--- title: "Startup Recruiting Glossary: 36 Terms Explained" lang: en canonical_url: "https://www.lemonly.ai/glossary" last_updated: "2026-07-11" last_updated_source: page summary: "Plain-English, answer-first definitions of 36 recruiting terms – contingency fee, retained search, container search, flat-fee recruiting, sourcing, screening interview, passive candidates, time-to-fill, and more – cross-linked to the deeper guides." --- # The startup recruiting glossary 36 terms a founder runs into the first time they hire – defined in plain language, with the numbers where numbers exist. [Fee models & contracts](#fee-models)[The search process](#search-process)[Tools & technology](#tools-tech)[Metrics](#metrics)[Compensation](#compensation) 01 ## Fee models & contracts ### Contingency recruiting A recruiting fee model where the recruiter is paid only if you hire their candidate – typically 15–25% of the hire's first-year salary. Usually non-exclusive, so several agencies can work the same role and only the winner is paid. [Contingency vs retained vs flat-fee →](https://www.lemonly.ai/guide-to-hiring/contingency-vs-retained-vs-flat-fee.md) ### Retained search A recruiting fee model where the firm is paid in installments from the start of the search – classically a third at kickoff, a third at shortlist, a third at placement – whether or not the search succeeds. Fees run 25–35% of first-year compensation, in exchange for exclusivity and deep market mapping. The standard model for executive hiring. ### Container search A hybrid between contingency and retained: a smaller upfront engagement fee secures the recruiter's commitment, with the balance due on placement and the upfront amount typically credited against the final fee. Also called "engaged search". ### Flat-fee recruiting A recruiting fee model that charges a fixed price per hire regardless of the candidate's salary, so the fee is known before the search starts. lemonly's version is $8,000 per hire, due only on placement. Because the fee doesn't scale with salary, the recruiter has no incentive to push compensation upward. [lemonly pricing →](https://www.lemonly.ai/pricing.md) ### Placement fee The fee due to a recruiter when a candidate they introduced is hired. In percentage models it's calculated on first-year salary or compensation; in flat-fee models it's a fixed amount per hire. ### Exclusivity A contract term giving one recruiting firm the sole right to work a role for a period. Standard in retained search, occasionally demanded by contingency agencies; its cost is that your search's speed depends entirely on one firm's pipeline. ### Replacement guarantee A recruiter's promise to redo the search (or refund the fee) if the hire leaves within a set window – commonly 30–90 days. Terms vary widely: some guarantee a refund, most only a replacement search, so the specific wording matters. lemonly's guarantee runs 90 days: a replacement search at no extra fee; the placement fee isn't refunded. ### Embedded recruiting A model where a recruiter joins your team for a monthly fee – roughly $5,000–20,000 per month – working like a temporary in-house hire rather than charging per placement. Cost-effective at five or more concurrent roles, expensive below that. ### RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) An arrangement where a provider takes over some or all of a company's recruiting function – process, tooling, and recruiters – usually priced as a monthly management fee plus per-hire costs. Built for enterprise hiring volume, not a startup's handful of key roles. 02 ## The search process ### Candidate sourcing Proactively finding and contacting potential candidates rather than waiting for applications. Sourcing covers building the long-list, researching profiles, and outreach – the top of every search funnel. ### Passive candidates People who aren't actively job-hunting but would consider the right opportunity. They never see job posts, so reaching them requires outreach – and they're usually the majority of the qualified market for any role. ### Active candidates People currently applying for jobs. Job boards only reach this group, which is why post-and-pray hiring structurally misses most of the market. ### Screening interview A short structured conversation – typically 20–30 minutes – that verifies a candidate's fit against the role's requirements before they meet the hiring team. In lemonly's data, only 31% of interviewed candidates clear this bar, which is the argument for screening before a hiring manager's calendar gets involved. [Hiring-funnel benchmarks →](https://www.lemonly.ai/research/startup-hiring-benchmarks-2026) ### Shortlist The small set of vetted candidates presented to a hiring team after sourcing and screening – the finished product of a search. A good shortlist is measured by how few names it needs, not how many it contains. ### Warm introduction Presenting a candidate to a hiring team after the candidate has been screened, briefed on the role, and confirmed interested – as opposed to forwarding a cold resume. Both sides arrive at the first conversation already informed. ### Intake call (kickoff call) The structured conversation at the start of a search where the recruiter extracts the role's real requirements – non-negotiables, nice-to-haves, compensation, and context – from the hiring team. The quality of this call sets the ceiling on the quality of the search. ### Market mapping Systematically charting the companies and people who make up the candidate market for a role – who does this job, where, at what level – before outreach begins. A standard component of retained search. ### Boolean search Querying candidate databases with logical operators (AND, OR, NOT) to define exactly who appears in results – the traditional craft skill of sourcing, increasingly automated by AI screening. ### Talent pipeline The pool of candidates at various stages of a search – sourced, contacted, screened, introduced – tracked as a funnel. Pipeline health is measured by conversion between stages, not raw volume. 03 ## Tools & technology ### ATS (Applicant Tracking System) Software that stores candidates and tracks them through hiring stages – the system of record for a company's recruiting. Examples range from lightweight startup tools to enterprise suites; some, like Dover's, are free. ### AI candidate screening Using AI to score and rank candidates against a role's defined criteria, so humans review a sorted shortlist instead of reading every application. It solves the coverage problem – thousands of profiles assessed consistently – while interviews remain human work. [How lemonly's screening works →](https://www.lemonly.ai/ai-candidate-screening.md) ### Sourcing tools Software for finding and contacting candidates at scale – databases, search filters, and automated outreach. They widen the top of the funnel; screening and closing still need people. [lemonly vs AI sourcing tools →](https://www.lemonly.ai/compare/ai-sourcing-tools.md) ### Job boards Sites where employers post roles and active candidates apply – LinkedIn Jobs, Indeed, Wellfound. Cheap to start and structurally limited to active job-seekers, with high application noise on easy-apply posts. [lemonly vs LinkedIn Jobs →](https://www.lemonly.ai/compare/linkedin-jobs.md) ### InMail LinkedIn's paid direct-message format for contacting people outside your network – the standard outreach channel of LinkedIn Recruiter, with response rates around 5%. ### Talent marketplace A platform connecting companies with candidates or recruiters on demand – freelance networks like Toptal, recruiter marketplaces like Paraform, or contractor marketplaces like Mercor. The marketplace supplies matching; management of the engagement stays with you. [Platform alternatives, compared →](https://www.lemonly.ai/alternatives.md) 04 ## Metrics ### Time-to-hire The days from a candidate entering your process to accepting an offer. Distinct from time-to-fill, which starts when the role opens. Healthy startup processes run 2–4 weeks and 3–4 stages from first interview to offer. [How long a process should take →](https://www.lemonly.ai/guide-to-hiring/interview-marathon.md) ### Time-to-fill The days from a role opening to an accepted offer – the metric that captures the full cost of an empty seat, including the sourcing weeks before any interview happens. [Benchmarks by source and seniority →](https://www.lemonly.ai/research/time-to-hire-benchmarks-2026.md) ### Cost-per-hire Everything a hire cost divided by hires made: fees, tooling, ad spend, and – the part everyone omits – the hours your own team spent. A "free" job post with 40 hours of founder screening is not free. [Run your own numbers →](https://www.lemonly.ai/cost-calculator.md) ### Interview-to-offer ratio How many interviews a process runs per offer made – a measure of screening quality upstream. The more unqualified candidates reach interviews, the worse this ratio gets. ### No-show rate The share of booked interviews where the candidate doesn't attend. In lemonly's screening data it runs 7.5% of booked interviews – calendar damage a screening layer absorbs so a hiring team doesn't. ### Offer acceptance rate The share of offers extended that candidates accept. Low acceptance usually signals late compensation conversations or a slow process losing candidates to faster competitors. ### Signal-to-noise ratio In hiring, the proportion of applications or outreach responses that are genuinely qualified. Easy-apply job posts run 90%+ noise; screening exists to protect the hiring team's attention from exactly this. 05 ## Compensation ### OTE (On-Target Earnings) Base salary plus the variable compensation a person earns at full quota – the standard way sales roles are priced. A "$120K OTE" role with a 50/50 split pays a $60K base. ### Total compensation Everything a role pays: base salary, bonus, commission, and equity. Recruiter fee percentages are sometimes calculated on total comp rather than base – a distinction worth thousands, so check which one a quote uses. ### Salary band (salary range) The published min-to-max a company will pay for a role. Honest bands run about 25% between min and max; a $50K–$300K "range" is an evasion. BC law now requires ranges on every public job posting. [Why to post the range →](https://www.lemonly.ai/guide-to-hiring/post-the-salary-range.md) ### Pay transparency Publishing what roles pay – in postings, offers, and internal bands. 82% of workers say it affects where they apply, and posting ranges correlates with higher applicant quality. The deeper guides these terms come from: [what recruiters cost in 2026](https://www.lemonly.ai/guide-to-hiring/how-much-does-a-recruiter-cost.md), [picking a fee model](https://www.lemonly.ai/guide-to-hiring/contingency-vs-retained-vs-flat-fee.md), and [recruiter vs AI tools vs DIY](https://www.lemonly.ai/guide-to-hiring/hire-a-recruiter-or-diy.md). --- _Markdown version of [this page](https://www.lemonly.ai/glossary) for AI agents and LLMs. More lemonly content: [llms.txt](https://www.lemonly.ai/llms.txt) · [full index](https://www.lemonly.ai/llms-full.txt)._