What is recruitment support and do I need it? (UK guide) ?

Recruitment support isn't one thing. It's a sliding scale from a bit of practical help to someone running the entire hire for you. The trick is matching the level of support to the role you're filling and the time you have.

The three levels of recruitment support

Most UK employers buy support at one of three levels. Here's how they compare.

None of these is universally better. A £30,000 administrator role might be filled perfectly well with a well-written advert on a few good job boards. A £70,000 engineering manager in a niche discipline probably needs headhunting. The support you buy should match the difficulty of the hire.

What job-advertising support actually includes

At the lightest end, you're buying reach and a decent advert. A good advertising package should include:

• A consultation to understand the role and what would attract the right person.
• Writing the advert and optimising it for job-board search.
• Posting it across a spread of general and niche boards.
• Forwarding every application to you, usually via email.

What it doesn't include is screening, interviewing, or any guarantee that the right person will apply. You're buying the pipe, not the water. For roles with a large active candidate pool — drivers, administrators, some sales roles — this is often enough. Our job-advertising packages start at £399 +VAT.

What fixed-fee managed search includes

This is where you hand the process to a recruiter. The service starts before any advertising, with a five-point review of the role: market standing, salary and package, competitor analysis, your online presence, and your current adverts and process. That review often catches things that would put good candidates off — a salary below market, a careers page that says nothing, an application form that asks for a CV and then makes you retype it.

After the review, a dedicated recruiter writes the advert, posts it, headhunts on LinkedIn and elsewhere, screens applicants, conducts first interviews, and presents a shortlist of people they've met and can vouch for. The fee is fixed by salary band and agreed before any work begins. There's no percentage of salary and no bill that grows with the candidate's negotiating power.

Full details are on our Premium Hire page.

When a contingency agency makes sense

Contingency agencies charge a percentage of the successful candidate's first-year salary — typically 15% for roles under £40,000, rising to 20–25% for senior or specialist roles. You pay nothing if they don't fill the role. That sounds low-risk, but it shapes their behaviour: they're working multiple roles for multiple clients and will put most effort into the ones most likely to fill quickly. If your role is hard to fill or your process is slow, you may not get their best attention.

Most contingency agencies offer a rebate period — if the candidate leaves within a set window (often 8–13 weeks), they'll refund a portion of the fee or work the role again at reduced cost. This is not a guarantee; it's a rebate period, and the terms vary by agency.

Do you need recruitment support at all?

Some roles fill without any paid help. If you have a strong employer brand, a warm network, and a role that attracts plenty of direct applicants, you might not need to spend anything beyond your own time. But time is the hidden cost. A cost-of-vacancy calculator can put a number on what an empty seat is costing you in lost output, overtime, or missed revenue. When that daily cost exceeds the cost of support, the decision makes itself.

How to choose the right level of support

Ask yourself three questions:

1. How much time can I give this? If the answer is "very little," advertising-only support will frustrate you because you still have to screen and interview every applicant.
2. How big is the active candidate pool? If thousands of people do this job within a commutable distance, a good advert may be all you need. If the pool is small, you need someone to go and find them.
3. What's the cost of getting it wrong? A bad hire in a senior role costs far more than any recruitment fee. In a junior role with a short learning curve, the risk is lower.

There's no single right answer. The support you need is the support that fills the role without overpaying for the level of difficulty involved.

If you want to talk through what level of support makes sense for the role you're trying to fill, call us on 0161 327 2895.

FAQs

What's the cheapest recruitment support I can get? The cheapest paid support is a job-advertising package, which typically costs £399–£599 +VAT. You get a written advert posted across a selection of job boards, and you handle all screening and interviewing yourself. It's cheaper than a managed service but demands more of your time.

Do I need recruitment support for every role? No. If you have a strong network, a visible employer brand, and a role with a large active candidate pool, you may fill it without spending anything on external support. The case for paying for help strengthens when the role is niche, senior, or you simply don't have the hours to sift through applications.

How is fixed-fee support different from a contingency agency? Fixed-fee support charges one price agreed upfront, by salary band, regardless of how much work the role takes. A contingency agency charges a percentage of the hired candidate's salary — typically 15–25% — and you pay only when you hire. Fixed-fee gives you cost certainty; contingency aligns the agency's incentive with filling the role quickly.