Version 1 · in force from September 8, 2026

Teacher search and placement fees

What a search costs, when each fee is earned, and what the guarantee is. These are the standard terms; your own search agreement carries the figures that apply to you and it is the one that controls.

Standard search: engagement fee

$2,000Payable to begin the search. Credited in full against the placement fee. It is not refunded if you close the search, because it pays for recruiting work that has already happened.

Standard search: placement fee

20%Of the educator's annualized gross base compensation, earned when you hire somebody we introduced.

Standard search: minimum total

$7,500

Specialized search: engagement fee

$3,500For special education, bilingual instruction, advanced secondary subjects, heavy travel, rural recruitment, learning pods, or several children with materially different needs. Credited, not refunded.

Specialized search: placement fee

25%

Specialized search: minimum total

$10,000

Executive search: placement fee

30%Retained, paid in thirds: at launch, at candidate presentation, and at acceptance. Used where compensation is expected above $125,000, or for rotational, international or confidentiality-intensive roles.

Executive search applies above

$125,000

Part-time rules apply below

20 hoursPer week. Annualizing a low-hour role can make a percentage fee too small to pay for a real search.

Part-time fixed fee

$6,000Offered only where the role is straightforward and locally serviceable. Otherwise the higher of the percentage or the minimum applies.

Replacement guarantee

90 daysFrom the educator's first working day. The remedy is a replacement search, not a refund, and the exclusions are in the guarantee document.

How long an introduction stays ours

12 monthsFrom the date we introduce a candidate. Hiring them inside that period means the placement fee is due, however the hire happens.

If you close the search

The engagement fee is credited, not refunded.Credited in full against a placement fee if you hire anybody we introduced within twelve months.

Hiring a managed Skhillz teacher directly

$7,500Or 20 percent of the first year we would have paid that educator, whichever is greater. Applies during the assignment and for twelve months after it ends. Ask us rather than them: they have signed an agreement saying they cannot accept it.

A published term does not change in place. If a figure here changes, we publish a new version and the old one stays readable, because somebody agreed to it. Questions go to support@skhillzacademy.org or 888-429-5094.