The service · singular by design
One service, delivered end to end: we find the roles — listed and unlisted — put your candidacy in front of the people who decide, prepare you for every round, and negotiate the close. Everything a placement needs is inside the fee. Nothing is sold separately.
What we do for you
These are the services set out in the Active Reverse Recruiting Services Agreement. All are rendered exclusively in furtherance of procuring employment for you, and all are included within the single placement fee.
Active identification of employment opportunities commensurate with your qualifications, experience and stated compensation objectives — within the Bay Area market. Listed openings and unlisted needs alike.
We prepare and submit applications on your behalf to the employers our placement efforts identify — tracked, logged and reported back to you.
Professional advocacy and direct outreach to prospective employers and hiring managers on your behalf. Where appropriate, we bypass the cold application entirely.
Your résumé and supporting application materials are prepared and tailored for every position you apply to through us — an integral part of placement, never a separate product or fee.
Interview coordination, technical and behavioural preparation, company-specific briefings, structured debriefs after each round, and placement guidance through to the offer.
Ongoing written status updates: active placement efforts, applications submitted, employer responses and interview scheduling. You always know where the search stands.
How the models differ
Job boards, employer-paid recruiters and career coaches each solve a different problem — none of them is built to represent a doctorate with an exclusive mandate. The characterisations below describe how those models typically operate; the last column is contractual.
| Dimension | Job boards & portals | Employer-paid recruiter | Career coach | Natural Harmonics Careers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whose interests come first | Nobody's — a listing service | The employer paying the fee | Yours, but with no market mandate | Yours — fiduciary duties run exclusively to the candidate |
| Who pays, and when | Typically free to apply | Employer, on hire | You, upfront or per session — placement or not | You (10%) and the employer (10%), only on an accepted offer; nothing upfront |
| Unlisted positions | No — only what is posted | Sometimes — the employer's own needs | No — advice, not sourcing | Yes — created-position analysis for top targets |
| Compensation position | Whatever the posting says | The employer's budget | General negotiation tips | Per-position payroll & benefits valuation, anchored to the model — never to salary history |
| Materials & preparation | Your own | Light, employer-oriented | Included, at a separate fee | Included in the placement fee — per-application résumé, interview and offer prep |
| Regulated & bonded | No | Varies | Typically no | Yes — bonded California Employment Agency, statutory refund & 90-day protections |
| Exit terms | — | — | Package or subscription terms | Either party, 15 days' notice, no fee or penalty |
A team, not a single recruiter
Placing a doctorate at $250,001+ is not a résumé problem. It is a research, valuation and preparation problem. Our engagement model divides the work accordingly.
Owns the relationship and the pipeline: candidate sourcing, employer long-list and profiles, direct outreach to hiring managers, application tracking, interview coordination and negotiation.
Computes what you should be paid at each target — specific to company, department and role — with every assumption documented. Numbers we can present to employers and defend under questioning.
Runs the positioning session, produces the per-application ATS-compliant résumé, prepares you technically and behaviourally, and coaches the compensation conversation.
Recruiter · valuation · counselling
Engagement terms, explained
Reverse recruiting only works with a clear, exclusive mandate. Here is what the agreement asks of you, in plain language, and what it protects.
During the term you do not retain another employment agency, headhunter, staffing firm or reverse-recruiting service for substantially similar services. One accountable team, one strategy, no crossed wires in front of employers.
Your freedom to apply directly on your own initiative. Self-sourced applications to employers we did not introduce do not trigger a fee — provided the employer is on your Pre-Existing Contact List or we played no role in the introduction.
Within five business days of signing you deliver a written list of every employer, hiring manager, staffing firm and recruiter you have had substantive employment contact with in the preceding twelve months. We acknowledge it in writing.
Accept a role with a listed employer that we did not independently introduce you to, and no Client Placement Fee applies. Employers not on a timely list are presumed introduced by us — so be thorough.
You tell us in writing within 48 hours of receiving any offer — from an employer we introduced or otherwise — so we can run the offer analysis and negotiate before you commit.
If we introduce you to an employer or opportunity and you accept employment there within twelve months of the introduction, the placement fee is payable — whether or not we stayed involved. Circumventing that fee by going direct is a breach.
The agreement runs from the effective date until you accept a qualifying offer, the parties agree in writing to end it, or either side terminates.
Either party may terminate at any time on fifteen days' written notice. No fee, charge or penalty of any kind attaches to termination — only fees already earned on employers we introduced survive, for twelve months.
We make no representation or guarantee that our services will result in employment. Our obligation is to pursue opportunities on your behalf diligently and professionally; placement decisions rest with employers. Nobody who promises you a job is telling the truth.
We present your candidacy directly to employers and may separately enter Employer Placement Agreements under which the employer pays us a fee upon hire. Our fiduciary duties run exclusively to you; we do not act as any employer's agent under your agreement.
We do not disclose your identity or personal information to prospective employers without your authorisation. The one required disclosure — that we receive a fee from you upon placement — is made to every prospective employer, and you authorise it by signing.
Next step
The fee model is simple, capped and disclosed. The engagement is regulated and bonded. The only remaining question is whether you are inside the standard.
