Our Story
They built the business first. Then they got married.
Jason and Linda started RFT Search Group in February 2012 before they were married, which tells you something about how they make decisions: they proved the partnership worked before they made it permanent.
At the time, Jason had just sold his IT company. Linda was recruiting for a staffing firm and growing tired of an industry that put billable hours first, clients second, and candidates somewhere after that. She knew exactly what a better recruiting firm would look like. What she needed was someone who knew how to build and run a company.
So she told Jason. He said he would start it and run it if she would do the recruiting. That was the deal. 14+ years later, it still is.
Why We Work the Way We Do
The retained model. The 5-Year Commitment. Both came from the same place.
Linda had watched the contingency model produce bad hires for years. The pressure to fill positions fast, to hit billable targets, to negotiate a wider spread between what the client paid and what the candidate earned. Every one of those incentives pointed away from the client and toward the next invoice.
The retained model fixed that. Pricing is agreed upfront. There is no pressure to push a candidate into a role faster than the search warrants. There is no spread to manipulate. RFT puts the client and candidate first, and the billable second. That is the opposite of how most of the industry operates, and it is not an accident.
The 5-Year Client Loyalty Pricing Program is the natural extension of that same philosophy. Every client gets heavily discounted or free replacement searches for up to five years after a placement. The industry standard warranty is 90 days. RFT’s is five years, because a bad hire does not always announce itself in the first three months, and because we have no interest in waiting for one to fail so we can collect another fee.
Your search stays confidential.
You will never see your name or your company mentioned in a press release, a case study, a social media post, or any other material RFT Search Group uses to market its business. What you share with us stays between us. That has been true since 2012 and it is not changing.
The People Behind Your Search
Meet Jason Verlinde and Linda Ferrante
Two founders. One firm. Your search handled personally from start to finish.
Jason Verlinde
Co-Founder & President
Jason has been a business owner since 2004. He brings a financial and strategic perspective to every search, the kind that only comes from having made payroll, managed growth, and felt the cost of a wrong hire firsthand.
Linda Ferrante
Co-Founder & Director of Recruiting Operations
Linda has been recruiting since 1998. With 28 years of placement experience across multiple industries, she brings the depth that most recruiters spend a full career trying to develop.
Ready to Make Your Next Critical Hire?
Let’s talk about your hiring needs. No pressure, no obligation, just a straightforward conversation about whether we’re the right executive search firm for your needs.