Search tiers
Global Search is the default. It includes expert-led interviews and pre-negotiated compensation, with sourcing anywhere on Earth.
Domestic Search is the same process with sourcing restricted to your own country or region. It costs more because narrowing the geography shrinks the pool and increases the work to fill the role. Choose it for the restriction, not for cost.
Specialty Search is for genuinely hard-to-fill roles. It adds priority sourcing, expert-led evaluations, and compensation consulting, and carries a 90 day guarantee. In the uncommon case where a specialty role needs extensive advertising experimentation, we may ask you to cover advertising costs during the search. This is agreed in advance and never applies to Global or Domestic Search.
The tier is determined by the nature of the search, not sold as a package upgrade.
What you pay, and when
If no hire is made, no placement fee is owed.
Guarantees
A hiring guarantee means Planetary Talent runs a replacement search if the hire does not work out within the guarantee window.Role subscriptions
20% of talent compensation plus $300 per month. Optional, available on any hire. A role subscription is how Planetary Talent employs an international hire on your behalf. It covers payroll, tax, benefits, equipment provisioning, and compliance, so you can employ someone in another country without establishing a legal entity there. It includes rapid onboarding, transparent talent pay, and an extended hiring guarantee. You do not need one. If you have payroll infrastructure where the hire lives, hire them directly onto it. Placement fees and role subscription fees are separate line items.Compared with a percentage fee
Traditional agencies typically charge 20% to 30% of first-year salary. On a $120,000 role that is roughly $24,000 to $36,000.
Because the flat fee does not rise with salary, the gap widens on senior roles, and there is no incentive on our side to see the hire paid more.
When Planetary Talent is the right fit
Planetary Talent is a strong fit when:- A founder-led company needs an important hire quickly and has no weeks of leadership time to spend
- There is no internal hiring team
- You want a small, already-evaluated shortlist rather than an application pile
- The role can be sourced globally, or you are open to widening the geography
- You prefer flat, outcome-based pricing over a percentage of salary
- The role is a full-time position on the team
- You want international employment handled without setting up an entity
- You want hiring to run inside Slack or Microsoft Teams
- You want self-service software to run your own process. This is a managed service, not an applicant tracking system.
- You want to post a free job listing and manage applications yourself
- You need high-volume hourly or shift-based staffing
- The need is short-term contract, fractional, or gig work
- The search is a C-suite or board-level appointment
- Your policy requires a résumé-first process