Outstaffing vs IT recruiting agency vs in-house team of recruiters: what to choose

Behind any successful company is a powerful team of developers. IT specialists in today’s world determine the future of the product in particular, and the company as a whole. Each staff member brings their own part of the project’s vision, knowledge and experience.

You will have to try hard to assemble a cool team of programmers. The process takes a lot of time and requires a budget. Huge resources are consumed by the adaptation of newcomers. And let’s not discount the problems that arise when new employees develop products.

In 2022, as a result of the war in Ukraine and the economic crisis in the world, there is a maximum shortage of personnel in the IT market. If we take the data for the years 2005-2007, when high-paying IT vacancies filled job sites, the indicator decreased by about five times. And looking at this trend, you should understand that recruiting has not become easier and faster.

There are several approaches to recruiting today. Everyone has their own pros and cons of external recruiting. How to choose a method that will suit you – let’s try to figure it out further.

What is the difference between an outstaffing company, an in-house team and an IT recruitment agency?

When companies need to fill vacancies, they create an in-house staffing department or outsource. A possible option of cooperation with a contractor or recruiter is “rented” for the required time.

Outstaffing is the process of hiring recruiters for a certain period of time to strengthen the regular team. The method can be called something in between an internal recruiting department and an appeal to an agency. Experienced specialists who quickly integrate into the team and provide options for solving the assigned tasks are “rented”.

The in-house company consists of full-time recruiters who are in constant close contact with hiring managers and the entire company team. They have the maximum amount of information about the direction of the company’s development, its needs and resources that can be used to solve the tasks. It is important to understand that it is necessary to hire competent and qualified recruiters. This is expensive, but if you hire employees who need to be trained, then the resources and time spent will be worth no less. At the same time, you will not worry about the inefficiency of the department.

Cooperation with a recruiting agency involves transferring the search for candidates to third parties. The method is suitable for companies that do not have an internal specialist search department or do not have it at all due to its impracticality. The ability to find IT specialists quickly and with maximum compliance with the criteria is what makes IT recruiting different from other fields. Outsourced specialists are immediately included in the work, have a set of specialized tools and know how to use them perfectly. The only drawback is insufficient informativeness due to the fact that there is no opportunity to be in close, constant contact with the team.

How to choose the optimal format?

The method of hiring employees depends on the size of the company, the plans and the ultimate goals that need to be achieved with the help of new employees. As for the budget, at first glance, cooperation with an IT recruiting agency looks like the most expensive format. And involving in-house recruiters seems to be the cheapest method. But if you dig deeper, you can see the advantages of outsourcing recruiting. Because the cost should be evaluated from the point of view of intensity and duration of cooperation.

Creating an in-house team is beneficial if the company is constantly recruiting new employees. At the same time, the size of the organization is medium and above. When there is a certain stable flow of frames without sharp jumps, then the construction of an in-house format is justified and profitable.

If the company needs an urgent replenishment of programmers, then we recommend contacting an outstaffing agency or a recruiting agency. The database of professional recruiters can have several hundreds of thousands of resumes. For example, our agency has 125,000 candidates, many of whom can meet the selection criteria and begin work in a few days.

In addition to quick and competent recruitment, cooperation with an IT recruiting company is a guarantee of replacement if the specialist does not live up to expectations and does not pass the trial period. Replacement is also guaranteed if the new developer quits within the first few months of employment. In this way, the company is guaranteed not to be left without the right staff at the most unexpected moment.

To determine the optimal format, we recommend answering several questions:

1. How many people do you need to hire?
2. How to quickly find employees?
3. How often do you need to look for new specialists?

This situation often arises: the company is expanding and it is necessary to urgently hire a certain number of developers, but then it is necessary to simply maintain the staff and fill the resulting turnover. In this case, use a combination of the two methods. First, you need to find recruiters to quickly close vacancies, and then start building an in-house team.

An important point when choosing a hiring format is the method of forming the cost of services. Outstaffing is paid for the time of work, and the determination of how much outsourcing recruiting costs is based on the completed order, that is, on the successful closing of the vacancy. Accordingly, the former are interested in prolonging the process, and the latter, on the contrary, in quickly selecting a reliable candidate.

Whichever format you choose to search for candidates, the main thing is that the specialist shares the company’s values ​​and corresponds to the corporate culture. The developer must be interested in the project, show initiative as much as possible and implement fresh ideas.