The Cost of Recruiting – When to DIY and When to Get a Recruiter

When it comes to recruiting, there are a few different methods that companies use. Some companies prefer to handle recruiting themselves and others work with outside assistance such as agencies or recruiters. Whether you already have an in-house team or not, understanding the cost of recruiting is important for making informed decisions about your company’s hiring process in the future. Keep reading to learn more about when to recruit yourself and when it makes sense to hire a professional!

Factors to consider

Do you need to cast a wide net for applicants? How much time, effort, and internal labor cost will be required to do the recruiting on your own? Does recruiting yourself interfere with larger time-sensitive priorities? Is a recruitment plan needed or will the open position be pretty straight forward to fill? At what point does it makes sense to get a recruiter involved?

If your company is looking for candidates who are well-versed in a particular skill set or technology platform, chances are there are only so many people out there with those qualifications. When this is the case, it’s easy to see why partnering with an outside recruiter may be necessary: they’ve built a relationships network that can help find qualified talent much faster than you would on your own.

On the other hand, position types that are often best to recruit for yourself include those that are either entry level that will appeal to a large pool of applicants, or those where the position is created with a specific high-value candidate already in mind.

Cost of recruiting

There are many factors that determine the cost of recruiting, including a company’s hiring goals, hiring time frame and the roles they are trying to fill.

For example, when you’re looking for someone with very unusual skills within a niche industry, like a tightrope walker for a circus, it can be easier to find them on your own than through an executive search firm. However if you don’t have the budget or time to do so then enlisting an executive recruiter will be more efficient so long as they accept taking on the search for you. Amtec is paid only after a candidate is found and hired. You’ll also want to consider whether or not you feel comfortable making offers based on what is presented at interviews; sometimes it’s difficult for companies to decide what offer to provide or what counteroffer to accept when they do not have day-to-day recruitment knowledge of what pay is competitive for their industry. Partnering with a recruiter provides guidance throughout the process about what offers are competitive and how to win the best candidate.

Resources needed

If a company is looking to fill several roles at once, staffing agencies have the resources and experience to handle projects of larger scale. The same is true if a company needs to hire several individual candidates with specialized skillsets, such as in healthcare or technology.

Recruiters often know their local labor markets better than companies do themselves—they’ll have a better idea of what positions are available and who’s qualified. They also have access to databases full of job seekers’ resumes (via previous employers), which gives them an advantage when it comes time for screening interviews.

Legal liabilities 

Pitfalls from not being a human resources expert can be costly. Instead of an easy screening process, your company could be slapped with a lawsuit for noncompliance with the Americans with Disability Act, making assumptions qualifying as agism, or failing to complete Background Checks. Making assumptions on how much experience a candidate requires could result in discrimination claims or lawsuits under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or other state or local laws. 

Hiring through a recruiter reduces risk and liability as they take care of all aspects of the hiring process for you—from screening resumes and conducting interviews all the way through signing new employees up for insurance benefits and other HR tasks like payroll processing and tax forms. This means that your company has less overhead costs associated with hiring new employees. 

Amtec’s team can help with everything from selecting the best candidates for an open position to setting up interviews and background checks. We’ll also take care of getting resumes from candidates and helping them prepare for interviews, making sure everyone meets all compliance standards (including those required by law) and is ready to work at your company.

Partner with Amtec

The cost of recruiting depends on a wide range of factors, and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. If you’re looking to hire quickly and at scale, recruiters are the way to go. If you’re hiring for easy-to-fill positions or if you prefer to be more hands-on with screening and selecting candidates, then an in-house approach may be best for you. Ultimately, your strategy should reflect what works best for your company and your specific needs—so know that it’s okay to experiment with different methods until you find what works best!

If you need new hires and can’t afford to be distracted by a candidate search effort, let us handle the search for you. We will save you time and money by doing a comprehensive search of the most relevant candidates, contacting them on your behalf, and conducting interviews. And depending on where you are with the interview process, we’ll let you know if it’s worth hiring them so you don’t waste any more time or money.