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01 / the problem
Recruitment agencies are too expensive.
A legacy model with misaligned incentives.
The agency model is built on inefficiencies. Fees are earned on placement, so it rewards quick, easy hires over the right ones. Most come with a rebate of around three months; after that, the risk sits with you.
In-housing talent acquisition is a no-brainer.A talent acquisition team of your own pays for itself, but only when you hire steadily. Most independent businesses don't. Hiring comes in bursts: three roles at once, then nothing for months.
So you're left with three difficult options:
- 01Pay recruitment agency fees of 15-20% on every hire.
- 02Carry the fixed cost of a recruiter, plus their tech licences, tax and overheads, through the quiet months.
- 03Hire yourselves, on top of the day job, with less time and reach to find the right people.
A payrolled recruiter costs around £64k a year*, however many you hire. So it only pays for itself from around 6 to 9 hires a year, and only if you'll hire that many this year, next year and the year after.
*A mid-weight Talent Acquisition Partner on a £50k salary, plus NI and a LinkedIn Recruiter licence. Agency fees at 15-20% of salary, so £7.5k to £10k a hire at £50k.
Q here. Not sure which side of the line you're on? Tell me roughly how many people you hire a year and at what level, and I'll run the numbers against agency fees and a payrolled recruiter.
02 / the solution
Your talent team, at any scale.
(Dedicated people + better tools) − payroll.
Fractional Talent sits between agency fees and a fixed payroll cost. You get the market knowledge of a specialist agency with the tools, process and alignment of an in-house team, embedded in your business, without the cost of keeping one.
Costs shown for a typical £50k hire
- No fixed cost
- Access to people already on the market
- The fee never comes down, however many you hire
- Rebates usually cover three months, then the risk is yours
- Paid to make quick, easy hires, not the best ones
- Embedded like an in-house team
- Pay per hire like an agency, with no fixed cost
- Cost-per-hire falls with every hire you make
- All licence costs included, LinkedIn Recruiter and more
- Every hire guaranteed for a full year
- Quartermaster, which makes every part of the process faster, more thorough and more transparent
- Embedded in your business and culture
- Cost-per-hire falls the more you hire
- Only pays off with steady, predictable hiring
- You carry the cost through quiet months
- One person can only run so many roles
- No guarantee if a hire doesn't work out
How the model works
Think of us as your in-house talent acquisition team, on demand. For each role, a dedicated talent partner joins your business, works inside your systems and processes, and is backed by Quartermaster.
You pay per hire, not per month. The more you hire in a 12-month period, the less each hire costs, whether those hires come all at once or spread across the year. No retainer, no fixed headcount, no long-term commitment.
Fully embedded
We work as an extension of your team, inside your systems, platforms and processes.
You get a dedicated talent partner backed by Quartermaster: a live board for every role you can check at any time, and a written update every Friday.
Fully aligned
Your cost-per-hire falls the more you hire, without the fixed cost of an in-house team.
You only pay for work that actually happened, and every invoice shows exactly what it's for. We're rewarded for filling roles well and quickly, not for keeping them open.
Fully confident
Every hire is guaranteed for a full year, not an agency's short-term rebate.
Every candidate is screened with competency and behavioural questions based on your job description, company values and our hiring manager briefing, and comes with our recommendation.
Q here. Wondering how this would work in your business? Ask me how a talent partner fits in, what the year's guarantee covers, or anything else about the model.
03 / the maths
Driving down cost-per-hire, every hire.
More hires = lower cost-per-hire.
Cost-per-hire typically starts 33-50% lower than agency fees, and falls further as your hiring grows. Adjust the numbers below to see what it means for you.
The more you hire in a 12-month period, the lower the rate, and earlier hires come down to the new rate too. So hiring several roles at once costs you less, not more.
Talk to us about your hiringCost per hire by number of hires a year
Hover over the chart to compare any number of hires. Click to set it as your plan.Your savings
Cost per hire, over 3 years and 24 hires:04 / the system
Powered by Quartermaster.
Human judgement × proprietary technology.
Quartermaster is the platform behind every hire we make. It maps the market, writes outreach for every candidate and keeps every role moving, so our people spend their time on judgement, not admin.
For every role we pull in thousands of suitable profiles and review each one against your brief. The search is faster, and far more thorough than one done by hand.
Want to see everything it does? Explore the blueprint, a map of every step from first contact to hire.
Q: That’s about 1,200+ hours saved. That’s 167 working days, or 8 months of someone’s diary. A lot of long lunches. Not that I eat.
05 / the results
The proof is in the hires.
< cost-per-hire for independent businesses.
Q: That’s about 83,000 pints at London prices. I don’t drink, but I’m told that’s a lot.From entry level to Managing Partner: planners, buyers, paid search and paid social specialists, programmatic traders, SEO leads and plenty more besides.
And don't just take our word for it.
We're growing fast, so it's critical to bring in the right people quickly, without compromising on quality. Working with Fractional Talent gives us the market knowledge and speed we need to scale with confidence.
Making a senior hire demanded rigorous market mapping and a credible process for candidates. Fractional Talent delivered with precision and expertise at every stage in the process.
Since working with Fractional Talent, we've seen time-to-hire shorten and cost-per-hire come down significantly. They consistently deliver, and their focus on efficiency has made a clear difference to our process.
06 / the team
Built on experience, driven by technology.
Tried, tested + trusted since 2006.
We know this market. Now in our 20th year, we've hired across planning, client leadership, activation, data and analytics, and back office functions, in the UK and internationally, from entry level through to the C-suite.
Neil has hired across media and digital for over two decades, including talent acquisition at Croud, MediaSense and Assembly, and has built teams for brands including Deliveroo, Cazoo, Moneysupermarket and Net-a-Porter.
20+ years in media, starting agency side as a TV planner and buyer at PHD and Walker Media before moving into executive search. Hires from entry level to CEO across planning, buying, search and digital, in the UK and internationally.
Gives candidates direct access to everything about your role, at any time of day, and keeps every step moving behind the scenes.
Meet Q →07 / get in touch
How can we help?
Start with a chat.
Tell Q what you need. Hiring, or exploring a better way to hire? Q will answer your questions and set up a call with us when you're ready. Looking for your next role? Q will point you the right way. Anything else, Q will pass it on.
