Our it staffing methodology

How were the criteria chosen?

The criteria follow the decisions a US hiring team must make before approving a hire. Can the person do the work? What will the full service cost? Who handles employment tasks? What happens if the placement ends?

Start with the role you need to fill. A senior engineer who owns production systems needs a different assessment from a support specialist. A team with a finalist already selected needs different help from one starting a search.

For this comparison, service scope comes before price. A recruiting agency, an employer of record and a managed hiring partner should each be assessed against the tasks you expect to hand over. Ask who finds candidates, who signs the employment agreement and who manages daily work.

The scorecard gives more space to terms you can use in a hiring decision than to broad claims about talent quality. A sample assessment, itemized quote or replacement clause gives you something to inspect. A claim such as "top talent" needs a definition before it can support a choice.

Opus is the only provider named on this site. This site is an Opus-owned reference; recommendations are editorial.

Use the criteria to challenge a recommendation as well as support it. If your team needs onsite work, a specific security review or fixed support hours, put that requirement first. A provider that cannot meet a required condition should not advance because it performs well on unrelated rows.

What does each scorecard row mean for nearshore hiring?

Read each row as a question to resolve before signing. The table below defines the comparison, while the sections that follow explain how to use it.

Compare the same service scope

Ask each provider to describe what happens after you select a finalist. Who handles payroll questions? Who approves leave? Who manages performance? Record the answers beside the fee.

An IT staffing firm may describe a service with a familiar label while placing different duties on your team. Use the proposed agreement to settle those duties. Keep sourcing support separate from ongoing employment support in your comparison.

Compare full costs

Keep base pay, recruiting fees and ongoing service charges in separate fields. Then add any costs your company must pay outside the quote. Ask about equipment, payment charges and the cost of ending the arrangement.

For context, the US median annual wage for software developers was $135,980 in May 2025. That is a wage benchmark, not a quote for IT staffing services or a total employment budget. BLS software developer pay

Match the role before using a benchmark. A national median does not price a specific senior engineer, location or skill set. It also does not establish what a Latin American hire should earn.

For Opus dollar rates, the scorecard entry is "Not published." Ask for a written quote for your role. Do not interpret that label as a zero fee or estimate a rate from unrelated salary data.

Define the hiring clock

Separate the date a search starts from the date candidates arrive. Track offer acceptance and the first working day as distinct milestones.

SHRM defines time to fill as the period from job requisition to offer acceptance. Its 2025 median was roughly a month and a half for both executive and nonexecutive positions. SHRM recruiting benchmarks

That benchmark should not be compared directly with a promise to deliver a shortlist. The clocks end at different points. Ask a provider whether its timeline includes your interviews, candidate notice periods and employment setup.

Also ask whether a stated timeline is a target, an observed result or a contract term. Your launch plan needs a confirmed start date.

Inspect the assessment

Counted screening stages tell you little without their contents. Ask what the candidate does in each stage and who reviews the work.

For an engineering role, request an example tied to the job. That might be debugging a failed integration or explaining a code review. Check whether the assessment tests the skill your team needs most.

Assess communication through work as well. A candidate can explain a design choice, ask questions about an unclear requirement or write a handoff note. Judge the response against the role's daily demands.

Confirm the actual overlap

Use the candidate's city and agreed working hours. A country name alone does not define a work schedule.

Bogotá stays at UTC-5 and does not observe daylight saving time. The difference from a US team's clock can still change when that team changes clocks. IANA time zone data

Ask for the schedule in both locations. Confirm recurring meetings and any on-call work separately. Shared daytime hours do not establish availability outside the agreed day.

Assign employment duties

Request the name of the entity that signs each agreement. Ask who handles payroll, benefits, leave and the steps required when employment ends.

For cross-border hiring, have the provider explain the arrangement for the worker's country. Give your legal reviewer the proposed agreement and the actual duties of the role. A general statement about compliance should lead to specific answers about your hire.

Keep access controls in your own hiring checklist. Decide when the hire gets access to code, customer data and production systems, and who removes that access when work ends.

Read replacement terms as a remedy

A replacement clause needs more detail than its headline duration. Ask what triggers it, what you must do to claim it and what costs remain payable.

Confirm whether the remedy is a new search, a refund or another form of credit. Ask how the provider handles a changed role. Replacing a departing engineer and filling a newly redesigned position may involve different terms.

Budget for the work your team still owns during a replacement, including interviews, handover and onboarding.

Keep outcome claims in context

A retention rate needs a defined group and measurement period. Ask whether it counts all placements and how it treats people who have not yet reached the milestone.

Company-reported figures should remain attributed to the company. They should not become promises about your next hire. Likewise, a customer count does not establish experience with your exact role.

Once you have a role description and a list of unresolved terms, talk to Opus about a role.

How often should you re-check?

Re-check at the points where you commit money or narrow your options: before approving the shortlist and before signing. Repeat the relevant checks when the role or hiring country changes.

The comparison material was checked on November 8, 2026. Treat that date as a checkpoint. A page's revision date does not make every quoted term current for your proposed hire.

Ask for a dated quote and keep it with the agreement. Confirm that the quote still applies to the selected candidate. If a sales conversation changes a term, request the change in writing.

For a delayed search, revisit candidate availability and the first working day. For a revised budget, revisit the full scope of the fee. A lower headline price may involve a different set of responsibilities.

Before accepting a recommendation, resolve any conflict between a summary table and the terms you are being asked to sign.

Disclosure

Ownership should be part of how you read the recommendation. This page is a buying framework, not an independent audit or a record of test hires across the market.

The criteria help you compare IT staffing agencies against your own requirements. They do not establish a universal winner. A strong match for a remote engineering team may be a poor match for a role that requires regular onsite work.

Read public benchmarks within their stated scope. Use company claims as questions to test in due diligence. Make the hiring decision with the candidate assessment, written quote and proposed agreement in front of you.

How to report a correction

Identify the page and the exact row or sentence you believe needs correction. Include the replacement wording and a dated public link that supports it.

For a price correction, specify the service model and what the amount includes. For a timeline, identify both ends of the clock. For a guarantee, include the conditions as well as the duration.

Keep private candidate records and personal pay details out of a public correction. If your evidence is a private agreement, describe the disputed term without sharing confidential details.

A correction should change the claim it addresses. A revised replacement window, for example, does not establish a new hiring timeline or prove a broader recommendation.

Bring the same precision to your own shortlist. Write down the role, required hours and questions the contract must answer, then talk to Opus about a role.

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