule before We begin working on your vacancy. In addition we customarily attach a copy of our up to date refunds policy, along with our full Terms of Business (T.O.B.) to each candidate CV we send to you.

At the time of writing our refund period extends to 12 weeks with the amounts being subject to refund decreasing over time. Currently a 100% refund/replacement guarantee applies if candidate and employer part company within two weeks of start date and by the final two weeks of the 12 week refund period this amount will have reduced to 10%.

The relevant version of our recruitment refund schedule will, as we've mentioned, be attached to the CV's we send to you therefore any reference to specific figures which may appear on this website are indicative only.

Do You Supply Temporary or Part Time Chefs?

No, we do not. It's difficult to be good at everything so we focus on doing the best job possible at finding and placing full time, contract and seasonal chefs.

There are agencies who specialize in providing "temps" but we're not one of them.

How soon will TOPCHEFS begin sending me Chef CV’s

This depends on the nature of the chef's job, seniority, specialisation etc. We endeavour to only forward CV's of chefs who are worthy of consideration for the role and whom have expressed an interest in the job. This can take a little time so we'd normally advise clients not to expect CV's to arrive immediately.

If there is a particular urgency in filling the position then we ask clients to advise of this and we'll try to prioritise your project.

If your requirement is very urgent then you would be best advised to consider bringing on a chef on a temporary basis. There are recruitment (staffing) firms who specialise in providing emergency staff on a short term basis. We aim to find you a longer term solution.

What will I be charged by TOPCHEFS for their recruitment services?

You will only be charged If we've placed a chef with you. We get paid when we've successfully satisfied your recruitment needs.

In situations when we're approached by a client with whom we haven't an established working relationship and whom tasks us with filling multiple positions we may, by prior agreement only, agree a schedule of expenses to cover job marketing costs.

The only other exception to this rule is when we're tasked with pure Search or Headhunting assignments. However, in the overwhelming majority of situations, our clients are only asked to pay us once we've found them a chef who they agree to hire.

I’ve Interviewed a TOPCHEFS Candidate what happens next?

As soon as you've interviewed the candiate and, when applicable, discussed the interview with the other decision makers we'd like your feedback As soon as possible. Ideally this will be on the day of the interview. If that's not possible for you then the next day is ok too.

If we've not received any feedback by lunchtime of the next day then we'll be following up with you. So what's our urgency?

Firstly we put ourselves in the shoes of the candidate(s), we wouldn't, as a chef, like too much time to pass before the people we've been dealing with give us some indication as to how our interview went and Let us know what, if any, step will come next.

As time passes chefs often become unsettled by the radio silence.

Secondly the better the chef the shorter the odds that we will end up competing for their services. In such situations time is not on our side and thus it favours those employers who are prepared to offer feedback early and often.

Too long a delay and the decision, as to whether you'll hire this chef, or not, might taken out of your hands. This does happen and so we would encourage you to follow up after interviews promptly.

What is Retained Recruitment?

In contrast to "Contingency Recruitment" in retained recruitment the recruiter, or agency, gets paid for both the process of recruitment and successfully delivering the desired result.

Usually the deal is structured in three thirds, 1/3 of the fee up front, another 1/3 upon delivery of an agreed number of suitable qualified candidates CVs and the final third after the successful candidate has started work.

Usually retained recruitment is reserved for more senior positions and higher salaries. The fee structure is designed in this way to enable the recruiters to deploy more manpower and resources to the search process than in contingency recruitment, where all the risk is borne by the recruiter.

What is TOPCHEFS standard recruitment fee?

We operate a scale of fees according to role seniority and remuneration. Clients can rest assured that we agree this fee with them upfront.

If candidate specific fees apply these will appear in the footer of chef candidate CVs forwarded to clients.

If you would like like more information please tell us about the position you need to fill.

What if I use a number of recruitment agencies?

When it comes to finding quality Chefs we're very comfortable competing for your business.

Typically you won't be charged if we don't find you the chef you want. However high quality chefs are very good at recognizing patterns in advertising copy and can often tell when a chef job is being marketed by several sources.

While this increases job visibility it does nothing to raise the perceived value of your vacancy in the eyes of the highest quality chefs, some of whom will determine that this must be a problem job, if so many agencies are working on it at once

That's why using multiple agencies might not be as good an idea as it at first seems.

Will TOPCHEFS headhunt chefs who we’ve hired through them?

No! While there is no legal bar to this practice as members of the National Recruitment Federation we've signed up to a code of code of conduct which forbids this practice.

This is something clients are advised to take into consideration when choosing a Chef Recruitment Agency.