Fashion & Lifestyle Recruitment - Client FAQ

If you're recruiting for your fashion or lifestyle business, this page answers questions about working with Encore Recruitment, from the roles we recruit and our fees to how we make recommendations and stay involved through to the start date.

Key Takeaways

• We recruit permanent and fixed-term employees for fashion and lifestyle businesses across the UK.
• We aim to recommend up to three people for a role, with a maximum of five.
• We stay involved with you and the candidate throughout the recruitment process, right up until the start date.

Fashion & Lifestyle Recruitment

What fashion and lifestyle sectors do you recruit for?

We recruit across fashion, accessories, footwear, homeware and beauty.

Our clients include brands, retailers, suppliers and importers looking for people to join their businesses on a permanent or fixed-term basis.

Explore our Fashion & Lifestyle recruitment sectors.

What roles do you recruit for?

We recruit across buying, merchandising, design, technical, product, production, sales, marketing, HR and operations and support roles.

That includes junior positions through to senior appointments across different parts of a fashion or lifestyle business.

Where do you recruit?

Across the UK. Encore Recruitment is based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, and works with fashion and lifestyle businesses recruiting throughout the UK.

Fees & Commercial Terms

What are Encore Recruitment's fees?

Our fee is 15% of the agreed starting salary for roles up to and including £24,999, and 20% for roles at £25,000 and above.

There are no upfront fees. We provide our full terms of business before starting a search.

When is the recruitment fee invoiced?

We invoice on the candidate's start date. Payment is due within 14 days of the invoice date, unless we have agreed different terms with you in advance.

What happens if someone we recruit leaves after starting?

Our standard terms include eight weeks of placement protection.

Depending on the circumstances and timing, this provides for one replacement search at no additional fee or a rebate calculated on a sliding scale. The conditions are set out in our terms of business.

Since Encore Recruitment was founded in October 2020, we have issued only one rebate (as at August 2026).

Do you work exclusively?

We don't ask clients to give us exclusivity.

If you would prefer Encore Recruitment to work exclusively on your role, we're happy to agree that with you.

Do you recruit permanent, fixed-term or temporary roles?

We recruit permanent and fixed-term employees.

We don't supply temporary or freelance staff.

Do you charge candidates?

No. Candidates are never charged for being considered, represented or recommended for a role.

Process & Timelines

What do you need from us before you start?

We need to understand more than the job title.

We'll talk with you about why you're recruiting, the responsibilities, salary and location, as well as what you need the person joining your business to take on.

We also need to understand the business and team they're considering joining. If something still needs clarifying, we'll work through it with you.

Explore our five-stage recruitment Process.

Can you help us with the job description?

Yes. If you already have a job description, we'll use it as part of the conversation about the role. If it needs developing or updating, we can help with that too.

The important part is making sure there is enough clarity about the role before we ask someone to consider it.

How do you manage the recruitment process?

We stay involved with you and the candidate throughout the process.

Recruitment moves through a series of conversations and decisions. We find and recommend people. You decide who you want to meet. Candidates decide whether they want to continue. Interviews create more information, feedback shapes what happens next, and either side can decide to continue or stop.

How quickly the process moves depends on all of us. How quickly we can find and recommend someone, how quickly candidates can respond and interview, and how quickly you can review, interview and make decisions all affect the overall timeline.

Our role is to keep those parts connected, keep everyone informed and make sure each side knows what happens next.

Where do you look for people?

More than 25 years of fashion and lifestyle recruitment has built experience and connections across the sector.

Our search can draw on those existing relationships, applications and people we identify specifically for your role. What we've learned about your business and the role helps determine where we look and who we have a reason to approach.

See how Talent Finding works within our recruitment Process.

Recommendations & Assessment

How do you decide who to recommend?

A search can involve many more people than the ones we recommend to you. We find people, speak to them and assess what we learn. You don't need to see everyone we've found or spoken to.

Before making a recommendation, we bring together what we've learned about your business and the role with what we've learned about the person considering it. Skills and experience matter. So do expectations, motivation and what each side needs from the working relationship.

The role is recommended to the candidate first. They know who you are, understand the opportunity and decide whether they want to be considered.

Only when we have a reason to recommend them and they want to be considered for your role do we make the recommendation to you.

Our Recommendation Standard sets out the guidelines behind that decision.

How many candidates will you recommend?

We aim to recommend up to three people for a role, with a maximum of five.

Our aim is to make your recruitment easier, not send you a volume of CVs to review. We don't add people to a shortlist to make up the numbers.

If there is one person we're prepared to recommend, we'll recommend one.

Read the guidelines behind our Recommendation Standard.

Working Together

How do you handle feedback after interviews?

We stay involved with you and the candidate while you both decide whether to continue.

We gather feedback from both sides and help clarify questions that come out of the interview. Further conversations can provide information that wasn't available before, and perspectives can change as the process develops.

The hiring decision remains yours. The career decision remains the candidate's.

What happens if either side decides not to continue?

We make sure the other side knows where things stand and, where possible, understands the reason for the decision.

Sometimes an interview confirms that both sides want to continue. Sometimes one side decides not to. Sometimes more information is needed before either can decide.

Whatever the decision, we communicate it and agree what happens next.

Do you stay involved after an offer is accepted?

Yes. We stay involved with you and keep in touch with the candidate right up until the start date.

Questions can come up at any point. Resignation, notice periods and preparation for joining also give both sides time to think about what comes next.

Staying in contact gives questions or changes the chance to surface before the start date. Sometimes a decision not to start can still be made late in the process. We can't remove that possibility, but staying involved means we can respond when something changes rather than assuming an accepted offer has closed the recruitment process.

See how we support clients throughout our recruitment Process.

Have a Role to Recruit?

If you have a fashion or lifestyle role to recruit, you can send us the details or talk to us about what you need.

Submit a Vacancy→ for a role you need to fill, or Contact Us→. We'll arrange a conversation to understand what you're looking for and whether we can help.