The alternative to a recruitment agency
The alternative to paying an agency per hire is running the same search yourself with software that does the sourcing work: market mapping, evaluation, ranking and outreach. You trade a success fee per hire for a predictable subscription, and you keep the market map and the candidate relationships.
Published 2026-09-15 by tamo.ai. This page compares the two operating models, not named agencies.
How does the two models compare?
An agency sells you outcome plus effort at a percentage of salary per hire. In-house sourcing software sells you capability at a flat cost, and your team supplies the judgement and the conversations.
| Dimension | Recruitment agency | tamo.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Who does the sourcing | The agency's consultant, using their own tools and network. | tamo searches, evaluates and ranks; your recruiter approves and talks to people. |
| Pricing model | Success fee per hire, normally a percentage of the first-year salary; retained search is billed in stages. | Subscription per role searched. No fee at the point of hire. |
| Cost behaviour | Scales with every hire and with salary level. | Scales with the number of roles you search, independent of salary. |
| Speed to first candidates | Days to weeks, depending on the consultant's existing network for that profile. | An evaluated shortlist in minutes; replies depend on candidate response time. |
| Who owns the pipeline | The agency. Candidates they found for you are their relationships and may be placed elsewhere later. | You. The market map, the profiles and the conversations stay in your workspace. |
| Who the candidate hears from | The agency, on your behalf. | Your own recruiter, from their own LinkedIn account. |
| Control over quality | You review what the consultant sends you. | You see every evaluated candidate with the evidence, and approve who gets contacted. |
| Employer brand | Mediated — candidates experience the agency's process. | Direct — candidates talk to your company from the first message. |
What does an agency hire actually cost?
A contingency fee is a percentage of the first-year salary, so the cost of the same service rises with every hire and with every salary band. We do not quote a market percentage, because it varies too much to be honest about.
Put your own agreed rate into the agency cost calculator to see the fee per hire and what your annual hiring plan implies.
What do you give up by leaving agencies?
Someone else's time and someone else's network. Sourcing software removes the manual work, but your team still runs the conversations, the interviews and the closing.
For most teams this is the real decision: not price, but whether anyone internally will own candidate conversations. If nobody will, an agency is the better answer.
When a recruitment agency is the better choice
- A confidential search where your company must not appear as the sender.
- A role in a market or function you have never hired for and cannot assess.
- A one-off hire, where a single fee is cheaper than building any internal capability.
- You have no one internally who can run candidate conversations within days.
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