Specialist job board or recruitment agency?

The short answer

Advertise on a specialist board when the people you want are looking for work in their field and you have someone who can read the applications. Use an agency when the right person isn’t looking, the search has to stay confidential, or nobody on your side has time to shortlist.

Most deep-tech roles are the first kind. Machine learning engineers, penetration testers and cloud architects search for jobs by their field, and a board that only lists that field puts your role in front of them without a placement fee.

What each costs

A contingency agency charges a share of the hire’s first-year base salary, paid when they start. For technology roles that is typically 18 to 22%. Retained search, for senior and executive hires, costs more, and part of it is paid up front.

An advert is a fixed price, whoever you hire and whatever you pay them:

For a £70,000 hire	Cost
Agency at 18%	£12,600
Agency at 22%	£15,400
Standard advert, one board, 30 days	£99
Featured advert, plus a second board	£274

The difference grows with the salary: an agency fee rises with it, and an advert doesn’t. Try your own numbers in the agency cost calculator.

What you get for the money

The two aren’t the same service, so compare what each one does.

An agency

• Searches for people, including those who aren’t looking.
• Screens and shortlists, so you see a few candidates rather than every applicant.
• Charges nothing on contingency if nobody is hired.
• Usually offers a partial refund if the hire leaves early. Check the terms for how long that lasts.

A specialist board

• Puts the role in front of people who came looking for work in its field, and in their job alerts.
• Sends applications straight to you, by email or into your applicant tracking system, so every candidate is yours.
• Costs the same whether you hire one person from it or three.
• Leaves the shortlisting to you. That is the work the agency fee pays for.

When a specialist board works best

• The role has a field. People search for “quantum engineer” or “cyber security” jobs. A board for that field reaches them; a general job site buries the role among thousands of others.
• You can read applications. A hiring manager or an in-house recruiter with a few hours a week is enough.
• You hire more than once. Every advert is seen by the same specialists, so each one builds your name with the people you’ll want next time.
• You state the salary. Candidates can see straight away whether the role is worth applying for, so the applications you get come from people the pay works for.

When an agency earns its fee

• The person isn’t looking. A senior hire who is happy where they are won’t see an advert. Someone has to find them and call them.
• The search is confidential. Replacing someone who hasn’t left yet, or hiring for a team nobody knows about.
• There’s no one to shortlist. If nobody can read applications, a shortlist is worth paying for.
• There are only a handful of people who could do it. For very rare skills, a recruiter who already knows them may be the fastest route.

Using both

Plenty of teams advertise first and bring in an agency only if the advert doesn’t produce a shortlist. Most applications to an advert arrive in its first two weeks, so you’ll know quickly.

If you do both at once, tell the agency the role is advertised. Agency terms usually give the fee to whoever introduced a candidate first, and it’s easier to agree who that was at the start than after an offer.

Recruitment agencies advertise on our boards too, at the same prices: see advertising for recruiters.