Building an in-house hiring function

The firm was hiring around sixty people a year through seven agencies with no consistent process, no shared candidate data, and percentage fees that had become the largest line in the talent budget. Candidates regularly received conflicting messages from different agencies about the same role.

We modelled the firm's actual hiring plan against both models and showed where a fixed-fee embedded team paid for itself. We then placed two recruiters inside the business under its own brand, implemented a single applicant tracking process, and consolidated all agency supply through one channel.

Sixty-one hires were made in the first year at a cost per hire 52% below the previous model, with time to offer eighteen days shorter. The firm has since taken the function fully in-house, which was the agreed goal from the outset.