7 Key Benefits of Outsourcing Recruitment

The hiring process can be overwhelming and time-consuming. It can take months to fill some roles, especially senior or tech positions like senior engineering roles. We’ve worked with employers who posted on multiple job boards, held interviews, and spent a lot of resources on hiring before deciding to work with an external recruiter and filling the role within a few weeks.

If you’re hiring abroad, filling multiple roles simultaneously, or looking for top-tier talent, you might struggle with sourcing passive candidates, finding local talent or dealing with specific employment laws.

Whether you’re hiring yourself or relying on your team, outsourcing your recruitment process (or parts of it) can benefit your company and even save you money. 

In this blog post, you’ll learn:

• What outsourcing recruitment means
• How it can benefit your company
• When you should and shouldn’t outsource recruiting

What is recruitment outsourcing?

Outsourcing recruitment means handing over your recruitment process or a specific recruiting task to an external partner. 

Many growing startups hire agencies or a team of freelancers to recruit global candidates and accelerate hiring. Some companies outsource the entire hiring process while others get help with one part of the process, such as sourcing or interviewing candidates.

Depending on the volume of hiring and your hiring needs, you might work with a recruitment agency or a freelance recruiter.

Top 7 benefits of outsourcing recruitment

You are struggling to fill a specific role, you've got many positions and little time, or you just can't afford to hire an in-house recruitment team. Whatever it is, getting outside help will help you get the job done. Outsourcing means your team can get on-demand recruiting support. Here’s why you should think about outsourcing your recruitment to a professional partner.

1. You can use recruiters’ know-how and local insights when hiring abroad.

You have decided to hire abroad, but have no idea where to start? Many companies don’t have the experience and the know-how of hiring internationally. Luckily, you can overcome these challenges by hiring an external partner who does have this knowledge and experience.

What regions should you start looking in? Which channels should you use to attract candidates? Are there any regulations in place when it comes to hiring in a different country? These are just some (out of many) questions where a recruiter's expertise can be of great value. 

Yolo Group outsources part of their recruitment process when they’re expanding to a new country because local recruiters know where to find local talent.

Piret Ploom, Director of People & Workplace @Yolo Group explains:

When we opened a new business in Kyiv, Ukraine we included some external agencies to help us with that. They know the local talent, they know the local job portals, all of that. So, it actually is more cost-efficient, saves us time and we will attract the right people much faster than by doing everything on our own.

In countries like Germany, where employment laws are highly regulated, an external partner can help you deal with the legal requirements. Recruiters can also help you figure out work visa requirements in places like the UK or the US and post on local job boards in countries where LinkedIn isn’t that popular.

Recruiters can also provide information about salaries in the region and might know what your competitors are offering. With this know-how, they can help you come up with an offer that both you and the candidate will be very happy with.

2. It can save you money.

External recruiters are only working with you when you need them. Compared to a full time in-house employee, this can save you a significant amount of money. Our research shows that opting for external recruiters can be around 40% more affordable than hiring an in-house recruiter.

In-house recruitment costs also include advertising, online job boards, tools and software. The costs add up quickly. When you outsource, you only have one cost to worry about - paying your external partner.

Although it’s not the only advantage, a cost reduction is the #1 objective that drives the decision when it comes to any type of outsourcing.

Outsourcing typically cuts costs but there are exceptions to the rule. If you’re constantly hiring and have a large number of roles to fill, it might make more sense to hire an in-house recruiter. 

Besides cutting costs, outsourcing gives you flexibility when it comes to payments. There are different pricing models in the recruitment industry, and the most common ones are contingency, retainer, and hourly.

Read more about pricing models: Pricing Models in Recruitment: Flat, Retainer or Contingency

3. It will save you time.

Writing the job description, advertising, sourcing, screening and interviewing are all time-consuming tasks. By delegating these tasks to an experienced individual or agency, you are saving a big chunk of time. 

When you know a professional is focusing on these tasks, you can have peace of mind and use your time to focus on other important parts of your business. You can choose to not spend time on the tasks where you don't have expertise (e.g. sourcing) but still participate in interviews where your point of view is valuable. This gives you the best of both worlds: control over the process and saving time.

Outsourced recruiters can shorten the time to fill a role because they have an existing network of candidates. Instead of spending weeks sourcing candidates, an external recruiter may already have access to pre-screened talent pools. This means a position that might take your team two months to fill could be filled much faster.

This is also a huge benefit for your in-house HR who might have their hands full with daily tasks. By opening up a possibility to delegate part of the work, you're helping them be more efficient in their job.

4. You'll have access to passive candidates who might never apply to your job ad.

Job boards and ads do a great job for some roles. But, let's be real. If you're searching for rare talents, you might not find them there. There is a high probability executives and top employees are not actively applying for jobs. 

According to LinkedIn, 70% of the global workforce are passive candidates who aren’t actively job searching.

Recruiters have a pre-built network of candidates and they engage with passive talent on LinkedIn or at industry events. They have invaluable experience reaching out to these candidates, too. A recruiter can find the right passive candidate and persuade them to join your team.

5. You'll be able to find the right person for a specialized role.

It can be tough to source candidates for highly specialized positions like a cybersecurity developer or a senior sales executive. Since AI became essential for business across industries, AI and ML roles have been among the most challenging positions to fill along with other tech and C-level roles.

Spotting the right person for these roles requires an expert on the opposite side of the table. Someone who has deep knowledge about what type of candidate could excel in the role and has experience in recruiting similar roles.

It's not possible for executives or even in-house HR managers to have specific knowledge about every role. 

On the other hand, recruitment agencies and freelancers specialize in a certain industry (e.g. tech or healthcare) or role (e.g. recruiting developers). This approach turns them into niche experts making it easier for them to achieve higher success rates.

💡 Extra tip: It is especially useful to have external help when it’s a new role for your company or it’s your first time hiring for that type of position.

6. You can accelerate recruitment.

According to LinkedIn, the average time to hire is more than 30 days. For some industries like engineering, the average is 49 days.

But, what if your business is growing rapidly and you need people fast? 

Let’s say you need 20 new employees to join your team. If this is the case, the know-how and efficiency of specialized recruiters can make a huge difference in shortening the hiring timeline. Without some outside help, recruiting dozens of people could take months and might delay growth.

When in a hurry or have many vacancies to fill, outsourcing recruitment may be your best (and sometimes the only) option.

7. Everyone can focus on what they do best.

Last but not least, working with an external recruiter means knowing candidates are in good hands and will be taken care of. You and everyone else in the company can forget about recruiting and focus on what they already do best.

For companies who do not have an internal recruiter, the ability to trust an external partner with the hiring process allows their internal teams to remain focused on what drives the business forward.

As Sirli Kivaste, Co-Founder and VP of Estonian HR Society explains:

I feel the biggest benefit for us has been that we can trust the recruitment activities are taken care of professionally and candidates are in good hands. On one hand, we know that the candidates are offered the best candidate experience: they're informed in a timely manner, they are approached with a personal touch and they feel important. And on the other hand, our Hiring Managers are being supported throughout the recruitment process.

Sirli mentions that for her, the key benefit of outsourcing is letting every employee do what they do best while the recruiting partner takes over what they do best.

When you shouldn't outsource recruitment

Outsourcing does have its disadvantages, including increased costs if your hiring volume is high and a risk of not having full control over your entire process and brand.

Here are two scenarios when outsourcing recruitment might not be the best idea.

• Long-term growth with steady hiring volume
  If your company is growing steadily over a long period and you have many roles to fill each month, you might consider hiring a full-time in-house recruiter. If your company plans to hire 20+ roles consistently every quarter, the cumulative outsourcing costs may surpass an in-house recruiter's salary.
  
• Maintaining full control over your employer brand
  If you want to have complete control over your employer branding, outsourcing might not be the best fit. The first candidate impression will be based on contact with the external partner and not a company employee. On the other hand, many companies use RPO services to streamline their hiring processes. While RPO recruiters are external providers, they often act as an extension of the in-house team, aligning with company tools and processes to ensure a seamless recruitment experience.

To learn more about when to outsource and when to hire in-house recruiters, check out our blog post: When to use external recruiters and when to expand your in-house team?

Find the right recruiter for your business

I hope this article dismissed any concerns you might’ve had about working with external recruiters and helped you gain insight on how they can help you grow your business.

Whether you’re considering building an in-house recruitment team, partnering with an agency, or working with freelance recruiters, understanding the pros and cons of each option can make all the difference.

To explore which approach suits your budget, goals, and hiring needs, check out our guide: Choosing Your Recruiting Strategy: In-house, Agency, or Freelancer. This comprehensive article will help you determine the best path forward for your business.

The final step is finding the right recruiter. If you'd like to find a specialized recruiter for your budget, location, and industry, we can help. Use our search feature to explore top recruiters who fit your needs.