RPO, Recruitment Agency or In-House HR. Comparing the Models

Most companies don’t think seriously about how they recruit – until something goes wrong. Roles stay open for months, candidates drop out mid-process, and business teams lose patience waiting for the right people.

 

At that point, the question finally lands on the table: should we build an internal HR function, work with a recruitment agency, or hand the whole thing over to an RPO provider? In theory, all three are valid. In practice, each one works well in completely different situations – and choosing the wrong model costs more than most companies realise.

 

The Three Recruitment Models – What They Actually Mean

Before comparing them, it’s worth being clear about what each model actually involves.

 

In-house HR – the company builds its own recruitment team. Recruiters are part of the organisation, embedded in its culture, and responsible for the full process from sourcing to offer.

 

Recruitment agency – an external partner that runs specific hiring processes. Usually operating on a success fee or retainer basis, focused on delivering candidates matched to a brief.

 

RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) / embedded recruitment – a model where an external team takes over part or all of the recruitment function. Recruiters operate as though they’re inside the organisation, but formally sit on the partner’s side.

 

 In-House HR. Full Control, but High Fixed Costs

Building an internal HR team makes sense when recruitment is a constant, high-volume activity. Your own recruiters know the organisation from the inside – they understand hiring managers, build employer branding, and develop a long-term view of talent needs. The trade-off is real:

 

• a senior IT recruiter costs between 8,000 and 14,000 PLN gross per month
• tooling adds up fast: ATS, LinkedIn Recruiter, job boards
• onboarding takes time before anyone is genuinely effective

 

When hiring volumes are low or unpredictable, this model is rarely cost-efficient. In-house HR pays off most for organisations running several dozen processes a year with a consistent, long-term approach to building teams.

 

Recruitment Agency. Fast Start and a Partner Who Gets It

Working with a recruitment agency is the most commonly chosen model for immediate hiring needs. The company outsources the process and expects results – candidates who actually fit.

The biggest advantages are speed and access to existing talent pools. What makes the model truly effective is a solid brief and a genuine partnership approach – the better the agency understands the organisation, the specific role, and the company culture, the more accurate the candidates it delivers. A recruitment agency works best:

 

• for individual, hard-to-fill, or niche roles
• when you need fast support without building an HR team
• when the organisation doesn’t have internal recruitment capacity

 

RPO and Embedded Recruitment. Flexibility with Full Integration

RPO has been growing fast in recent years, particularly among tech companies and organisations in scale-up mode. An external team takes over the recruitment process and operates like an internal HR function – with full visibility of what’s happening inside the business. In the embedded model, recruiters work directly with the client’s teams, join meetings, and build real relationships with hiring managers. That integration enables:

 

• a deeper understanding of actual business needs
• shorter time-to-hire
• better candidate fit over time

 

RPO works especially well when a company is growing quickly but isn’t ready – or doesn’t want – to build a full HR department. HR Contact specialises in this model, supporting companies in IT, Fintech, and e-commerce for over a decade. Our recruiters become a real part of the client’s team – running processes and helping shape a longer-term talent strategy.

 

Recruitment Models Compared

 

How to Choose the Right Recruitment Model

The choice between in-house HR, a recruitment agency, and RPO should come from the organisation’s real needs – not habit, not convenience, not whatever happened to work last time.

A few questions worth asking:

 

• How many hiring processes do you expect to run this year?
• How complex or specialised are the roles you need to fill?
• How quickly do you need people in place?
• Does it matter that the recruiter is embedded in your team?
• What cost structure actually works for your stage of growth?

 

There’s no single right answer but there is a model that fits your current situation better than the others.

 

Summary

In-house HR is a solid investment when you’re hiring at consistent, high volume. A recruitment agency delivers when you need speed or have a tricky niche role to fill. RPO and embedded recruitment are the sweet spot for companies in growth mode that want the quality of an internal HR function without the fixed overhead.

 

HR Contact has been helping companies in IT, Fintech, and e-commerce build their teams for over 10 years. If you’d like to figure out which model fits your organisation best, book a free consultation with our team.

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