You spend tens of thousands recruiting, training, and mentoring top talent—only to lose them to a client. A recruitment fee clause can change that.
Your client loves them.
And then… they hire them.

Now you’re short an employee and a client.
And your contract? A dusty non-solicit clause that no one wants to enforce.

There’s a better way.

💼 The Real Story: How a Recruitment Fee Clause Got Them Paid

One of our clients runs a professional services firm.
Recently, one of their employees quit and went to work for one of their customers.

Sounds like a loss, right?
Wrong.
Our client got paid tens of thousands of dollars — because we’d replaced the non-solicit with a clean, simple recruitment fee clause.

🚫 Non-Solicit Clauses are not business friendly, Recruitments Fees are

Most contracts try to stop employee poaching with a non-solicit clause.
That’s the “you can’t hire my people” part.

Sounds nice in theory.
In practice? Not so much.

Steve Jobs famously sent a veiled treat in an email to Adobe’s CEO

Meanwhile in 2025, Meta is (reportedly) offering AI researchers multimillion-dollar contracts.
Their CTO, Andrew Bosworth? He’s reportedly pulling $20–$24 million per year.
And this is in California, where non-solicits are mostly unenforceable.

So… what’s a business to do?

🤔 The Cost of Doing Nothing

Here’s the cycle:

  • You recruit good talent
  • You train them
  • You place them on client work
  • They get poached
  • You get nothing

You could sue.
But you’ll probably:

  • Lose the client
  • Lose the employee
  • Damage your reputation
  • Rack up legal bills
  • And maybe get paid… 3 years later

Worth it?

✅ Why a Recruitment Fee Clause Works Better Than a Non-Solicit

We built a recruitment fee clause into our client’s agreement. This type of recruitment fee clause can be applied to most client contracts.
When their client poached an employee, they didn’t panic.
They sent an invoice.

The client paid it.
And the company used the money to hire their replacement.

Simple. Clean. Zero drama.

Now imagine being Andrew Bosworth’s former employer and getting a cut of that Meta employment agreement.

🧾 Want to Protect Your People and Your Profits?

There are a few steps to doing this right — and no, we’re not giving them away for free.
We want to help your business, not your lawyer’s billables.

If you want contracts that actually work in the real world, not just look good on paper —
👉 C.F.S. is ready to help.