How to read this chart
Every row is a thing a small business actually needs out of its hiring function. Every column is a way someone has tried to deliver it. Most options check a few boxes. Almost none check most of them, and the ones that do tend to cost more than a small business can sustain.
The two fullest columns are Fractional Recruiter and RPO. Fractional is the only one that checks every row. RPO checks nearly all of them, but recruitment process outsourcing is built for enterprise volume: multi-year contracts, monthly minimums, and a hiring load a company under 200 employees simply does not have, which is why it rarely fits at this size. A Full-Time Internal Recruiter checks nearly as many rows and is the right answer once hiring is constant, but at $100,000 to $150,000 in loaded cost it only pencils out at sustained high volume. Below that, the fractional model delivers the same function at a fraction of the cost. That is the gap fractional fills.
The trade-offs to notice
Agencies are fast and they handle hard-to-fill roles, but they are paid on commission, which means the incentive runs against you on salary and against retention. Staffing fills active flow but not much else. Offshore sourcing, virtual assistants, and AI tools are useful pieces of a larger function, not a function on their own. DIY hiring is free in dollars and the most expensive option in your time, your owner-hours, and the cost of getting it wrong.
If most of the rows in this chart matter to your business and none of the existing options check enough of them, that is the math that makes fractional recruiting the right answer. From there, here is what fractional recruiting is, and what it costs.