Direct Placement Recruiting in the United States
Finding the Right Person for a Specific Role, not a Longer Search Process
PE-Backed and Franchise Recruiting Expertise
Three Distinct Recruiting Solutions
700+ Google Reviews
2025 Inc. 5000 Honoree (No. 4,961)
BBB A+ Accredited (Since 2021)
Mitsuoka & Company is a team of exceptional recruiters, dedicated to finding the best candidates for our clients.
What Direct Placement Actually Means
Direct Placement is Mitsuoka & Company's solution for a specific role that needs to be filled once, and filled right. We identify, recruit, evaluate, and help secure the right candidate for that position, managing the entire search from the first sourcing call through an accepted offer.
This is the most familiar model in recruiting, but the way it's usually delivered is where things go wrong: a resume gets forwarded, a fee gets charged, and whether the hire actually works out becomes the client's problem to discover later. Direct Placement runs differently. Every candidate is evaluated against the specific role and the team they'd be joining, using structured interviewing built around what the position actually requires, not a generic skills checklist run the same way for every search.
Where this differs from Rent a Recruiter matters. Rent a Recruiter is ongoing capacity, priced monthly, for businesses hiring continuously or across several roles at once. Direct Placement is a single search, priced and delivered as one engagement, built for a business that needs exactly one hire done well rather than a standing recruiting function.
Who Direct Placement Is Built For
PE-Backed and High-Growth Businesses
A single leadership hire under a private equity growth plan carries more weight than the org chart suggests. A finance lead or operations director hired poorly doesn't just create a vacancy, it stalls whatever plan depended on that seat being filled correctly. Direct Placement treats that search with the scrutiny a high-stakes hire actually deserves, rather than rushing a candidate through to close the requisition.
Franchise Systems
Franchise systems frequently need a single, specific hire, a general manager for a new location, a regional director overseeing several units, a VP to lead expansion, where getting it right the first time matters more than getting it done quickly. Direct Placement handles that kind of search with an understanding of what franchise leadership roles actually require, not a generalist search applied to a specialized need.
How a Direct Placement Search Actually Runs
Every search starts with understanding what the role is actually meant to accomplish, not just the job title attached to it. That distinction matters more than it sounds: two companies hiring for the same title can need completely different things from the person who fills it, and a search built around the title alone tends to produce candidates who look right on paper and fall short in practice.
From there, sourcing draws on both active candidates and passive talent who aren't actively job hunting but fit the role well, since the strongest fit for a specific position often isn't browsing job boards. Candidates who clear initial screening go through structured, role-specific interviews before ever reaching the client, so what the hiring manager sees is a genuinely qualified shortlist rather than a wide net of possibilities.
What's Included in a Direct Placement Search
Full-Cycle Search Management
Sourcing, outreach, screening, interviewing, and offer support are handled from start to finish, so the client's team engages with a shortlist rather than managing the search process itself.
Role-Specific Candidate Evaluation
Candidates are assessed against what the actual position requires, not a generic template, using structured interviews built around the specific skills and judgment the role demands.
Access to Passive Talent
Sourcing extends beyond active job seekers to reach strong candidates who aren't currently looking but fit the role well, a pool most job postings never reach on their own.
Offer and Transition Support
Once a candidate is identified, support continues through offer negotiation and the transition into the role, rather than ending the moment a resume gets forwarded.
Search Built Around the Role, Not a Template
Every search is scoped to the specific position and team, recognizing that two roles with the same title can require entirely different candidates.
A Single Point of Accountability
One search, one dedicated point of contact managing it, rather than a request routed through a general inbox and picked up by whoever's available.
Direct Placement, Rent a Recruiter, and Train the Recruiter
Deciding among M&Co's three solutions usually comes down to volume and intent rather than company size.
A single search, done once and done well, is what Direct Placement is built for. Businesses with continuous or multiple hiring needs are better served by Rent a Recruiter's ongoing capacity model, priced monthly instead of per placement. And a business ready to stop outsourcing searches altogether, building the capability internally instead, is the right fit for Train the Recruiter.
It's common to start here, with Direct Placement covering an urgent first hire, then expand into Rent a Recruiter as hiring volume grows, or into Train the Recruiter once the internal team is ready to run things independently.
Searching Across U.S. State Lines
A single hire rarely stays confined to one set of rules if the role itself spans multiple locations or the candidate pool needs to reach beyond one state. Salary disclosure requirements, background check limitations, and at-will employment standards all shift depending on where a role is based, and a search that ignores that risks a candidate experience, or an offer, that doesn't hold up legally.
For franchise systems specifically, a general manager search run in one state needs to reflect the same compliance awareness as one run in another, since the same brand and the same role profile often gets filled repeatedly across different jurisdictions.
Why Businesses Choose M&Co
A Comprehensive Recruiting Partner, Not Just a Headhunter
Offering three distinct solutions means a client isn't locked into Direct Placement if their needs shift toward ongoing capacity or internal capability down the line.
Deep Franchise and High-Growth Experience
A meaningful, ongoing slice of our U.S. client base is made up of franchise systems and PE-backed businesses, and that experience shapes how we approach every search, not only the ones in those specific industries.
Recognition That Comes From Outside the Company
A 2025 spot on the Inc. 5000 at No. 4,961, BBB A+ status since 2021, and 700+ Google reviews, nothing here that asks a client to just take our word for it.
How Direct Placement Is Priced
Direct Placement is priced per search, based on a percentage of the candidate's first-year compensation. This is the standard pricing structure for direct-hire recruiting.
The fee is charged when a candidate is successfully placed and starts the role. You are not paying upfront for recruiting work that may not result in a hire.
The exact percentage depends on the role's complexity and seniority. A specialized VP-level search typically requires more sourcing and evaluation than a mid-level operations hire, so the fee reflects the scope of the search rather than using one flat percentage for every position.
We confirm the specific pricing once we understand the role, seniority level, and what success looks like for the position.
What USA People Have to Say About Mitsuoka & Company
Stop Waiting for the Right Candidate to Find You
Some roles don't get solved by posting another job ad. M&Co takes the search to qualified candidates, evaluates them against the actual requirements of the role, and helps you move from an open position to a strong hire.
Have an important role that needs the right search behind it? Talk to M&Co about the position, the candidates you need, and how we can take the search forward.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Direct Placement is M&Co's solution for filling one specific role. We manage the full search, sourcing, screening, interviewing, and offer support, and the fee is tied to a successful placement rather than charged upfront regardless of outcome.
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Direct Placement is structured as our version of contingency, direct-hire recruiting, with the same pay-on-placement model most businesses expect. The difference shows up in the process: structured, role-specific evaluation rather than a resume-forwarding service that treats every search the same way.
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No. While it's well suited to high-stakes leadership hires, Direct Placement works for any single role where a business needs a dedicated, managed search rather than ongoing recruiting capacity, regardless of seniority.
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It depends on the role's seniority, how specialized the required skill set is, and how competitive the local talent market happens to be for that specific position. Timelines get discussed realistically once the role is scoped, rather than promised as a fixed number upfront.
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This is exactly the kind of scenario worth discussing directly as part of scoping a search, since the right resolution depends on the circumstances and the terms agreed to at the outset.
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Yes. This is a common use case, whether it's a single general manager hire or a leadership role overseeing several locations, with the same compliance awareness applied regardless of which state the location happens to be in.
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Yes. Direct Placement is a national solution, and M&Co manages searches across the United States rather than limiting the service to businesses near any single office location.