Stage 9 · Aftercare
Protect the placement you just made
The deal isn't done at the start date — it's done when the candidate is still thriving and the client is delighted. Aftercare is the structured care that prevents fall-offs through the guarantee window and turns a placement into a relationship. It is not admin to be delegated away; it is the recruiter's owned ethos.
⚪ Split — TP keeps the candidate warm · Consultant keeps the client warm
THE PRINCIPLE
A placement is the start of the most valuable relationship you have — not the finish line. The two people most likely to give you your next role are the candidate you just placed and the client you just delivered to. Aftercare keeps both warm and catches trouble before it becomes a fall-off.
Fall-off prevention is the commercial point: a placement that terminates inside the guarantee costs you the fee, the replacement effort, and the relationship. See the guarantee terms in M4 → Guarantee Rules.
The split. The Talent Partner owns candidate-side contact (the person they screened, set and prepped); the Consultant owns client-side contact (the relationship they sold and delivered into). Same two-role pattern as the rest of the spine — both run the cadence below in parallel, both feed what they hear into the CRM.
Stage 9 · Aftercare
The aftercare cadence — Day 1 to Day 90
Five fixed touchpoints across the guarantee period, run on both sides. The cadence is the same shape every time so nothing slips; what changes is who you're calling and what you're listening for.
1Day 1 — they started
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Confirm the start actually happened and the first day went smoothly. The single biggest fall-off window is the gap between offer-accept and a settled first week — a counter-offer or a cold first day undoes everything.
🔵 Talent Partner — candidate
Call the candidate on the morning of (or end of) Day 1. "How did it go? Were you set up, did you meet the team, anything feel off?" Reassure; reinforce the reasons they took the role.🟢 Consultant — client
Call the hiring manager. "Did they start, did onboarding go to plan, first impressions?" Confirm the invoice landed and the guarantee clock is understood.2Week 1 — settling in
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The honeymoon-or-doubt checkpoint. Surface buyer's remorse on either side while it's still fixable.
🔵 Talent Partner — candidate
"Is the role what we described? Any surprises on the work, the manager, the team?" Listen for early regret or a competing offer still circling — coach through it, escalate to the Consultant if the client needs to act.🟢 Consultant — client
"Are they doing what you hoped? Onboarding gaps we should flag to the candidate?" Catch a mismatch in expectations before it hardens into a performance worry.3Day 30 — the first month
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The first real read on the placement — and the NPS capture point (see below). By now both sides have enough signal to be honest.
🔵 Talent Partner — candidate
Full check-in: integration, relationship with the manager, any concerns. Capture candidate NPS. If they're happy, you've earned the right to ask for referrals (Stage 10).🟢 Consultant — client
Full check-in: performance against the brief's outcome objectives, fit, momentum. Capture client NPS. A delighted client at day 30 is the warmest BD lead you will ever have.4Day 60 — momentum
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Lighter-touch confirmation that the trajectory is good and the guarantee risk is receding.
🔵 Talent Partner — candidate
"Still glad you moved? Hitting your early goals?" Keep the relationship live — this person is now part of your talent community.🟢 Consultant — client
"Tracking to where you wanted them? Anything I can do?" Open the door to the next role without pushing.5Day 90 — through the window
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The placement has cleared the most common guarantee period. Close the loop formally and transition the relationship from "aftercare" into "grow".
🔵 Talent Partner — candidate
Confirm they're embedded and happy; formally invite them into the talent community / alumni network. Re-ask for referrals if you didn't land them at day 30.🟢 Consultant — client
Mark the placement secure. Book the account review / QBR conversation (Stage 10). This is the natural moment to discuss the next role and exclusivity.Whatever you hear, log it. Every aftercare call produces intel — a candidate considering a move next year, a client growing a team, a competitor losing people. Capture it in the CRM against the candidate, the account and the niche pool. The cadence is also a market-intelligence engine if you treat it as one.
Stage 9 · Aftercare
NPS at day 30 — the hinge into Grow
A two-sided satisfaction signal, captured at day 30 from both the candidate and the client, stored in APB HQ. It does two jobs: it's the early-warning system for a placement at risk, and it identifies your promoters — the people warm enough to refer and grow.
The standard question. "On a scale of 0–10, how likely are you to recommend APB to a colleague?" 9–10 = promoter · 7–8 = passive · 0–6 = detractor.
- Promoters → trigger Stage 10. Ask for the referral and open the growth conversation now, while the goodwill is at its peak.
- Passives → keep nurturing through the cadence; find the one thing that would make them a 9.
- Detractors → escalate immediately. A detractor inside the guarantee window is a fall-off risk — get the Consultant and Desk Lead on it.
NPS capture and the scorecard live in APB HQ, not the Codex — this page is the SOP for how and when to run it. The day-30 score is read on the weekly numbers ritual.
Stage 9 · Aftercare
The 1-year Win-Win measure
Day 90 clears the guarantee, but it doesn't prove the placement was good. The honest measure of quality is two-sided and a year out: is the candidate still happy, and is the manager still delighted?
✓Why a year, and why both sides
▾A one-sided "they're still there" is a low bar. A placement is genuinely successful only when the candidate would take the move again and the manager would hire through you again. Measuring at the one-year anniversary, two-sided, is harder proof — and it's exactly the proof that powers case studies, the exclusivity pitch, and the guarantee story.
✓The 90-day project check (early warning)
▾Don't wait a year to find out it went wrong. The day-90 touchpoint doubles as a project check against the brief's 5–8 outcome objectives — is the person delivering what the role was defined to achieve? A weak project check is the cue to intervene while you still can.
✓Serve the unplaced 95%
▾Aftercare isn't only for the placed. The candidates you screened but didn't place are next year's candidates and this year's referrers. A light, regular touch keeps them warm and feeds the talent inventory. Today's decline is tomorrow's placement.
Stage 10 · Grow & Advocate
Multiply the placement — one motion, not four
A settled, happy placement is fuel. Grow & Advocate is the deliberate work of turning one good outcome into the next deal: referrals, account growth, a warm talent community, and banked market intelligence. Treat it as a single motion you run off the same promoter moment — not four separate projects.
🟢 Consultant-led · 🔵 TP supports (candidate-side referrals + community)
THE TRIGGER
Run Stage 10 off the day-30 NPS promoter signal. When someone scores you a 9 or 10, they are telling you they'll vouch for you — so ask, then. The warmest, highest-hit-rate BD you will ever do is the referral request made to a promoter at the peak of their goodwill.
This is where the spine loops: the output of Stage 10 becomes the input to Stage 1 · BD. Referrals and repeat business refill the engines.
Grow · 1
Referrals at the promoter moment
Ask both sides — the placed candidate and the delighted client — for an introduction, at the moment the NPS says they're a promoter. Warm, specific, and immediate beats a generic ask months later.
⚪ Consultant asks the client · TP asks the candidate
1Ask the placed candidate
▾The TP, at day 30+: "I'm so glad it's working out. Who are the two best people you've worked with who I should know?" A happy candidate's network is full of people exactly like them — in your niche, of your standard. Capture every name into the talent inventory.
2Ask the delighted client
▾The Consultant, at day 30+: "Glad they're working out. Who else in your network is hiring, or which part of the business should I be talking to?" A client who just had a great experience is the most credible referrer into a peer or a sister team — a warm intro that lands you a qualified prospect.
3Referees are referrals too
▾Don't forget the references you took at offer stage — every referee is a former manager and a potential client or candidate. The references-as-BD habit (M3, Stage 7) feeds straight into this stage's pipeline.
Grow · 2
Account growth & QBRs
Deepen the account you just proved yourself in. A successful placement is the credential that earns the next role, the move to exclusive terms, and a seat at the planning table.
🟢 Consultant-led
1The periodic client review / QBR
▾Book a quarterly review with A-tier accounts — what's working, what's coming, where the team is growing. The in-person Sydney/Melbourne visit is an A-tier privilege and an exclusivity lever (see client tiering in Account Leadership / Engines). The QBR turns a vendor into an advisor.
2Deepen into more roles, exclusivity, retainers
▾A delivered placement is your proof point to move the account up the value ladder: more roles, exclusive terms on the next search, or a retained relationship. The trust you've just earned is the on-ramp the exclusivity-conversion engine needs — use it while it's fresh.
3Watch concentration
▾Growing an account is good; over-depending on one is a risk. Keep any single client comfortably under ~25% of desk billings, and use referrals + MPC to spread the base as you grow it.
Grow · 3
Talent community / alumni
Keep placed candidates and strong silver-medallists warm as a re-placeable network. In a two-industry niche the same people recur — the candidate you placed today is a hiring manager (and a client) tomorrow.
🔵 TP-led · Consultant on the client conversion
1Placed candidates become clients
▾The person you placed into a senior role will, before long, be hiring a team of their own. Stay in their corner through the talent community and you're the obvious call when that day comes — a candidate-to-client conversion that costs nothing but consistency.
2Silver-medallists stay in the pool
▾The strong runner-up who didn't get this role is often perfect for the next one. Keep them warm and ranked in the talent inventory rather than letting them go cold — they're a fast fill waiting to happen.
Grow · 4
Market intelligence
Every aftercare and growth conversation produces proprietary intel — salaries, who's moving, who's hiring, what competitors are doing. Banked into the CRM, it's the raw material for advisory authority and the next exclusive search.
⚪ Both — capture it on every call
1Capture it, don't just hear it
▾A boutique in two niches sits on comp and market data generalists can't match — but only if it's logged. Record salary movements, counter-offer patterns, team growth and competitor signals against the account and niche in the CRM. This is the cheapest engine to start because it's a byproduct of work you already do.
2Sell it as an advisor
▾Banked intel is what lets you "teach" a client something they don't know about their own hiring problem — the Challenger move that opens exclusivity. It feeds the Brand & Market Intel engine and the BD "teach" step in M1.
The spine loops. Referrals, repeat roles and warm intel from Stage 10 become the qualified targets of Stage 1 · BD — a settled placement is the start of the next one.