'No cure, no pay' is one of the most-mentioned, and least clearly defined, terms in recruitment marketing. For some agencies it means fully performance-based payment, for others it's a marketing term without much substance. It's worth being clear about what it concretely means for us, and why the model exists.
Why the model exists
For many agencies, recruitment marketing is an investment with an uncertain outcome: you pay for campaigns, sourcing or outreach without any guarantee it actually produces applicants or clients. That uncertainty stops many agencies from starting, even when the problem (too few candidates, too few clients) is obvious.
No cure, no pay shifts that risk. You only pay once results are actually delivered, which is agreed clearly upfront during the strategy call: that can mean numbers of applicants, numbers of meetings with prospective clients, or other concrete outcomes, depending on which of the six services is deployed.
What it means for the way of working
A performance-based model changes the incentive for the agency running the campaigns. If you only get paid on results, there's no benefit in a campaign that looks good but delivers nothing. Every week is steered by what actually works, not what looks good in a report. That's why weekly optimization and a real-time dashboard aren't extras, they're a direct consequence of the model.
It also means the intake has to be more thorough than with a fixed fee. Before a campaign starts, we sharply map out which of the six services (Job Marketing Campagnes, AI Sourcing, Multi-Channel Job Distribution, ICP Outreach, B2B Ad Engine, CRM & Automations) delivers the fastest and most realistic result for that specific vacancy or client profile. A wrong call here affects both parties.
- Results and criteria are agreed clearly upfront, not filled in afterward.
- Payment follows delivered results, not hours worked or ads placed.
- Weekly data analysis is a required part of the model, not an add-on service.
- The intake determines which service is deployed, based on what's realistically achievable.
Where the limits of the model lie
No cure, no pay doesn't mean results are guaranteed regardless of the vacancy or client profile. A vacancy with a market-rate salary in a region with sufficient labor supply is a different starting position than a structurally unattractive role in a tight region. That's why the strategy call always includes an honest conversation about what's realistic, rather than accepting every request at face value.
“You pay for the result we agree on. That's not a slogan, it's the foundation of how every campaign is set up and steered.”
For agencies hesitant to start with recruitment marketing because the risk feels unclear, this is exactly what the model is designed for: the risk shifts to the party running the campaign, and the incentive to deliver gets bigger, not smaller.
