Most German tech startups pick a Personalvermittlung the way they pick a plumber: by referral, by whoever answers the phone fastest, or by whoever pitches the most confidently. That works fine for a office manager hire. It's a costly way to fill a senior engineering or AI role, where a bad match burns months of runway and a mis-scoped Garantiezeit leaves you paying twice. Here's the checklist to actually run before you sign a Vermittlungsvertrag.
How do they actually vet technical candidates?
This is the single question that separates a usable Personalvermittlung from an expensive CV-forwarding service. Ask directly: who reviews the technical work, someone with an engineering or AI background, or a generalist recruiter matching keywords? Do they use a real work sample, a paired technical session, or a reference check that goes beyond 'would you rehire them'? If the answer is vague, or the agency can't describe a concrete assessment step beyond the interview they're arranging for you, you're paying for sourcing, not vetting, and you'll be doing the real evaluation yourself anyway.
Speed: what to actually measure
Agencies love to quote time-to-first-CV. That number is nearly meaningless. What matters is time to a qualified shortlist, candidates you'd actually want to interview, and, separately, how long from signed offer to start date given German notice periods. Ask for both numbers from recent, comparable placements, not averages across the agency's whole book of business, which usually includes far easier-to-fill roles.
The replacement guarantee, read the fine print
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| How long is the Garantiezeit? | Three to six months is standard; shorter windows shift risk to you. |
| What counts as a failed placement? | Some agencies only cover the hire quitting, not you terminating for underperformance. |
| Is the replacement free, or a reduced fee? | A 'discount' replacement isn't a real guarantee. |
| Is there a minimum tenure before the clock resets? | Clarify whether a probation-period exit resets or forfeits the guarantee. |
Specialist vs. generalist: it's not close for technical roles
A generalist Personalvermittlung that places everything from office managers to sales reps will have a shallow bench for a senior ML engineer or AI product lead search. A specialist agency, or an AI-native talent model, lives inside that network daily: they know who's actually shipped production LLM systems versus who's added 'AI' to a LinkedIn headline. For any role where the technical bar is the whole point of the hire, specialization beats breadth almost every time, ask for three recent, comparable placements and check references directly with those clients.
The checklist to run before you sign
- 1Who technically reviews candidates, and what's their background?
- 2What's the assessment method beyond a CV screen: work sample, pairing session, structured reference check?
- 3What's the time to a qualified shortlist for a comparable recent role?
- 4What's the Vermittlungsprovision, and is it a flat percentage or tiered by seniority?
- 5What exactly triggers the Garantiezeit, and how long does it run?
- 6Is there an exclusivity clause, and what happens if you fill the role yourself mid-search?
- 7Can they name three recent, comparable placements you can call as references?
- 8How do they source passive candidates who aren't actively applying anywhere?
