“We’ll Just Do the Recruitment Ourselves…”

I hear this a lot.

You’ve got LinkedIn.
You can post on Indeed.
You’ve got HR support internally.

How hard can it be?

On the surface, recruitment looks straightforward. Write a job advert, post it, interview a few people, hire the best one.

But in reality — especially in IT — it’s rarely that simple.

The CV Flood

You post the advert.

Within days you receive 100–200 applications.

That sounds positive… until you start opening them.

Among those CVs you’ll typically find:

• Candidates based overseas
• Visa / sponsorship requirements
• No relevant technical experience
• Mass “apply to everything” applicants
• Salary expectations well outside budget
• Poor communication or generic CVs

Hidden somewhere in there? Maybe a handful genuinely suitable candidates.

Someone now has to read every single CV properly.

If you’re an IT Manager, that’s being done between projects, outages and leadership meetings.

If you’re in HR, it’s on top of payroll, onboarding, compliance and everything else on your desk.

It’s not a quick task. It’s hours of concentrated effort.

Then Comes the Screening

Let’s say you narrow 150 CVs down to 15.

Now you need to:

• Contact each candidate
• Arrange screening calls
• Assess technical depth
• Evaluate communication skills
• Check motivations for moving
• Confirm salary expectations
• Gauge cultural fit

That’s more hours.

And here’s the part that often gets overlooked:

Interviewing unsuitable candidates is draining.

It eats into your week, slows down your core responsibilities, and creates decision fatigue.

The Real Cost of DIY Recruitment

The cost of recruitment isn’t just the salary.

It’s also:

• Management time
• Team time
• Delayed projects
• Overtime cover
• Lost productivity
• Opportunity cost

And if the process drags on for 4 to 8 weeks because it’s being handled “when there’s time”? That cost compounds.

Not to mention the fact that good candidates don’t hang around that long.

 

What a Specialist IT Recruiter Actually Saves You

A good specialist doesn’t just send CVs.

We:

• Filter the noise
• Have in-depth screening conversations
• Assess communication and attitude
• Access to contacts from years in that sector that the job boards just can’t give you
• Reality-check salary expectations
• Manage counter-offers
• Keep the hiring process moving
• Protect your diary

You don’t see the 60–80 conversations that happen behind the scenes.

You only see the 3–4 candidates worth interviewing.

That’s not luck. That’s time invested on your behalf.

Final Thought

Of course you can run recruitment yourself.

The better question is:

Should you?

Because it’s rarely just about finding candidates.

It’s about saving:

• Time
• Money
• Momentum
• And sometimes… your sanity

That’s where working with a specialist like 100% IT Recruitment isn’t just about filling a vacancy — it’s about giving you back control of your week.