Recruiting agency vs RPO vs embedded vs sourcing
Four ways to fill a hard to fill role compared side by side, who each one reaches, how you pay, and when each is the right choice.
A recruiting agency, an outsourced recruiting team (RPO) and an embedded recruiter all put a person or a team between you and the search, and you pay for their time or their result. This puts every relevant person in your market in front of your own team directly, for one open role, for a flat monthly amount.
| Criterion | Recruiting agency | RPO | Embedded recruiter | SkavanderHR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who it reaches | People who are actively looking, through the agency's own pool | Whoever an outsourced team can reach across all your open roles | Whoever a person embedded in your team can reach, one role at a time | Every relevant person in the market, working or not |
| What your team does | Briefs the agency and waits for a shortlist | Hands a whole hiring process to an outside team | Directs a person who sits with your team full time | Only takes the interviews |
| How you pay | A share of the first year's salary, only if they fill it | An ongoing management fee across many roles | A day rate or retainer for the person's time, filled or not | A flat monthly amount per role, cancel any month |
| When it is the right choice | A senior or confidential search where you want someone else to carry the whole risk | Hiring at volume across many roles, not one | A sustained hiring push that needs a full time presence inside your team | A hard to fill role that job ads have not solved |
| Time to first interviews | Weeks to months, depending on the agency's own pipeline | Weeks, once the outsourced team is set up and running | Weeks, once the person is onboarded and working your roles | Within two weeks |
When the agency is the right choice
An agency still makes sense for a senior or confidential search where you want the whole risk, the negotiation and the shortlisting carried by someone outside your business, and paying only on a result suits you. RPO fits a company hiring at volume across many roles at once, where an outsourced team justifies itself across the whole book. An embedded recruiter fits a sustained push where having a full time person inside your team, day to day, matters more than the cost of their time.
When this is the right choice
This is the right call for one open role at a time, where the market for it is narrow enough that job ads and an agency’s own pool both come up short, and where your own recruiter is happy to take interviews without carrying the search itself.
If we would be a fit, we will bring a shortlist of the best few candidates for your role to the call.
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