Frequently Asked Questions.

Obelisk Talent is a Canadian-incorporated talent outsourcing company that places pre-vetted, full-time Middle Eastern professionals into Canadian SMB teams. We cover four disciplines — Tech & IT, Marketing & Sales, Creatives, and Finance & Operations — under one B2B contract in CAD, with sourcing, vetting, onboarding, payroll, HR compliance, and ongoing account management included in a flat monthly rate.

Marketplaces like Upwork or Toptal hand you a list of CVs and leave the vetting, onboarding, and management to you. Employer-of-record platforms like Deel handle compliance and payroll but expect you to source the talent yourself. Local recruiters charge a 20–25% placement fee then disappear. Obelisk combines all three: we source, vet, place, and manage the engagement on a flat monthly retainer with no separate placement fee.

Yes. Obelisk Talent Inc. is a federal corporation under the Canada Business Corporations Act (Corporation Number 1674239-4), registered in Bedford, Nova Scotia. Canadian clients sign a Canadian B2B contract, receive CAD invoices, and get domestic consumer protections — not a reseller of an offshore agency.

Three reasons: time zone, education pipeline, and cost-to-quality ratio. Middle Eastern talent on a shifted afternoon schedule overlaps Canadian Eastern by 6–7 working hours daily — better than India or Southeast Asia and on par with LATAM. The region produces English-fluent STEM graduates from schools like Cairo University, AUC, AUB, and University of Jordan, and salaries run 30–50% lower than Eastern Europe for comparable seniority.

Our active network spans five countries: Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia. Egypt anchors the network with the largest delivery pool (Cairo, Alexandria, Giza). Morocco and Tunisia add French-English bilingual coverage; Lebanon adds AUB-trained creative and finance talent; Jordan brings US-aligned business and engineering training.

Yes. Talent in our network works a shifted 2pm–10pm local schedule (Cairo/Amman EEST, UTC+3) that overlaps Canadian Eastern from roughly 9am to 3pm Toronto time — a 6–7 hour live working window. Vancouver clients see 4–5 hours of overlap; UK clients see a full business day with only a 2-hour offset. Business English is the working language of Middle Eastern tech, so standups, documentation, and code reviews land in English by default.

Ten business days from brief to onboarded for typical roles — a 15-minute discovery call, a written brief that same day, two to three pre-vetted candidates within a week, contract signed and Day-1 by Day 10. Specialist or rare-stack roles can take two to four weeks; we flag that on the discovery call rather than after.

A four-stage evaluation every candidate clears before reaching a client shortlist: (1) manual CV and portfolio review against the written brief, (2) a role-scoped technical or craft assessment representative of real work, (3) a 30–45 minute behavioral interview with the founder, and (4) AI-assisted scoring across skills, communication, and fit, plus two reference calls. Trade-offs are flagged in the shortlist notes — no gold-plating.

Yes. Within the first 30 days of a hire's start date, we source a replacement at no additional cost — the monthly fee pauses between starts. After 30 days, we still replace on request; our retention record depends on it. The replacement guarantee covers fit and performance issues raised in writing within the 30-day window with the talent given reasonable access, tools, and feedback.

Each engagement runs on a flat monthly Canadian-dollar rate matched to the seniority of the role: Junior $1,500–$2,000, Mid-Level $2,500–$3,500, Senior $3,500–$5,000, Lead $5,000–$6,500. The rate covers everything operational — sourcing, vetting, onboarding, payroll, HR compliance, and ongoing account management. Invoices are issued in CAD from Obelisk Talent Inc.

No. The monthly rate is the rate. Obelisk Talent does not charge placement fees, percentage markups, setup fees, performance kickers, or retention bonuses. The replacement guarantee in the first 30 days is included. Late payment after 30 days accrues interest at 1.5% per month — that is the only additional charge structure in the contract.

Sourcing from the five-country network, the four-stage Obelisk Vetting Process, written shortlist and assessment notes, contract administration, monthly CAD payroll handled on our side, HR and employment compliance in the talent's country of residence, equipment and tool-access coordination, ongoing account management, and the 30-day replacement guarantee. The single rate is the all-in cost of the engagement.