I’m a recruiter at heart. So, I fully endorse any and all methods that result in clients attracting, hiring and retaining talent as and when they need.

But the days are numbered for internal recruiters. Companies’ needs are changing, and agency recruitment is having to evolve to match. Leaders are denouncing relics of the past and embracing a method of recruitment that scales with business objectives.

That method is outsourced in-house.And it’s leaving in-house recruitment in the dust.

The trouble with in-house

In-house recruiters are typically burned-out employees who, frankly, didn’t cut it in the agency world. Barely pitching for one role at a time, these recruiters struggle to compare against the companies that scale the whole market. Their inability to recognise the movers and shakers, or emerging technologies that affect roles, prevents them from being totally effective.

The process of attracting people for a single organisation, where the role is standard (most are) and the organisation is run-of-the-mill, is hardly revolutionary work. That’s why in-house methods are (in the main) mediocre. I mean, sending InMails to people they don’t know on LinkedIn professing to have the best possible new opportunity for them… c’mon.

This is common though! Over the last decade, a wave of companies attempted to build in-house teams. Despite thinking they could cut costs, the market tightened, drying up available talent for key hires and restoring the need for talent acquisition partners.

Why agencies are evolving

Since agencies redefined what recruitment meant, businesses wanted more. Most of the companies I work with now used to be recruitment agencies but have since transformed into talent solutions providers. In-house recruiters simply can’t match their impressive portfolio of products and services. 

The traditional agency model is evolving and diversifying – to cater to businesses with high-volume recruitment plans, for example, and address an ever-widening skills gap. Consequently, key hires know their cost. Exhausted internal recruiters are clueless when it comes to what lures these guys in, leaving businesses with subpar solutions. 

So in came outsourced in-house. This new kid on the block acts as a welcome middle ground, offering businesses an agency recruiter to work on-site (or remotely if preferred) for a few days a week.

Establishing the middle ground

With this method, recruiters tap into the resources, functionality, drivers and management of a recruitment business while being coached daily on how to attract more clients.

Forget holiday pay, or the nightmare of employees taking annual leave in the middle of a project. With hiring costs soaring (and rightly so) too, the need for enterprises to embrace agency innovation in the shape of new solutions and products just makes economic sense. Hiring a journeyman professing to be a superhero recruiter does not (why else would they give up the dream and take a salary, however inflated it might be?). Now it can cost anything from £10k to £20k for one person to be the resourcing agent and place 2-6 people every month!

But it isn’t just money. Businesses that rely on outsourced in-house are “buying the time” of a specialist – including the use of their latest tools, methods and reach. It delivers the desired outcome, whether through a nurtured relationship with a significant talent pool or wealth of services including Statement of Work projects or even employer branding.

This efficient and proven approach is what solidifies the benefits of aligning with a professional and accountable partner. The choice to outsource in-house has never been more compelling.

Cre: Gary Goldsmith