The scaling company's dilemma
Somewhere between your tenth and fiftieth employee, hiring stops being something founders can do on the side. The classic question follows: hire an internal recruiter, or engage an agency? The honest answer is that each fits a different stage and hiring pattern—and a hybrid model often beats both.
The real cost of an in-house recruiter
A good corporate recruiter runs $75k–$120k+ in salary before benefits, tools (ATS, sourcing licenses, job boards), and ramp time. A strong recruiter handles roughly 15–25 hires per year depending on role complexity. If your hiring plan is below that, you're paying for idle capacity; above it, one hire won't be enough anyway.
What agencies do well—and where they strain budgets
Agencies bring networks, speed, and zero fixed cost—you pay per placement. For a startup making three or four key hires a year, that's usually the right trade. But at 15–25% of first-year salary per hire, agency fees scale painfully: ten $120k hires can mean $200k+ in fees, with no lasting pipeline or process left behind.
The hybrid options growing companies overlook
- Recruiter on-demand: an experienced recruiter embedded with your team month to month—senior capacity without a permanent hire. Ideal around fundraise-driven ramps.
- Project RPO: a defined engagement (say, "build the first sales team" or "staff the new office") with program pricing instead of per-head fees.
- Contract-to-hire: reduce mis-hire risk on critical early roles by evaluating on the job first.
These models—all part of our startup and mid-sized company services and RPO solutions—give you elastic recruiting capacity that matches the lumpy, sprint-like way growing companies actually hire.
A quick decision framework
- 1–5 hires/year: agency or fractional support; don't hire internal yet.
- 5–15 hires/year, lumpy: recruiter on-demand or project RPO around your surges.
- 15+ hires/year, sustained: first internal recruiting hire, backed by RPO or agency support for specialized roles.
Whichever route you choose, protect the candidate experience—at a small company, every interview shapes your reputation in the talent market.