Recruitment process outsourcing is built for enterprise-scale hiring programs. Most commercial trades firms do not have RPO-scale volume - here's what actually fits instead.
RPO outsources your entire recruiting function - sourcing, screening, employer branding, technology - and is priced and structured for firms hiring dozens to hundreds of roles a year across every department. It typically takes weeks to months to implement before it is running at full value. Most commercial trades firms do not have that volume or that timeline. We give you a dedicated, specialized commercial-trades pipeline at a flat monthly rate, with no program minimum and no multi-month ramp-up.
| Factor | RPO | My Trade Talent |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Retainer, per-hire, or hybrid fee covering an entire hiring program | Flat monthly fee, same every month, with a 6-month minimum term |
| Scoped to | The whole recruiting function - sourcing, screening, employer branding, ATS/tech - usually across dozens or hundreds of roles a year | Your commercial trades hiring, specifically, at whatever volume you actually have |
| Implementation time | Weeks to months of process and technology buildout before full ramp | Start receiving submittals within days |
| Minimum scale to make sense | Enterprise-level hiring volume - RPO pricing and process overhead assumes real scale | Works from one open seat up; no volume minimum required |
| What you are buying | An outsourced recruiting department, evaluated on program-level volume and time-to-fill metrics | A dedicated pipeline of pre-vetted commercial trades candidates |
| Specialization | Usually generalist across all the client's hiring, not trade-specific | Commercial trades only, across every trade vertical, daily |
| Contract structure | Typically multi-year program agreements | 6-month minimum term, not a multi-year program agreement |
RPO is not the wrong model - it is the wrong model for most commercial trades firms specifically, because it is built and priced for a scale most of them have not reached.
RPO pricing and process overhead assumes a program - dedicated implementation teams, shared technology, multi-year agreements - that only makes financial sense at real volume. If you are hiring a handful of commercial trades roles a year, or even a few dozen, you are paying for infrastructure sized for a much bigger hiring operation than the one you actually run.
Our model skips the program-level overhead entirely. You get a specialized pipeline sized to your actual commercial trades hiring - not a scaled-down enterprise recruiting department.
My Trade Talent recruits for your commercial trades hiring specifically, while an RPO outsources your entire recruiting function, usually across dozens or hundreds of roles a year. Our Talent Pipeline is a flat monthly fee from $4,000 a month on a 12-month term ($4,250 on the six-month minimum), with sourcing under way within 24 hours of kickoff and first submittals by the end of week two, where an RPO typically takes weeks to months to implement. Full tiers are on our pricing page.
An RPO makes more sense than My Trade Talent when you hire at enterprise scale, dozens to hundreds of roles a year across many departments, and want to outsource the whole recruiting function rather than one hiring category. It also assumes you can wait weeks to months for process and technology implementation before it runs at full value.
No: My Trade Talent works from one open seat up, with no volume minimum. A single seat usually suits pay-as-you-go, a $1,500 monthly retainer credited in full against a 15% placement fee with an $8,000 minimum, and continuous hiring suits the Talent Pipeline subscription, which starts at $4,000 a month with a six-month minimum term.
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 commercial trades roles you're actually trying to fill. We'll show you what a pipeline sized to your real volume looks like.
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.
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