DIY recruiting is the most invisible cost on a commercial trades firm's P&L. It feels free because nobody invoices for it. We break down what it actually costs, when it works, and when it stops scaling.
Internal recruiting works when you have real recruiting capacity in-house and a manageable hire volume. It stops working when your hiring leader is doing it on top of their day job, when the roles get hard to fill, or when you start scaling. The cost is hidden - it does not show up as a recruiting invoice; it shows up as leadership time and unfilled seats. Our model converts that hidden cost into a predictable monthly retainer and gives you back the leadership hours.
| Factor | Internal / DIY Recruiting | My Trade Talent |
|---|---|---|
| Who runs the search | HR generalist, office manager, or the hiring leader themselves | Two dedicated commercial-trades recruiters assigned to your account |
| Time investment | 15–25 hours per role from people who already have day jobs | Zero hours from your team beyond interview slots |
| Direct cost | Job board fees ($500–$1,500/mo) + internal salary load on time spent | Flat monthly retainer; predictable from day one |
| Hidden cost | Your hiring leader is recruiting instead of running the business | Your hiring leader is running the business |
| Outbound reach | Job postings + LinkedIn easy apply; reactive | Phone, direct outreach, sustained relationships with passive candidates |
| Specialization | Generalist; rarely has deep network in a single trade | Commercial trades only; every commercial trade; daily reps in each |
| Pipeline depth | Restarts at zero with every open seat | Bench builds continuously across every role you hire |
| What happens when the hiring leader goes on vacation | Searches pause; candidates drop off | Recruiters keep working; the pipeline does not pause |
Internal recruiting is the right answer for some firms. It is the wrong answer for any firm where the hiring leader is doing it on top of running the business.
If your hiring leader spends 20 hours per hire at a $150K effective comp ($72/hr loaded), each hire absorbs about $1,440 in leadership time - and that is for the easy hires. For the hard ones, it is double or triple.
Add the open-seat cost (lost productivity + coverage burden + project margin). Use our cost-of-vacancy calculator to estimate that piece. The total cost of DIY recruiting is usually 2–4× the visible cost - the visible part is just the job board subscription.
When the unit economics flip - when the hidden cost of DIY exceeds the flat retainer of a pipeline partner - outsourcing pays for itself within the first 90 days. The exact crossover depends on hire volume, role difficulty, and the leadership-time opportunity cost. We will walk through your numbers on a discovery call.
Outsource to My Trade Talent when your hiring leader is recruiting on top of a day job, the roles are hard to fill, or you hire more than four roles a year; keep it in-house when you have a real recruiter and a manageable volume. An internal search typically takes 15 to 25 hours per role from people who already have day jobs, a cost that never appears on an invoice; our cost-of-vacancy calculator estimates the rest.
My Trade Talent assigns two dedicated commercial-trades recruiters to your account, who source by phone and direct outreach to passive candidates rather than waiting on job postings. Sourcing starts within 24 hours of kickoff, first submittals arrive by the end of week two, and the bench keeps building across every role you hire.
My Trade Talent's Talent Pipeline subscription starts at $4,000 a month on a 12-month term ($4,250 on the six-month minimum), with no placement fee. Pay-as-you-go is a separate product for a single search: 15% of first-year salary with an $8,000 minimum, and a $1,500 monthly retainer while the search runs that is credited in full against that fee. The $1,500 is the pay-as-you-go retainer, not the subscription price. Every tier is on our pricing page.
Budget timing is a different problem from price. The same engagement can run as pay as you go: a $1,500 monthly retainer while the search is open (separate from the Talent Pipeline subscription, which starts at $4,000 a month), credited in full against the fee when we place someone. You pay whichever is greater - the agreed fee, or the months already paid - so up to the break-even month it is a smaller bill at hire, and past it the monthly payments have already covered more than the fee.
Tell us how many roles you're trying to fill and what they pay. We'll show you whether outsourcing actually makes sense for your volume.
One email a month, and only one. We write a separate issue for every trade we recruit in, so you get yours - not a round-up with your trade buried in paragraph nine. Every issue is written for the person actually doing the hiring.
Built on federal wage data, our own closed searches, and what we hear on the desk every week. Written for employers, not candidates. No pitch, no filler, one click to leave.
One email a month. Your trade and your address, nothing else - we do not sell either, and you can unsubscribe from the bottom of any issue. Read this month's issue for your trade first →
Getting Ava ready…
AI video guide. Your voice is processed by Tavus to run this conversation and is not recorded; we never use your camera. Calls end after 5 minutes. Privacy
