You’ve worked with a recruiting firm before. Maybe the relationship was productive and simply went quiet when priorities shifted. Or maybe it ended without a formal conversation and you’re not entirely sure what to make of it. Either way, hiring is back on the table and the question is the same: is the firm you worked with before worth calling again?
According to SHRM, it takes a median of 44 days to fill an open position.1 That’s under normal conditions, with an aligned internal process and a partner who already knows your organization. Before defaulting to a fresh start, it’s worth an honest assessment of what the former relationship actually delivered.
3 Questions to Ask Before Reaching Back Out
The decision to reopen a former recruiting relationship shouldn’t be driven by convenience or familiarity alone. It should also be driven by an honest assessment of what the relationship delivered and whether the conditions that caused it to go quiet have changed.
These three questions will help frame your evaluation.
1. Did the placements hold?
This is the most important question and the clearest indicator of whether a former partnership delivered real value. If the candidates placed by that firm are still with your organization and performing well, the firm’s process worked. With nearly 70 percent of organizations still reporting difficulty filling roles,2 placements that hold represent genuine value and a clear signal that the firm’s process is working.
2. Why did the relationship go dormant?
The reason for dormancy matters significantly. If the relationship went quiet because of a contact change, a budget freeze, a deprioritized search, or a shift in internal priorities, the partnership itself was likely never the problem. Those are circumstantial causes and they change.
If the relationship went quiet because placements underperformed, communication broke down, or the firm consistently missed the standard you set, that’s a different situation. In this context, reactivation deserves more scrutiny.
3. Has anything changed on the firm’s end?
Recruiting firms evolve. A firm that was a strong fit two years ago may have shifted its focus, changed its team, or expanded into markets or role categories where it has less depth. Before reactivating, it’s worth a direct conversation to understand whether the firm still operates the way you remember and whether their current capability matches your current needs.
Read more: How Long-Term Recruiting Partnerships Improve Hiring
Criteria for Evaluation: A Simple Framework
Once you have worked through the three questions, these criteria can help you make a final call on whether reactivation makes sense.
Reactivation is likely the right move in these scenarios:
- The firm specializes in the role category and market where your current need sits
- The firm has maintained market presence and relationship continuity since the relationship went quiet
- Starting over with a new firm would require rebuilding context that the former partner already has
Proceed with more caution if the following are true:
- Previous placements had consistently poor retention
- Communication during the previous engagement was unclear or inconsistent
- The firm’s focus or team has changed significantly since you last worked together
The honest version of this framework sometimes points toward reactivation and sometimes doesn’t. A former recruiting partner worth reopening a conversation with should be able to hold up clearly against these criteria.
How to Have the Reopening Conversation
When the evaluation points toward reactivation, the conversation itself doesn’t need to be complicated. A few principles make the reopening more productive from the first exchange.
Lead with where you are now
Open with your current hiring situation rather than a recap of the previous relationship. A strong opening covers three things.
- What roles are open or upcoming
- What your ideal timeline looks like
- What has changed in your organization since you last worked together
This gives the conversation immediate practical focus. It’s a straightforward approach that can quickly get your partnership started in the right direction.
Understand any changes on their end
A good recruiting partner who has stayed active in your market will have current intelligence on candidate availability, compensation benchmarks, and hiring trends in your role category. Asking what they are seeing positions your conversation as a two-way exchange rather than a one-sided pitch.
Be specific about what you need
The clearest reopening conversations are the ones where the employer walks in with a defined need. This includes a specific role, a target timeline, and a clear picture of what a strong candidate looks like. That specificity allows the recruiting partner to respond with something concrete rather than a general proposal.
Partner with a firm that stays active and current.
North Bridge places administrative and HR professionals through contract, contract-to-hire, and direct hire arrangements across financial and professional services in the US and UK, and has done so for over two decades. Whether you’re revisiting a relationship that’s gone quiet or evaluating your recruiting partnerships for the first time, reach out and let’s have a conversation about where your hiring stands.
References
- “2025 Recruiting Executives Benchmarking: Insights to Maximize Recruitment.” SHRM, 2025, www.shrm.org/content/dam/en/shrm/research/2025-recruiting-benchmarking-report.pdf.
- “2025 Talent Trends.” SHRM, 2025, www.shrm.org/topics-tools/research/2025-talent-trends/recruiting.
