Internal vs Agency Recruitment- Why ‘doing it yourself’ isn’t always cheaper!

Hiring always seems like a straightforward process. You have a spot to fill, perhaps someone’s left, perhaps it’s just because the company is growing, and the process is simple: get this one thing done in-house. It just seems like the rational thing to do; put up an ad, see who applies, have a few interviews, and hope for the best. Also, the price tag of hiring an agency seems like an unnecessary expense that you could probably avoid.

But the reality is that this method can often end up taking much more out of the business than what was anticipated. What began as a simple in-house process soon becomes time-consuming, stressful, and, in many instances, even more costly than expected.

The time no one really plans for

It is never simply a matter of advertising a job and arranging a couple of interviews. There are emails to manage, CVs to review, diaries to juggle, follow-ups, waiting, and the role remaining open while all of this unfolds.

The average time it takes to fill a vacancy in the UK is 40 days. This is six weeks of being short-staffed, or having someone else try to fill the gap while they are at work. Productivity suffers, stress builds, and managers find themselves spending a lot of time recruiting rather than doing the job they were hired to do.

Then there is also the cost that businesses forget to factor in: the lost output while posts are unfilled, and again when new employees are not yet fully productive. This is not something many organisations budget for and can account for two-thirds or more of the overall cost of employee turnover. If you look at it this way, it is not always the most cost-effective option to do everything in-house.

Who you actually reach

When you advertise the position yourself, you tend to get mostly people who are actively looking for a job. That is only part of the market. Many good candidates are already employed and not looking for a job, but they will listen if the right opportunity comes along.

This is where the agencies truly add value. They are talking to these “not quite looking, but open to a move” candidates all the time. It is one of the reasons why nearly six in ten employers in the

UK use recruitment agencies, and why 58% of businesses find it harder to [self] hire mid-level professionals than it did three years ago!

Speed and knowledge of the market

Agencies are already in the midst of the market. They know what people are being paid, what they want, and where the gaps are. They are not starting from scratch every time a vacancy arises, which often means that good candidates can be identified and approached relatively quickly.

This is important, particularly given that the ONS reports there are still hundreds of thousands of vacancies that need to be filled in the UK.

The cost of getting it wrong

A bad hire is more than a few awkward months. It can dent confidence, team morale, and even generate more work than it solves. Research shows that most UK companies make at least one bad hiring decision every year, which goes to show just how difficult it is to assess someone fully on a few interviews.

Good recruiters also provide a further level of checking, questioning, and reality-testing that can help to minimise the risk of that occurring.

Why businesses work with Thrive

This is why so many companies end up working with an agency. Not because they can’t recruit on their own, but because they want to get it right, without burning time, energy, and internal resources.

At Thrive, we focus on understanding the business, not just the job title. How the team operates, what the culture feels like, and what kind of person will genuinely thrive there. Then we tap into our networks and deep market knowledge to bring in candidates who aren’t just a match on paper, but in real life.

If that is the sort of recruitment partner you have been searching for, let’s talk. Find your closest Thrive branch and see how we can help you get the right people in place, without the stress.