How much does recruitment cost? What to compare before choosing an offer.

A recruitment offer is assessed together with the work included, your team's time and the terms of the assignment. A clear budget starts with the same role described for every provider.

You recognise an offer by how precisely it describes the work, not by the figure at the end. To compare two offers you need two things: the same role described identically for both providers and a short list of what the price covers.

The external budget: what the fee covers

The fee can be a fixed amount or a percentage of the role's annual remuneration. If it is a percentage, ask what the basis is: the annual gross salary, the package including bonuses, or the package including benefits. The same percentage applied to different bases produces different amounts.

Then check what is included and what is invoiced separately: advertising the role, assessments or testing, reference checks, travel. The VAT treatment is confirmed in the offer, not assumed.

The internal cost: your team's hours

The second part of the budget appears on no invoice. It is the hours your own people put in: writing and agreeing the profile, screening applications, interviews, decision meetings, the paperwork of hiring.

The estimate is simple: hours × the fully loaded hourly cost of the people involved, where the hourly cost includes contributions, not just net pay. The hours of your existing team are mainly a capacity cost. Paid overtime or resources contracted specifically for this can add actual expenses. Keep the two components separate in the comparison.

The opportunity cost, estimated separately

For as long as the role stays open, something is not getting done: orders postponed, a project running late, a line working with an incomplete team. Estimate this cost separately and state the assumptions openly. Add up only distinct components. The same hours or the same lost output, for instance, do not belong in two categories; keep the assumptions visible.

Six criteria to compare, row by row

CRITERION WHAT YOU ASK FOR WHAT YOU CLARIFY

Scope of service The role described identically for every provider. Whether the search area is local, regional or extended.

Deliverables What you receive in writing at each stage. Whether assessment reports are included or charged separately.

Timeline and feedback The reporting rhythm and the person you deal with. What happens if your team is late with feedback.

Payment The invoicing points and the basis of calculation. What is retained if the process stops at your request.

Replacement and exclusions The written conditions under which the search restarts. The situations explicitly excluded and the companies the provider cannot approach.

Data Who is the controller of candidate data. How long applications are kept and how requests about personal data are assessed and handled.

A hypothetical calculation, step by step

The figures below are illustrative, not rates and not market benchmarks: 20 hours of internal work × 120 lei fully loaded hourly cost = 2,400 lei. To this you add the fee from the offer you received and any separately invoiced costs.

The result is not "the price of recruitment". It is the total effort of one option, put in a form comparable with another. If an offer looks smaller but leaves you the screening and the assessment, the difference simply moves into the column of your own hours.

What shapes a search in Oradea and Bihor

For a local role, three conditions change the size of the group who can take the conversation seriously: the working hours required, including shifts and weekend availability; the distance and the actual journey to the site at the time the shift starts; the area you are willing to search in.

The three conditions are checked against your role: how many companies in the area have comparable positions, what hours they offer and how far they are from candidates. If the group stays small, the conversation moves from the advert to direct contact.

Three questions to send the provider

The practical step: write the role on one page — expected results, criteria that can be observed, the decision-maker — and send exactly the same document to every provider. Offers become comparable the moment they describe the same work. If the role has been open for a few months, check the assignment first, not the budget.

Let's clarify the role.

We start with the role written on one page, then discuss what we take on. See how we work on recruitment and executive search, and for a role in the area, the page for Oradea and Bihor.

Let's clarify the role →