Overview
You sell recruitment services to digital media companies, tech startups, and hospitality groups. You're responsible for the entire sales cycle - from identifying companies that are hiring, to cold outreach, to discovery calls, to proposal, to close. You're essentially selling your firm's ability to find them sales and marketing talent.
Role Snapshot
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Role Type | Full-cycle AE (build pipeline + close) |
| Sales Motion | Outbound-heavy (80%+ self-sourced) |
| Deal Complexity | Consultative |
| Sales Cycle | 2-6 weeks |
| Deal Size | $10K-40K per placement (est.) |
| Quota (est.) | ~$50K-60K/quarter in closed revenue |
Company Context
Stage: Bootstrap/Early-stage (2 employees)
Size: 2 employees (you'd be an early hire)
Growth: Small recruiting firm focusing on hospitality and tech verticals
Market Position: Crowded space - competing against hundreds of recruitment agencies, internal recruiters, and LinkedIn Recruiter
GTM Reality
Pipeline Sources:
- 80% Outbound - cold calling/emailing hiring managers, VPs of Sales, founders at companies with open roles
- 15% Referrals - from past placements or network
- 5% Inbound - minimal brand awareness given company size
SDR/AE Structure: No SDR support - you build your own pipeline
SE Support: No sales engineer - you're selling a service, not software
Competitive Landscape
Main Competitors: Robert Half, local recruiting agencies, internal talent teams, LinkedIn Recruiter (DIY), other boutique staffing firms
How They Differentiate: Focus on "performance talent for high-pressure environments" - positioning as quality-focused for specific verticals
Common Objections: "We have an internal recruiter", "We use LinkedIn", "Too expensive", "We've had bad experiences with agencies", "We're not hiring right now"
Win Themes: Speed to fill, quality of candidates, vertical expertise, taking recruiting work off hiring manager's plate
What You'll Actually Do
Time Breakdown
Prospecting (40%) | Active Deals (30%) | Client Management (20%) | Internal (10%)
Key Activities
- Cold outreach: Identify companies hiring for sales/marketing roles (checking job boards, LinkedIn, news), then cold call/email hiring managers and founders. You're looking for companies frustrated with their current recruiting approach or struggling to fill roles.
- Discovery calls: When someone bites, you run a 30-45 minute call to understand their hiring needs - role requirements, timeline, budget, why the role is open, what's failed before. You're qualifying if they'll actually pay a placement fee (typically 20-25% of first year salary).
- Candidate sourcing coordination: You don't do the recruiting yourself - Hybrid Hire's team does that - but you're the client liaison. You manage expectations, provide updates, handle objections when candidates don't fit.
- Proposal and close: Present pricing (usually a percentage of salary), negotiate terms, get contracts signed. Some clients will ghost after the discovery call when they see the fee.
The Honest Reality
What's Hard
- Most companies you call aren't actively looking for recruiting help or think they can do it themselves cheaper
- You're often competing on price against other agencies, and many clients will shop around
- Deals can stall when hiring freezes happen or priorities shift - your commission depends on placements actually happening
- If Hybrid Hire's recruiters present bad candidates, it reflects on you and kills the deal
- Recruitment is a grind industry with lots of rejection - hiring managers get dozens of agency pitches
- Your income is heavily commission-based, so slow months hit hard
What Success Looks Like
- Closing 3-4 new client contracts per quarter (companies agreeing to use Hybrid Hire for searches)
- Actually placing 2-3 candidates per month (where someone gets hired and you get paid)
- Building a pipeline of 20-30 active prospects who are hiring or planning to hire soon
- Getting renewals - clients coming back for second, third placements
Who You're Selling To
Primary Buyers:
- VP Sales/CRO at Series A-C startups (hiring SDRs, AEs, CSMs)
- Founders at early-stage companies (hiring their first sales hires)
- Hiring Managers at digital media companies (need marketing/sales talent)
- Operations directors at hospitality groups (hiring management)
What They Care About:
- Speed - can you fill this role faster than they can on their own
- Quality - will candidates actually be good fits or is it spam
- Price - is the placement fee worth it vs doing it themselves
- Hassle reduction - do you make their life easier or add more meetings
- Track record - have you placed people in similar roles before
Requirements
- 1-2+ years of SDR or BDR experience (you've carried a quota before)
- Comfortable with high-volume cold outreach (calls and emails)
- Thick skin for rejection - most prospects will say no or ghost
- Self-starter mentality - no one is handing you leads or managing your day
- Understanding of sales roles and what makes a good candidate (helpful for client conversations)
- Willingness to work in a small, scrappy environment with minimal structure