Founders often reach the same conclusion.

Sometimes they're right.

Sometimes they're solving the wrong problem.

Hiring is rarely just about finding candidates. It's about understanding where the business is today, where it's going, and what capability you need to get there.

A company hiring one highly specialized engineer has very different needs from a company preparing to hire twenty people over the next year.

Likewise, a business hiring its first recruiter faces different challenges than one looking to add capacity to an established talent team.

This article isn't about whether recruitment agencies, embedded recruiters, or internal talent teams are "better."

Each has a place.

The real question is:

What problem are you trying to solve?

Once you answer that, choosing the right solution becomes much easier.

In this article, we'll cover:

• How to determine whether recruiting is actually your bottleneck

• When a recruitment agency makes the most sense

• When to bring in an embedded recruiter

• When it's time to build an internal talent function

• The most common hiring mistake I see founders make

• How to choose the right solution based on your stage of growth

By the end, you should have a clearer understanding of which approach makes the most sense for your business today—and when it's time to evolve as your hiring needs change.

Do You Actually Need Recruiting Help?

One of the biggest mistakes founders make is assuming every hiring problem requires another recruiter.

Sometimes it does.

Often, it doesn't.

Before deciding how to solve the problem, spend some time understanding what's actually slowing hiring down.

Ask yourself:

• Are we struggling to find qualified candidates?

• Are hiring managers taking too long to review resumes or conduct interviews?

• Is our interview process inefficient?

• Are we losing candidates because our compensation isn't competitive?

• Are we attracting the wrong people?

• Do we actually need more hiring capacity, or do we need a better hiring process?

Recruiting is only one part of hiring.

If candidates are dropping out because interviews take three weeks to schedule, another recruiter won't solve that.

If your hiring managers can't agree on what they're looking for, sourcing more candidates only creates more work.

If your compensation isn't competitive, even the strongest recruiter will struggle to close great people.

That's why I always encourage founders to define the problem before deciding on the solution.

Sometimes you need another recruiter.

Sometimes you need better systems.

Sometimes you simply need to make faster decisions.

Those are very different problems—and they require very different solutions.

What Do I Mean by "Recruiting"?

Before we talk about different hiring models, it's worth defining what I mean by recruiting.

For many founders, recruiting means posting a job, reviewing applications, and scheduling interviews.

That's only a small part of it.

A strong recruiting function creates multiple ways for great people to discover your company and move through your hiring process. It isn't reliant on a single source of candidates, and it certainly isn't waiting for applicants to come knocking.

A well-designed recruiting function might include:

• Attracting talent (employer brand, careers page, content)

• Finding talent (direct sourcing, referrals, networking, agencies)

• Building future pipelines (talent communities, events, campus recruiting)

• Measuring and improving the system (analytics, reporting, process optimization)

All of these channels work together to create a healthier hiring pipeline.

That's why I prefer talking about building a talent function rather than simply hiring a recruiter.

A recruiter can help you fill jobs.

A talent function builds a repeatable system that continues attracting and hiring great people as your company grows.

So if recruiting is much broader than simply filling jobs, how do you decide which solution is right for your business?

Start With the Outcome, Not the Hiring Model

Most founders start by choosing a hiring model.

I think that's backwards.

The better place to start is by asking:

For example, are you trying to:

• Make one critical hire as quickly as possible?

• Build a repeatable hiring function that will support growth over the next several years?

• Add temporary hiring capacity during a period of rapid growth?

• Improve your hiring process and candidate experience?

• Reduce the workload on an already stretched internal team?

Each of those challenges calls for a different solution.

A recruitment agency, an embedded recruiter, and an internal talent team all solve different problems. None is inherently better than the others. The best choice depends on your stage, your hiring goals, your budget, and the level of expertise your business needs.

As you read the rest of this article, don't ask yourself which hiring model sounds best.

Ask yourself:

When Does a Recruitment Agency Make Sense?

Recruitment agencies are often misunderstood.

Some founders see them as a last resort. Others assume they're only for executive hiring.

In reality, they solve a very specific business problem.

A good recruitment agency gives you immediate access to expertise, networks, and additional hiring capacity without the commitment of expanding your internal team.

They're particularly effective when speed, specialization, or reach matter more than building long-term recruiting infrastructure.

A recruitment agency is often the right choice when:

• You need to make one or two critical hires.

• You're building your founding team.

• You're hiring for a niche or difficult-to-fill role.

• You need access to candidates your team isn't reaching.

• Hiring has become business-critical and every week of delay has a measurable cost.

• Your internal team simply doesn't have the capacity to take on another search.

That last point is important.

One of the biggest misconceptions I see is that bringing in an agency means your internal recruiting team isn't performing.

In my experience, that's rarely true.

Some of the strongest talent teams I've worked with still partnered with external recruiters.

Not because they couldn't do the work.

Because they were already doing it.

When an internal team is supporting dozens of hiring managers, balancing competing priorities, and managing multiple searches, adding another urgent role often means something else has to give.

Sometimes, the most strategic decision is to bring in additional firepower.

Not because your team lacks capability.

Because they lack capacity.

The cost of delaying an important hire is often far greater than the cost of bringing in outside support.

That's a business decision—not a reflection of your internal team.

That said, agencies aren't always the right answer.

If your business is preparing to hire across multiple functions over an extended period, you'll likely benefit from someone who can contribute beyond filling individual roles.

That's where an embedded recruiter often becomes the better solution.

When Does an Embedded Recruiter Make Sense?

You'll often hear the terms embedded recruiter and fractional recruiter used interchangeably.

While there are differences, both describe an experienced recruiter who works closely with your business for a defined period rather than remaining completely external. In this article, I'll use the term embedded recruiter, as it best reflects someone becoming part of your team and working alongside your leaders.

Unlike a recruitment agency, an embedded recruiter isn't measured solely by the number of hires they make.

They're there to improve how your business hires.

That often includes:

• Building or improving your hiring process.

• Implementing or optimizing your ATS.

• Creating interview frameworks and scorecards.

• Training hiring managers.

• Building recruiting dashboards and reporting.

• Developing sourcing strategies.

• Creating hiring plans alongside leadership.

• Making hires across multiple functions.

• Building talent pipelines for future growth.

In other words, they're helping you build capability while also delivering hiring outcomes.

An embedded recruiter is often the right choice when:

• You're planning sustained growth over the next six to eighteen months.

• You're hiring across multiple departments.

• Your hiring process needs structure.

• Your leadership team wants a recruiting partner, not simply someone to fill roles.

• You're not yet ready to hire a permanent Head of Talent or Talent Acquisition leader.

For many growing companies, this creates an ideal middle ground.

You gain experienced leadership, proven systems, and immediate execution without making a permanent leadership hire before you're ready.

The best embedded engagements don't just help you make hires. They leave your business with stronger systems, better processes, more capable hiring managers, and a recruiting function that's built to scale.

When Is It Time to Build Your Own Talent Function?

Eventually, many businesses reach a point where recruiting is no longer a project.

It's part of how the company operates.

Hiring becomes predictable.

New teams are being created.

Managers expect consistent support.

The business is investing in employer branding, workforce planning, and long-term talent strategy.

At that point, building an internal talent function often becomes the right decision.

Some signs you've reached that stage include:

• Hiring has become a consistent part of the business rather than an occasional initiative.

• Recruiting demand remains high year after year.

• Leadership wants someone focused entirely on long-term talent strategy.

• The business can support the ongoing cost of an internal recruiting team.

• Recruiting has become a competitive advantage rather than an operational necessity.

An internal team develops institutional knowledge that's difficult to replicate externally.

They understand the business, the people, the culture, and the long-term hiring strategy in a way that naturally deepens over time.

That doesn't mean external partners disappear.

Many exceptional internal talent leaders continue working with agencies or embedded recruiters during periods of rapid growth or when highly specialized searches arise.

Building an internal talent function isn't about replacing external partners.

It's about knowing when your business benefits from owning that capability internally.

The Biggest Mistake I See Founders Make

One mistake stands out above all the others.

A founder realizes hiring is becoming difficult.

They decide it's time to hire their first recruiter.

To keep costs down, they hire someone with two or three years of recruiting experience and ask them to build the company's talent function from scratch.

On paper, it sounds reasonable.

In practice, it rarely works.

Recruiting and building a recruiting function are two very different skill sets.

Someone can be an excellent recruiter while having little experience designing hiring processes, implementing systems, training hiring managers, forecasting headcount, selecting technology, measuring performance, or creating scalable recruiting operations.

Those skills are typically developed over years of building and leading talent functions—not simply filling roles.

The result is often frustration on both sides.

The founder expects strategic guidance.

The recruiter is trying to learn while simultaneously keeping up with hiring demands.

Hiring managers become frustrated.

Processes evolve reactively.

The company spends more time than necessary reviewing resumes, conducting interviews, and solving problems that could have been prevented with stronger foundations.

If you're building your first talent function, don't just ask who can recruit.

Ask who has successfully built what you're trying to build.

Those are very different questions.

Which Hiring Solution Is Right for You?

By now, you've probably realized there isn't a single "right" way to build a talent function.

Each solution exists to solve a different business problem.

If you're still unsure which direction makes the most sense, here's a simple way to think about it.

A recruitment agency is probably the right choice if:

• You need to make one or two critical hires.

• You're hiring for a highly specialized or difficult-to-fill role.

• You need immediate access to talent your team isn't currently reaching.

• Hiring is business-critical, but you don't need to build long-term recruiting capability.

An embedded recruiter is probably the right choice if:

• You're preparing for sustained growth over the next several months.

• You're hiring across multiple functions.

• Your hiring process needs structure, consistency, or improvement.

• You want someone who can build systems while making hires.

• You're not yet ready to invest in a permanent talent leader.

Building an internal talent function is probably the right choice if:

• Hiring has become a consistent part of your business.

• Recruiting is no longer a temporary initiative—it's an ongoing capability.

• You have enough hiring volume to support an internal team.

• You want to invest in long-term talent strategy, employer branding, workforce planning, and recruiting operations.

As your business grows, you'll likely move between all three approaches.

An early-stage startup might begin with an agency to make a key leadership hire.

As hiring ramps up, they may bring in an embedded recruiter to build processes, support multiple searches, and strengthen their hiring infrastructure.

Eventually, they hire their own internal talent leader, while continuing to partner with agencies for highly specialized or urgent roles.

The best founders don't commit to a recruiting model.

They choose the solution that best supports the business they're building today.

Putting It Into Practice

Choosing between a recruitment agency, an embedded recruiter, or building an internal talent function isn't about finding the "best" option.

Every model has its place.

The right decision depends on the stage your business is in today—and as your company grows, that decision will probably change.

The most successful founders don't become attached to a particular hiring model.

They stay focused on the capability their business needs and choose the solution that's best equipped to deliver it.

If there's one idea I'd encourage you to take away from this article, it's this:

Don't start by asking,

Start by asking,

The answer to that question will usually make the right hiring solution much clearer.

Looking for more resources to help you build a better hiring practice?

Try these helpful articles:

• Building Your Founding Team: Who You Need, What to Offer, and How to Hire

• How to Design a Hiring Process That Actually Works

• How to Conduct Better Interviews: A Practical Guide for Hiring Managers

• Hiring in PE: When Does a Private Equity Portfolio Need a Talent Function