Elena Volk is a speaker, entrepreneur, blogger, and author of business articles. She has over 8 years of experience running businesses, including an IT recruitment agency and an online school for IT recruiters. Elena also helps others start working for themselves through mentorship.
As the founder of an IT recruiting agency, I often get asked when a company should hire an in-house recruiter and when outsourced recruiters are the better option. Over the years, my team and I have seen that the answer depends on the company’s business needs, size, and hiring dynamics.
When is an in-house recruiter the right choice?
Hiring an in-house recruiter makes sense if:
The company hires regularly throughout the year, and recruitment volumes are predictable.
It’s crucial for the recruiter to be deeply immersed in the corporate culture and focus exclusively on internal hiring needs.
The business is willing to invest in developing an internal recruiting team and optimizing hiring processes.
The company is prepared for long-term expenses such as salaries, taxes, training, and other costs associated with keeping a recruiter in-house.
Recruitment process outsourcing and when it makes sense
Recruitment Process Outsourcing is a model where a company hires an external recruiter or a team of recruiters for a specific period without adding them to its permanent staff. In this model:
Recruitment costs are fixed and predictable (hourly or monthly rates).
It’s particularly beneficial for mass hiring or filling multiple similar roles.
Companies can quickly bring in experienced recruiters with a background in various industries.
Flexibility: Recruiters can be engaged on a project basis (e.g., for 2-6 months).
Faster hiring: Onboarding an outsourced recruiter takes just 1-2 days, and they can start working immediately.
Access to agency expertise, candidate databases, and best hiring practices.
The recruiter can work under the company’s brand and collaborate with internal teams as a business partner.
Hiring priorities can be easily adjusted without the long-term commitment of an in-house recruiter.
Financial and strategic advantages of outsourced recruiters
Flexibility: Hire a recruiter only for the needed period and end the collaboration without extra costs.
Cost savings: If a company plans to hire 10+ employees per year, outsourcing becomes significantly more cost-effective. On average, our clients save 40% on recruitment costs by using this model.
Speed: With deep integration into company processes and access to a candidate database, outsourced recruiters fill vacancies faster.
Transparent expenses: Hourly or fixed monthly payments with no hidden costs.
Risk minimization: Companies get high-quality recruitment services without having to keep an in-house specialist during low hiring periods.
Conclusion
If your company requires a steady flow of new hires, an in-house recruiter may be the right choice. However, if you need to fill vacancies quickly, optimize hiring costs and leverage expert knowledge. Recruitment Process Outsourcing is often the more effective approach.
From our experience, this model helps clients not only save money but also improve hiring quality by adapting recruitment to real business needs.
At EvoTalents, we have been working with the recruiter outsourcing model for a long time and have strong success stories, such as hiring 50+ Senior IT specialists in just 5 months, including relocation. The results speak for themselves: filled vacancies, budget savings, and flexibility that allows companies to adapt quickly to changes.
If you’d like to learn more about how this works in practice, visit our IT recruiting agency EvoTalents website and get in touch with us!
Read more from Elena Volk
Elena Volk, Founder & CEO of EvoTalents Recruiting Agency
Elena Volk founded the IT recruitment agency EvoTalents and the online school for IT recruiters, EvoTalents.School.
8 years ago, she made one of the most challenging but best decisions of her life — to leave her job, move to London, and start working for herself, first as a freelancer and later as an entrepreneur.
Over these years, she built a team and established an agency that is now among the top IT recruitment agencies in Ukraine.
