Natasha is a leading HR expert, entrepreneur, author and sought-after media commentator for outlets such as Sunrise (Channel 7), ABC Radio and The Australian Financial Review. Natasha co-founded Employee Matters in 2011 to help Australian businesses achieve success through their people.
The way Australian businesses are approaching their hiring is changing. For some organisations, paying a recruitment agency a percentage of a candidate’s salary for every hire no longer makes sense, particularly when they are hiring regularly, growing their team or need more support than simply filling a vacancy.
Fractional recruitment provided by way of a Recruitment Partner provides businesses with access to expert recruitment support that works as an extension of their team, without committing to a full-time internal recruiter. Rather than simply filling individual vacancies, a Recruitment Partner can support the wider hiring process, from finding and assessing candidates through to helping businesses strengthen their recruitment processes and support an overwhelmed internal team.
This approach can provide growing businesses with more flexibility, visibility and ongoing recruitment support, while keeping costs more predictable. But is an embedded Recruitment Partner the right approach for your business? Here’s what to consider.
What Is Driving the Shift Away from Traditional Recruitment Agencies?
For decades, the standard approach to external hiring relied heavily on transactional recruitment agencies. While these agencies provide access to large candidate pools, their pricing structures can present financial hurdles for scaling businesses.
According to benchmark research from the Australian HR Institute (AHRI) and ELMO Software, the average cost to hire a new team member in Australia has increased significantly, reaching up to $23,860 per worker. When a company needs to hire multiple professionals in a short timeframe, these costs escalate rapidly, especially when traditional agencies charge up to 25% of a candidate’s first-year salary. For executive or highly specialised positions, these fees can sometimes reach even higher percentages.
Importantly, this traditional model operates externally; the agency works independently of your internal Applicant Tracking System (ATS), meaning the valuable market intelligence and candidate pipelines generated during the search do not remain with your business once the role is filled and you will not have access to their application information when you have another similar role - that IP belongs to the agency.
An embedded Recruitment Partner essentially becomes an extension of your team. Rather than working completely separately from your business, they work closely with your leaders and hiring managers, use your systems and processes, and get to understand how your organisation operates.
According to the Australian HR Institute’s September 2025 Work Outlook, recruitment remains robust across sectors, with 69 per cent of organisations actively planning to hire. To meet this demand efficiently, businesses are turning to embedded solutions.
As an alternative to high commissions for each placement, businesses can choose to engage a Recruitment Partner on a part-time, project or monthly retainer basis. The Recruitment Partner can work within your existing systems and processes, communicate with candidates as part of your team, represent your employer brand and work closely with your internal leaders and hiring managers.
Recruitment Cost Forecasting Calculator
Instantly estimate your recruitment needs, and how much DIY hiring or traditional agencies will cost you.
Streamlines internal hiring timeframes via a dedicated internal focus
Often fast-tracks initial candidate sourcing, but final internal interview stages can still bottleneck
What Are the Long-Term Benefits of an Embedded Recruitment Partner Model?
The shift toward fractional recruitment is driven by the desire for deeper value, better relationships and transparent operations. Here is why this model is resonating so strongly with Australian businesses:
Better Visibility Over Your Recruitment Process
When you work with an embedded partner, the process is entirely transparent. You have direct access to all data because the Recruitment Partner is able to operate within your systems, if that is your preference. You are able to observe the number of candidates screened and review interview feedback in real time. An in-house embedded expert can streamline time to hire while keeping all metrics fully visible to your leadership team.
Deep Cultural Alignment
A recruiter who spends time working with your managers understands more than the job description. They learn how your team operates, your culture, what makes someone successful in the role and what candidates should realistically expect from your workplace.
By working closely with hiring managers and becoming familiar with your organisation, an embedded Recruitment Partner can represent your employer brand more authentically when speaking with candidates. This deeper understanding helps to create a better candidate experience and a good fit for both the role and the organisation.
Building a Sustainable Recruitment Framework
Perhaps the most significant advantage of fractional recruitment is the legacy it leaves behind. A Recruitment Partner does more than just fill vacancies; they refine your job advertisements, optimise your interview guides and elevate your overall candidate experience. When their engagement concludes, your business retains a streamlined, modern recruitment framework that continues to deliver value long after the project ends and leaves a positive impression of your brand.
According to AHRI’s research, 27 per cent of organisations expect their workforce to grow by more than 10 per cent over the next five years, making this kind of sustainable foundation incredibly valuable.
How Can Employee Matters Elevate Your Talent Acquisition Strategy?
An embedded model may be worth considering if your business:
is hiring across multiple roles
is experiencing regular growth
doesn't have an internal recruitment or talent acquisition resource
has managers spending too much time managing recruitment
wants to improve its recruitment process
needs recruitment support without paying a percentage fee for every placement
has an in house HR or recruitment function in place but needs help with a surge in roles to fill
At Employee Matters, we believe recruitment support should reflect what your business actually needs. Our Recruitment Partner Service provides experienced recruitment expertise that can flex with your business, whether you need support for a specific project, help managing multiple vacancies, or ongoing recruitment capability.
Our Recruitment Experts work as an extension of your team, getting to know your business, your people and your hiring needs. We can adapt the level and type of support as your priorities change, rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach.
Whether you're hiring a single specialised professional, growing a team, or looking to strengthen your internal recruitment process, our goal is to provide practical, flexible support that delivers value beyond simply filling a vacancy -and without breaking the bank on the percentage-based fees of traditional agencies.
Ready to Transform Your Approach?
If you want to start building a sustainable, cost-effective recruitment strategy, we are here to help. A great first step is to try our Recruitment Calculator and book a Discovery Session with us to review your current hiring framework and identify where we may be able to help.
Reach out to Employee Matters today to discover how an embedded Recruitment Partner can empower your business to attract, engage, and retain exceptional talent for the long term.
Get in Touch
Tell us a bit about your business and we’ll be in touch to:
Understand the challenges that are holding your team or growth back
Show you how our embedded HR and Recruitment Experts can solve problems faster, without the overheads
Identify high-impact areas where HR and Recruitment support could save you time, stress and money
Map out a tailored approach based on your goals, industry and internal capabilities
