Most hiring problems do not show up at the sourcing stage. They show up later, when an accepted offer becomes a no-show or a new hire leaves before the first appraisal. Kintra's permanent staffing services are built around that risk. We screen for intent as well as skill, then stay in touch with the candidate until joining day and for 90 days after.
Kintra is paid by the employer. Candidates never pay us a fee.
What do permanent staffing services include?
Permanent staffing covers the full hire of an employee who joins your own payroll: role definition, sourcing, screening, interviews, offer and joining. According to SHRM Recruiting Benchmarking 2026, which draws on 4,600+ organisations, the median time-to-fill for nonexecutive roles is 39 calendar days. Most of the work that decides whether a hire sticks happens inside that window.
Our process has eight steps, from a brief call to post-joining check-ins, and the full sequence is on how the Kintra method works. Two of them do the most to keep a hire in the seat, and both happen before you see a CV.
Stage one screens for fit
Skills, experience, salary expectation, location and notice period, checked against the role scorecard you approved. A candidate who fails here never reaches your inbox.
Stage two screens for intent
Why would this person move? What would make them stay? Which other offers are they holding, and how likely is their current employer to counter? A candidate who is strong on paper but vague on all four is a risk, and the recruiter note says so plainly.
What does a bad hire or a dropout cost you?
A bad hire is expensive, and a dropout restarts the search from zero. In a CareerBuilder and Harris Poll survey of 2,257 US hiring managers in 2017, 74% said they had hired the wrong person for a role, at an average cost of USD 14,900 per bad hire. The figure is old and American, so read it as a signal rather than a price tag.
The most common cause in that survey (35%) was a candidate who lacked the skills while the manager assumed they would learn quickly. That is a screening failure. Lower productivity (37%) and time lost recruiting a replacement (32%) were the effects employers felt most.
India adds a second risk. Taggd, citing Livemint, put offer dropout rates at about 25 to 35% in most sectors (industry estimate, 2022). Long notice periods give a candidate weeks to collect counter-offers, and we cover the mechanics in our guide to notice periods and offer dropouts.
Then there is early attrition. According to Aon's Salary Increase and Turnover Survey 2025-26, attrition in India was 16.2% in 2025, down from 17.7% in 2024. Aon commentary reported by Business Today says nearly 75% of it is voluntary. Voluntary exits are choices, and the reasons behind them often show up early in a frank intent conversation.
How is permanent staffing different from contract staffing?
A permanent hire joins your payroll on an open-ended contract, and the agency is usually paid once. A contract worker is typically employed by a staffing firm for a fixed term, and you pay an ongoing margin. In India, notice periods are set by the employment contract and usually run 1 to 3 months, according to Nyaaya, which shapes both models.
| Permanent staffing | Contract staffing | |
|---|---|---|
| Who employs the person | You | Usually the staffing firm or a third-party payroll |
| Duration | Open-ended | Fixed term or project |
| How the agency is paid | One-time placement fee, usually a share of annual CTC | Ongoing margin on billing |
| Speed to start | Slower, because the candidate serves notice | Often faster for available talent |
| Best for | Core roles you need for years | Projects, leave cover, uncertain headcount |
| Main risk | Dropouts and early exits | Knowledge walks out when the contract ends |
For a fuller comparison, read contract vs permanent staffing.
How does the permanent hiring process run, week by week?
A permanent hire runs in three blocks: brief and search, interviews and offer, then the notice period. SHRM's State of Recruiting 2025 puts median time-to-fill at roughly a month and a half, measured from requisition to offer acceptance. The table below is an illustrative shape for a mid-level role, not a promise. Real timing depends on the market map and on how fast feedback comes back.
| Stage | What Kintra does | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Brief call, role scorecard, market map | Join the call, approve the scorecard and salary band |
| Weeks 1 to 3 | Outreach, fit screen, intent screen | Nothing until the shortlist lands |
| Weeks 2 to 3 | Interviewed shortlist with recruiter notes | Pick who to meet |
| Weeks 3 to 5 | Interview coordination and feedback loop | Give feedback after every round |
| Weeks 5 to 6 | Offer structuring and counter-offer preparation | Approve the offer |
| Notice period | Weekly contact with the candidate | Send a welcome note, share onboarding plans |
| After joining | Check-ins at 30, 60 and 90 days | Take the call, flag concerns early |
Why the notice period is its own stage
Counter-offers in India often arrive late in the notice period, once the current employer realises the resignation is real. We prepare the candidate for that conversation at offer stage, and weekly contact means a wobble is spotted early. Silence is the warning sign.
How do permanent recruitment fees work in India?
Most permanent recruitment in India runs on contingency: the employer pays only when a candidate joins. According to GoodSpace, an industry blog (2026), typical fees are 8.33% to 12.5% of annual CTC for junior and mid roles and 15% to 20% for senior or hard-to-fill roles. For reference, 8.33% of annual CTC equals one month of CTC.
Hyring, another industry blog (2026), adds that 18% GST is charged on top of agency fees. Neither source is a survey, so read the ranges as market signals.
Ask any agency, including us, to put three things in writing before work starts: the fee base (fixed pay or total CTC), the payment trigger (offer or joining) and the replacement terms. The recruitment fees guide explains each term.
What do we need from you as the employer?
Speed on your side matters as much as speed on ours. Every week a shortlisted candidate waits for feedback is a week another employer can make an offer. SHRM's 2026 benchmarking puts the median share of nonexecutive roles filled externally at 97%. Most of your hires will come from outside, where other employers are talking to the same people.
Here is what helps most:
- 30 to 45 minutes with the hiring manager for the brief call, not a forwarded job description
- A real salary band, including how far it can stretch for the right person
- A named decision-maker who can approve an offer within days
- Interview slots blocked in the calendar before the shortlist arrives
- Honest deal-breakers, because one clear reason to reject saves more time than ten nice-to-haves
Picture this: a mid-sized logistics firm needs a finance controller, but the brief call reveals the real need is someone who can fix month-end close in six months. That changes who we approach. (Illustrative example.)
Which roles and levels do we cover?
We handle full-time hires from junior specialists to senior individual contributors and middle managers, across IT and non-IT functions. According to the ManpowerGroup Global Talent Shortage Survey India 2026, 82% of Indian employers report difficulty finding skilled talent. The market map tells you early whether your role is one of the hard ones, before a month has gone on outreach.
Typical permanent hires include software engineers, data analysts, sales managers, chartered accountants, HR business partners, plant engineers and customer success leads. For CXO, VP and board roles, a retained model fits better, which is what our executive search service is for.
When is permanent recruitment not the right fit?
Not every vacancy needs an agency. If the work ends in four months, contract staffing is cheaper and faster. If your team can fill the role through referrals within a few weeks, a placement fee buys you little.
Two other cases. If nobody can commit time to interviews and feedback, even a strong shortlist goes cold, and you will pay in dropouts. If the salary band sits well below what the market map shows, we will tell you before outreach starts rather than send weaker profiles to fill the gap.
How do you start a permanent hire with Kintra?
Share your hiring brief with the role, the salary band and the date you need someone in the seat. A recruiter reads it and books a 30 to 45 minute brief call with the hiring manager. From that call we write the scorecard, then send it to you with the market map, a hiring plan and our written terms, including the fee base and payment trigger. You commit only after you have read them. Good permanent staffing services measure success at day 90, and so do we.